Commonwealth Youth Programme

Diploma in Youth Development Work

Module 2

Young People and

Society
Commonwealth Youth Programme Diploma in Youth Development Work

Commonwealth Secretariat
Commonwealth Secretariat
Marlborough House
London SW1Y 5HX
UNITED KINGDOM

© Commonwealth Secretariat, 2007

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted
in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or otherwise without
the permission of the publisher.

The views expressed in this document do not necessarily reflect the opinion or the policy of the Commonwealth
Secretariat.

Wherever possible, the Commonwealth Secretariat uses paper sourced from sustainable forests, or from sources
that minimise the destructive impact on the environment.

Copies of this publication may be obtained from:

Commonwealth Youth Programme
Commonwealth Secretariat
Marlborough House
Pall Mall
London SW1Y 5HX
UNITED KINGDOM
Tel: +44 20 7747 6462/6456
Fax: +44 20 7747 6549
E-mail: cyp@[Link]
Web site: http//[Link]/cyp

CYP Africa Regional Centre CYP Asia Regional Centre

University of Zambia Sector 12 (PEC Campus)
Great East Road Chandigarh - 160012
P O Box 30190 INDIA
Lusaka Tel: +91 172 2744482/2744463/274182
ZAMBIA Fax: +91 172 2745426/2744902
Tel: +260-1-252733/252153/294102 E-mail: admin@[Link]
Fax: +260-1-253698
E-mail: admin@[Link]

CYP Caribbean Regional Centre CYP Pacific Centre

Homestretch Avenue Lower Panatina Campus
D’Urban Park P O Box 1681
P O Box 101063 Honiara
Georgetown SOLOMON ISLANDS
GUYANA Tel: +677-38374/5/6
Tel: +592-2-268565 Fax: +677-38377
Fax: +592-2-268371 E-mail: regionaldirector@[Link]
E-mail: cypcc@[Link]

2 Commonwealth Youth Programme Diploma in Youth Development Work

 Module 2: Young People and Society

The Commonwealth Youth Programme’s Mission

CYP works to engage and empower young people (aged 15–29) to enhance their contribution to development.
We do this in partnership with young people, governments and other key stakeholders.

Our mission is grounded within a rights-based approach, guided by the realities facing young people in the
Commonwealth, and anchored in the belief that young people are:
• a force for peace, democracy, equality and good governance,
• a catalyst for global consensus building, and
• an essential resource for poverty eradication and sustainable development.

Acknowledgments
The Module Writers
Module 1 Dr G Gunawardena – Sri Lanka Module 8 R K Mani – India
Module 2 Lincoln Williams – Jamaica Module 9 Teorongonui Keelan – Aotearoa/New Zealand
Module 3 Louise King – Australia Module 10 Dr P Kumar – India
Module 4 Peta-Anne Baker – Jamaica Module 11 Steven Cordeiro – Australia
Module 5 Dr Mable Milimo – Zambia Module 12 Dr M Macwan’gi – Zambia
Module 6 Morag Humble – Canada Module 13 Paulette Bynoe – Guyana
Module 7 Anso Kellerman – South Africa

The CYP Instructional Design Team

Original version 2007 revision
Project manager Sid Verber – UK
Senior ID Melanie Guile and Candi Westney – Catherine Atthill – UK
Australia
Module 1 Hilmah Mollomb – Solomon Is Catherine Atthill – UK
Module 2 Ermina Osoba/RMIT – Antigua Catherine Atthill – UK
Module 3 Candi Westney – Australia Rosario Passos – Canada
Module 4 Rosaline Corbin – Barbados Julie Hamilton – Canada
Module 5 Judith Kamau – Botswana Catherine Atthill – UK
Module 6 Dr Turiman Suandi – Malaysia Chris Joynes – UK
Module 7 Evelyn Nonyongo – South Africa Evelyn Nonyongo – South Africa
Module 8 Melanie Guile – Australia Chris Joynes – UK
Module 9 Irene Paulsen – Solomon Is Rosario Passos – Canada
Module 10 Prof Prabha Chawla – India, Rosario Passos – Canada
and Suzi Hewlett – Australia
Module 11 Melanie Guile – Australia Rosario Passos – Canada
Module 12 Dr R Siaciwena – Zambia Dr R Siaciwena – Zambia
Module 13 Lynette Anderson – Guyana Chris Joynes – UK
Tutor manual Martin Notley / Lew Owen / Catherine Atthill – UK
Thomas Abraham / David Maunders
Typesetters Klara Coco – Australia Decent Typesetting – UK
Editors Lew Owen / Paulette Bynoe Lyn Ward – UK
Tina Johnson - USA
Proofreader RMIT Andrew Robertson

