No Space of their Own
Young People and Social Control in Australia

This 1990 book cuts through the media images of young people, and exposes the underlying trends of society's response to the 'youth problem'.

Rob White (Author)

9780521377782, Cambridge University Press

Paperback, published 9 April 1990

252 pages
22.9 x 15.2 x 1.5 cm, 0.38 kg

This book was first published in 1990. In Australia, as in other Western societies, young people are facing a crisis. Structural changes in the economy have fundamentally altered the transition from child to adult. Many young people must choose between exploited labour and crime. Rob White cuts through the political rhetoric and media images of young people, and exposes the underlying trends of society's response to the 'youth problem'. He shows how well-meaning programmes intended to 'help' young people in fact serve as agents of social control, reducing and regulating the space they can occupy. All around Australia, governments are treating the symptoms but ignoring the causes. The school system, training programmes, youth workers, campaigns against drug abuse and crime - all exert pressure on young people to conform to the demands of a society in which they have no say.

Figures and tables
Acknowledgements
Abbreviations
Introduction
Part I. Youth Policy and the New Vocationalism: The Adolescent Generation and the State: 1. Young people and policy: priority one?
2. Skills, youth training and a reconstructed Australia
3. Back to school and minimalist education
Part II. Youth Crime, Moral Panics and Public Order: Media Images, the 'Youth Problem' and Social Regulation: 4. Car theft and the crime of no space
5. Young people, law and the street
6. Youth services and the role of 'soft cops'
7. Conclusion: control, space and rebellion
References
Index.

Subject Areas: Biography: historical, political & military [BGH]