sclg annotated bibliography

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SCLG2613 Annotated Bibliography

Edwina Reid SID: 310192420

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Lee, N 2001, Chi ldhood and society: Growing up in an age of uncertainty, Open

University Press: Buckingham.

Nick Lee (2001, p.8) argues that contemporary views of childhood, where adults are

viewed as complete human beings and children as incomplete beings in a transitional

phase towards an adult destination, are based on past economic and social conditions that are

no longer adequate for analysing contemporary youth. Understandings of childhood and

adulthood can alter significantly between time and place as evidenced by the transition from

industrialist economies based on rigid Fordist principles of mass consumption to the post-

1970s new economy which entails short and highly flexible working contracts that demand

the individual to be highly adaptive both in workplace skills and personal identity. Lee (2001)

argues that this economic shift has challenged the assumption that childhood ends when one

has gained a stable job, partner and home and suggests that that adulthood can no longer be

viewed as the definitive end point and childhood merely a linear progression to that end.

Lee (2001: 9) criticizes past sociological research that has defined childhood against the

model of the standard adult, where the child is everything the adult is notunstable and

incomplete. Whilst the specific thoughts and opinions of the child are not examined in this

chapter, it provides a platform for future analysis and a new perspective for understanding

and researching youth. Lee (2001) suggests that through a reexamination of the order and

meaning in the lives of children we can search for new tools and concepts with which to base

sociological analysis.

van Krieken, R 2010, Childhood in Australian sociology and society, Current

Sociology, vol. 58, no. 2, pp. 232-249.

Van Krieken (2010) compares the childhood experiences of Anglo-Saxon, Aboriginal

and refugee children growing up in Australia and points to a number of key differences


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between them worthy of analysis. Australias convict-settler history cut families off from the

help they may have received from extended relatives back home, meaning children were

relied upon to contribute to the family at a relatively young age. Following the Government

policy which made school compulsory for all children however, the economic responsibilities

of children were reduced through strategies such as raising leaving age, truancy legislation

and employment rights and exemptions (van Krieken, 2010, p. 235) . Conversely, Aboriginal

children were traditionally raised with the help of much of the extended family and formed an

integral part of the network of kin relations (2010, p.235). However, the effects of the

Government initiative of removing Aboriginal children from their families in order to

integrate them into white society has left the Aboriginal community fractured, with high

levels of child abuse, neglect and a low standard of living. Van Krieken (2010) argues that

Australian sociological research needs to further delve into the reasons behind how such

violence and abuse came out in order to develop effective policy in the future. Van Krieken

(2010, p.242) further discusses children in public debate and argues that they are used as a

window onto broader social concerns. He evidences this with the treatment of refugee

children whom are seen as an investment in the future, whilst their parents more readily

ignored as inconvenient (2010, p.242). Van Krieken (2010) supports Lees (2001)

discussion on the cultural turn that has seen the child move from a becoming -adult to an

autonomous citizen with rights and as such points to the need for a sociological framework

that encompasses the identity of a twenty-first child on a personal level.

Bessant, J & Watts, R 1998, History, myth making and young people in a time

of change, Famil y Matters, vol. 49, pp. 4-10.

Bessant and Watts (1998) believe the contemporary representation of youth as both

victims of change and agents of disorder to be wholly unfounded. Whilst the authors do


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not deny the large proportion of young people who are unemployed, or partake in risky and

criminal people she warns against oversimplifying these matters to the victims/agents of

disorder dichotomy. Specifically within Australia, moral panics about the actions of youth

extend back to the 1870s with larrikins who infested the streets in gangs and thus is in

no way a new discovery (Bessant & Watts, 1998, p.8). Therefore, rather than viewing

juvenile delinquency as a contemporary discovery, research should be looking into the

meaning behind why it persists from generation to generation and why we continue to find it

so shocking. However, Bessant and Watts (1998) purpose is not to argue against the use of

potentially useful generalisations concerning youth,but rather to identify that the adolescent

label is a socially constructed identity devised by adults who are often largely out of touch

with the experiences of modern youth. The repetitive cycle of accounts of youth as

delinquents is perpetuated by journalists motivated to report only bad news and thus society

must be aware of their mythic status and be cautious not to overemphasising their

factuality. Similar to the work of Lee (2001) and van Krieken (2010) this article outlines the

considerable social, economic and cultural change that has led the once predictable path from

childhood to adulthood to become increasingly ambiguous. Thus, Bessant and Watts (1998)

argue, it is not surprising that youth are experiencing a level of anxiety when considering

their unstable future and suggest future research should be concerned with the significant

changes in the youth labour market and how to offer up-to-date support.