The University of Huddersfield for the Curriculum Framework Document and the Editorial work on the
module content – Martin Notley and Lew Owen.
Pan-Commonwealth consultant in development of the CYP Diploma – Martin Notley.
The Commonwealth of Learning for the provision of technical advice and expertise throughout the process.

Commonwealth Youth Programme Diploma in Youth Development Work 3

Commonwealth Youth Programme Diploma in Youth Development Work

The CYP Regional Centres and the following institutions for conducting the Regional Reviews:
• CYP Africa Centre; Adult Learning Distance Education Centre, Seychelles; Makerere University, Uganda;
Management Development Institute, The Gambia; Open University of Tanzania; The Namibian College of
Open Learning; National University of Lesotho; University of Abuja, Nigeria; University of Botswana;
University of Ghana; University of Malawi; University of Nairobi, Kenya; University of Sierra Leone,
Fourah Bay College; University of South Africa; Zambia Insurance Business College Trust.
• CYP Asia Centre; Allama Iqbal Open University, Pakistan; Annamalai University, India; Bangladesh Open
University; Indira Gandhi National Open University, India; Open University of Sri Lanka; SNDT Women’s
University, India; Universiti Putra Malaysia.
• CYP Caribbean Centre; University of Guyana; University of the West Indies.
• CPY Pacific Centre; Papua New Guinea Institute of Public Administration; Royal Melbourne Institute of
Technology, Australia; Solomon Islands College of Higher Education; University of the South Pacific, Fiji
Islands.
Graphic Art – Decent Typesetting.
Final Module review – Magna Aidoo, Lew Owen, Paulette Bynoe.
Guy Forster for the module cover designs.

The CYP Youth Work Education and Training (YWET) Team

PCO Adviser: Youth Development YWET PACIFIC
Cristal de Saldanha Stainbank Jeff Bost
Tony Coghlan
YWET Pan-Commonwealth Office Sharlene Gardiner
Jane Foster Suzi Hewlett
Tina Ho Irene Paulsen
Omowumi Ovie-Afabor
Fatiha Serour Pan-Commonwealth Quality Assurance Team
Andrew Simmons (PCQAT)
Nancy Spence Africa
Eleni Stamiris Joseph Ayee
Ignatius Takawira Linda Cornwell
Clara Fayorsey
YWET AFRICA Ann Harris
Yinka Aganga-Williams Helen Jones
Gilbert Kamanga Fred Mutesa
Richard Mkandawire Asia
Valencia Mogegeh Thomas Chirayil Abraham
James Odit Shamsuddin Ahmed
Vinayak Dalvie
YWET ASIA Bhuddi Weerasinghe
Seela Ebert Caribbean
Raj Mishra Mark Kirton
Bagbhan Prakash Stella Odie-Ali
Saraswathy Rajagopal Carolyn Rolle
Raka Rashid Pacific
Rajan Welukar Robyn Broadbent
Ron Crocombe
YWET CARIBBEAN David Maunders
Armstrong Alexis Sina Va’ai
Heather Anderson
Henry Charles YWET Evaluators and Consultants
Kala Dowlath Chandu Christian
Ivan Henry Dennis Irvine
Glenyss James Oscar Musandu-Nyamayaro
Richard Wah
YWET PACIFIC
Afu Billy
Sushil Ram

4 Commonwealth Youth Programme Diploma in Youth Development Work

Module contents

Module overview.......................................................... 7
Unit 1: Ways of seeing young people .......................... 19
Unit 2: Adolescence ................................................... 59
Unit 3: Young people and the family ........................... 97
Unit 4: Young people and social issues.......................137
Summary ..................................................................171
Assignments..............................................................181
Readings ...................................................................183
Module overview

