The idea that Britain, the US and other western societies are witnessing the rise of an underclass of people at the bottom of the social heap, structurally and culturally distinct from traditional patterns of `decent' working-class life, has become increasingly popular in the 1990s. Anti-work, anti-social, and welfare dependent cultures are said to typify this new `dangerous class' and `dangerous youth' are taken as the prime subjects of underclass theories. Debates about the family and single-parenthood, about crime and about unemployment and welfare reforms have all become embroiled in underclass theories which, whilst highly controversial, have had remarkable influence on the politics and policies of governments in Britain and the US.
Youth, the 'Underclass' and Social Exclusion constitutes the first concerted attempt to grapple with the underclass idea in relation to contemporary youth. It focuses upon unemployment, training, the labour market, crime, homelessness, and parenting and will be essential reading for students of social policy, sociology and criminology.
1. Dangerous Youth and the Dangerous Class Robert MacDonald, 2. Young People and the Labour Market Malcom Maguire and Susan Maguire, 3. Is There an Emerging British Underclass? The Evidence from Youth Research K. Roberts, 4. Underclassed or Undermined? Young People and Social Citizenship Hartley Dean, 5. Status Zero Youth and the `Underclass': Some Considerations Howard Williamson, 6. The Formation of an Underclass or Disparate Processes of Social Exclusion? Evidence from Two Groupings of `Vulnerable Youth' Debbie Baldwin, Bob Coles and Wendy Mitchell, 7. Youth Homelessness and the `Underclass' Gill Jones, 8. `Destructing a Giro': A Critical and Ethnographic Study of the Youth `Underclass' Shane J. Blackman, 9. The Black Magic Roundabout: Cyclical Transitions, Social Exclusion and Alternative Careers Steve Craine, 10. Changing Their Ways: Youth Work and Underclass Theory Tony Jeffs, 11. Youth, Social Exclusion and the Millenium Robert MacDonald.