Punch, S 2003, Childhoods in the majority world: Miniature adults or tribal

children?Sociology, vol. 37, no. 2, pp. 277-295.

Samantha Punch (2003) argues that children in the majority world have the ability to

integrate work, play and school whilst continuously moving between the adult and child

centered worldsdepending on both the context of the situation and the people they are with.


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She uses her own ethnographic data from rural Bolivia to show that majority world children

create their own unique child culture and argues that greater attention needs to be paid to

areas of their lives outside of work. Whilst Punch (2003) accounts for the fact that

economically disadvantaged children of the majority world take on adult workloads and

responsibilities she firmly believes that this is not reason to regard them as miniature

adults. Punch (2003) has filled the gap in the literature that both Lee (2001) and van Krieken

(2010) mentioned and has focused her ethnographic work on the perspective of the child as a

being as opposeto a becoming. The article further contributes to current sociological

research by challenging the minority world assumption that childhood should be a stage free

from adult responsibilities, as having to work contradicts the whole notion of childhood itself.

Through the greater responsibility afforded to them Bolivian children contribute to the family

unit and learn valuable life skills whilst incorporating formal school education as well as

aspects of fun and play. Thus, Punch (2003) challenges privileged societies notions of

boundaries between work and play, child and adult and highlights a need for further research

into the child cultures of other majority areas.

Morrow, V 2013, Troubling transitions? Young people's experiences of growing

up in poverty in rural Andhra Pradesh, India,Journal of Youth Studies, vol. 16, no. 1,

pp. 86-100.

Within most cultures there is an identifiable concept of adulthood, however no

identifiable moment when the transition from child to adult occurs. Virginia Morrow (2013)

analyses the usefulness of a transitions perspective within developing nations and argues

that much of the sociological discourse surrounding the transition to adulthood assumes a

linear progression completely separate from family and community ties. Like Bessant and


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Watts (1998) she points to the danger of assuming a focus on youth as either at risk or as

risk and argues, that both these perspective put researchers at danger of overlooking factors

such as class, gender and socioeconomic status that greatly impact upon the lives of youth.

The transitions perspective has been heavily critiqued in Western contexts and a number of

alternative approaches suggested, for example Woodman and Wyns (2006) social

generation approach. However Morrow (2013), points out that these theoretical

reconsiderations are yet to have an effect on policy formation and therefore for, focuses her

research on the effects of retaining a transitions approach within rural Andhra Pradesh,

India. In this setting, Morrow (2013) explores the interconnected themes of school, work and

anticipated marriage in the lives of four case-study children. She concludes that within

developing nations youth needs to be conceptualized within relational categories with respect

to the obligations young people have to their family, the constraints of gender norms and

their own personal views of what the future holds. This article shows that the transitions

approach, whilst useful in this example, needs to be viewed critically as it is based on

international childhood assumptions that fail to take into account the realties facing youth in

rural India (Morrow, 2013).

Wyn, J & Woodman, D 2006, Generation, youth and social change in

Australia, Journal of Youth Studiesvol. 9, no. 5, pp. 495-514.

Wyn and Woodman (2006) use the term generation as an exploratory term to move

on from the traditional conceptualization of children as incomplete beings in transition to an

adult destination. The concept of social generation allows sociologists to move on from the

traditional conceptualisation of youth as a transitional stage in the linear development

toward adulthood, to an understanding of the distinctive experiences of post-1970 youth as

being shaped by their current economic, political and cultural climate. Wyn and Woodman

(2006) criticise the fact that current sociological approaches continue to compare the


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education, employment and relationship practices of youth against that of previous

generations and put their differences down to a failed transition into adulthood. Thus, the

generational labels of Gen X, Gen Y and Baby Boomers help to disrupt the notion of

youth merely being a transitional phase and signify the differing social conditions

experienced by each generation that have, and will continue to impact upon their lives (Wyn

& Woodman, 2006). As Wyn and Woodman (2006) argue that policy makers, who continue

to structure youth policies on the experience of past generations, would benefit from a social

generation approach which enables them to place youth within the political, economic and

cultural context that both frame and shape their generation. Wyn and Woodman (2006)

solidify the work of Nick Lee (2001) who argued that childhood experiences can alter

drastically between time and place, but unlike Punch (2003) and Morrow (2013) has its focus

primarily on affluent, Western nations.