Introduction ................................................................. 9
Module learning outcomes ......................................... 10
About this module...................................................... 11
Assessment ................................................................ 12
Learning tips .............................................................. 15
Studying at a distance ................................................. 17
If you need help ......................................................... 18
 Module 2: Young People and Society

Introduction

Welcome to Module 2 Young People and Society. This module is

designed to help you understand some of the theoretical background
of youth development work, so that you can relate what you are
doing to the social context in which you are working.
You will already be aware that young people have roles and
responsibilities. These responsibilities are different in each society, yet
particular aspects are common across most societies.
In the module you will examine:
z how young people are seen in various societies, and from
different sociological perspectives
z the range of definitions of ‘youth’, ‘adolescence’ and ‘family’
z the problems and issues facing young people and the societies in
which they live.
Understanding the social situations of young people is crucial. This
module aims to illuminate the situation of young people in your
society by exploring what researchers and theorists have said about
youth in different social contexts, and relating that to general theories
about society.
Your role as a youth development worker is to help to improve
conditions for young people. In doing this, you will be helping to
develop the society in which they live.

Module overview 9
Commonwealth Youth Programme Diploma in Youth Development Work

Module learning outcomes

Learning outcomes are statements that tell you what knowledge and
skills you will have when you have worked successfully through a
module.

Knowledge
When you have worked through this module, you should be able to:
z describe the experience of growing up as a young woman or as a
young man, and the different perceptions held by young people
and adults
z outline and give a critique of different theories of adolescence
z analyse the position of young people in your society
z discuss the influence of family, peers and community on
individuals and groups
z discuss the range of social contexts as they relate to young people
in your region
z compare the ways in which different social and cultural traditions
treat young people.

Skills
When you have worked through this module, you should also be able
to:
z work in a way that is sensitive to social and cultural traditions
z identify situations in which you need to adapt your practice to
take account of different social and cultural traditions
z communicate your knowledge to young people and adults in a
way that is accessible to them.

10 Module overview
 Module 2: Young People and Society

About this module

Module 2 Young People and Society is divided into four units.

Unit 1: Ways of seeing young people

This unit will help you to define key concepts and to examine three
approaches to the study of society. You will also look at the ways in
which different cultures perceive young people.

Unit 2: Adolescence
In this unit, you will look at the concept of adolescence and how it
varies in different cultures.

Unit 3: Young people and the family

In this unit, you will examine types of families and the roles and
responsibilities of family members, including young people. We will
also apply the three sociological theories that we looked at in Unit 1
to families.

Unit 4: Young people and social issues

In this unit, you will look at some of the ways in which a society
deals with its young people. You will also analyse important issues
that are affecting today’s youth.

Module overview 11
Commonwealth Youth Programme Diploma in Youth Development Work

This table shows which units cover the different module learning
outcomes.

Module 2 Learning outcomes 1 2 3 4

Knowledge

1 Describe the experience of growing up as a x x x x

young woman or as a young man, and the
different perceptions held by young people
and adults.

2 Outline and give a critique of different x

theories of adolescence.

3 Analyse the position of young people in x x x x

your society.

4 Discuss the influence of family, peers and x x

community on individuals and groups.

5 Discuss the range of social contexts as they x x

relate to young people in your region.

6 Compare the ways in which different social x x

and cultural traditions treat young people.

Skills

1 Work in a way that is sensitive to social and x x x x

cultural traditions.

2 Identify situations in which you need to x x x x

adapt your practice to take account of
different social and cultural traditions.

3 Communicate your knowledge to young x x

people and adults in a way that is
accessible to them.

Assessment

Each module is divided into a number of units. Each unit addresses

some of the learning outcomes. You will be asked to complete
various tasks so that you can demonstrate your competence in
achieving the learning outcomes. The study guide will help you to
succeed in your final assessment tasks.

12 Module overview
 Module 2: Young People and Society

Methods
Your work in this module will be assessed in the following three
ways:
1 A written report of 2000–2,500 words (worth 50 per cent of the
final mark).
2 A review of the learning journal you keep (worth 20 per cent of
the final mark).
3 A written examination set by the institution in which you are
enrolled for this Diploma programme (worth 30 per cent of the
final mark). As an alternative to the examination, you may be
given the opportunity to complete a second written report of
1,000 words.
You will also do activities throughout this module that will help you
prepare for your major assignment, as well as for the final
examination. You will find full details of the assignment at the end of
the module.
Note: We recommend that you discuss the study and assessment
requirements with your tutor before you begin work on the module.
You may want to discuss such topics as:
z the learning activities you will undertake on your own
z the learning activities you will undertake as part of a group
z whether it is practical for you to do all of the activities
z the evidence you will produce to prove that you have met the
learning outcomes – for example, learning journal entries, or
activities that prepare for the final assignment
z how to relate the assignment topics to your own context
z when to submit assignments and when you will get feedback.