Roberts, K 2007, Youth transitions and generations: A response to Wyn and

Woodman, Journal of Youth Studies, vo. 10, no. 2, pp, 263-269.

Roberts (2007) article is written as a direct criticism to Wyn and Woodmans (2006)

article that suggests youth sociological research requires a shift from a transitional approach

to a generational approach. Roberts argues that this shift is both unnecessary and unfounded

and could in fact weaken the ability of youth research to affect social policies that affect

young people in the future. Roberts (2007) suggests that the transitional and generational

approaches are not in fact mutually exclusive and researchers can adopt both. Whilst he

agrees with Wyn and Woodman (2006) that their has been considerable change between

youth today and those who grew up in the 1950s and 1960s, Roberts argues that this is not

different to the change seen between any other generations. In fact, if anything has remained

constant between generations it is the guarantee of change. Human society is inherently


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unstable and every generation will vary in some way form the generation before. Therefore,

what Roberts (2007, p. 267) argues we need is to retain a transitional approach and use it to

make generational contrasts that will uncover interdependencies between biographical and

historical change. Rather than researching each generation as discrete from one another as

Wyn and Woodman (2006) suggest, what is needed is research into the patterns of transition

in order move on from out-dated methods and form a basis for the initiation of more

successful youth policies. This re-examined transitional perspective also needs to account for

the fact that the youth progression toward adulthood may not, and in most cases will not, be

linear. Yo-yoing between education and employment, living the family home or living solo

and relationships, the youth of today are most definitely different from their predecessors

however Roberts (2007, p.268) contends that they still experience their youth as a life stage

that is inherently transitional.

Wyn, J & Woodman, D 2007, Researching youth in a context of social change: A

reply to Roberts, Journal of Youth Studies, vol. 10, no. 3, pp. 373-381.

Wyn and Woodman further defend their initial proposal for a social generation

approach to youth analysis against Roberts (2007) criticisms and endorsement of the

transition approach. The social generation perspective emphasises the effect economical,

political and cultural contexts have on the experience and meaning of youth whilst the

transition approach compares each social generation to their predecessors and thus assumes

delayed, extended or failed transitions toward adulthood (2007, p.373). In response to

Roberts criticism that they have failed to recognise generational social change as an ongoing

phenomenon of the human race, Wyn and Woodman (2007) argue that the change itself is not

the focus but the effect this change has on the individuals sense of identity and belonging.

The social generation approach, with its focus on subjectivities allows for a more thorough


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analysis of the meaning and influence of this change rather than merely analysing statistical

patterns of change that imply a specific beginning and end point. Whilst Roberts (2007,

p.267) analysis of twenty-first century youth was highly pessimistic and suggested that the

youth of today have no radical or inspirational visions for a better future and no political

consciousness, Wyn and Woodman (2007) believe that young people today are forging new

forms of political and social action vastly different to the baby boomers and warn against

reducing them to a passive generation. Whilst both sides present strong arguments for and

against the use of the transitional and generational approach, this debate sheds light on the

need for a more unified approach that places the experience and meaning-making of youth

research in the twenty-first century at its core. Doing so will ensure that future policies

respond to changing times in order to effectively cover the diverse needs of young people

today.


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Reference List

Bessant, J & Watts, R 1998, History, myth making and young people in a time of

change,Family Matters, vol. 49, pp. 4-10.

Lee, N 2001, Childhood and society: Growing up in an age of uncertainty, Open

University Press: Buckingham.

Morrow, V 2013, Troubling transitions? Young people's experiences of growing up

in poverty in rural Andhra Pradesh, India,Journal of Youth Studies, vol. 16, no. 1, pp. 86-

100.

Punch, S 2003, Childhoods in the majority world: Miniature adults or tribal

children? Sociology, vol. 37, no. 2, pp. 277-295.

Roberts, K 2007, Youth transitions and generations: A response to Wyn and

Woodman,Journal of Youth Studies, vo. 10, no. 2, pp, 263-269.

van Krieken, R 2010, Childhood in Australian sociology and society, Current

Sociology, vol. 58, no. 2, pp. 232-249.

Wyn, J & Woodman, D 2006, Generation, youth and social change in Australia,

Journal of Youth Studies vol. 9, no. 5, pp. 495-514.

Wyn, J & Woodman, D 2007, Researching youth in a context of social change: A

reply to Roberts,Journal of Youth Studies, vol. 10, no. 3, pp. 373-381.


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sclg annotated bibliography

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