Learning journal
Educational research has shown that keeping a learning journal is a
valuable strategy to help your learning development. It makes use of
the important faculty of reflecting on your learning, which supports
you in developing a critical understanding of it. The journal is where
you will record your thoughts and feelings as you are learning and
where you will write your responses to the study guide activities. The
journal is worth 20 per cent of the final assessment. Your responses to
the self-help questions can also be recorded here if you wish, though
you may use a separate note book if that seems more useful.
Again, we recommend you discuss the learning journal requirements
with your tutor before you begin, including how your learning journal
will be assessed.

Module overview 13
Commonwealth Youth Programme Diploma in Youth Development Work

Self-test
Take a few minutes to try this self-test. If you think you already have
some of the knowledge or skills covered by this module and answer
‘Yes’ to most of these questions, you may be able to apply for credits
from your learning institution. Talk to your tutor about this.
Note: This is not the full challenge test to be held by your learning
institution for ‘Recognition of Prior Learning’.
Put a tick in the appropriate box in answer to the following questions:

Yes No More
or less

Can you describe the experience of

growing up as a young person?

Can you compare the perceptions of

a young person and an adult?

Can you discuss different theories of

adolescence?

Can you discuss the position of young

people in society?

Can you describe the influence of

family, peers and community on
individuals and groups?

Can you describe the range of social

contexts in your region?

Can you compare the ways in which

different social and cultural
traditions treat young people?

Do you work in a way that is

sensitive to social and cultural
traditions?

Do you recognise situations where

you need to adapt your practice to
take account of different social and
cultural traditions?

Can you communicate knowledge to

young people and adults in a way
that is accessible to them?

14 Module overview
 Module 2: Young People and Society

Learning tips

You may not have studied by distance education before. If so, here
are some guidelines to help you.

How long will it take?

It will probably take you a minimum of 70 hours to work through the
study guide for this module. The time should be spent doing the
activities and self-help questions, and completing the assessment tasks
and studying the readings.
Note that units are not all the same length, so make sure that you
plan and pace your work to give yourself time to complete all of
them.

About the study guide

This study guide gives you a unit-by-unit guide to the module you are
studying. Each unit includes information, case studies, activities, self-
help questions and readings for you to complete. These are all
designed to help you achieve the learning outcomes that are stated at
the beginning of the module.

Activities, self-help questions and case studies

The activities, self-help questions and case studies are part of a
planned distance education programme. They help you make your
learning more active and effective, as you process and apply what you
read. They will help you to engage with ideas and check your own
understanding. It is vital that you take the time to complete them in
the order that they occur in the study guide. Make sure that you write
full answers to the activities, or take notes of any discussions.
We recommend that you write your answers in your learning journal
and keep it with your study materials as a record of your work. You
can refer to it whenever you need to remind yourself of what you
have done. The activities may be reflective exercises designed to get
you thinking about aspects of the subject matter, or they may be
practical tasks to undertake on your own or with fellow students.
Answers are not given for the activities. A time is suggested for each
activity (for example, ‘about 20 minutes’). This is just a guide. It does
not include the time you will need to spend on any discussions or
research involved.
The self-help questions are usually more specific and require a brief
written response. The answers are given at the end of each unit. If
you wish, you may also record your answers to the self-help questions
in your learning journal, or you may use a separate notebook.

Module overview 15
Commonwealth Youth Programme Diploma in Youth Development Work

The case studies give examples, often drawn from real life, to apply
the concepts in the study guide. Often the case studies are used as the
basis for an activity or self-help question.

Readings
There is a section of Readings at the end of the study guide. These
provide additional information or other viewpoints, and relate to
topics in the units. You are expected to read them.
There is a list of references at the end of each unit. This gives details
about books that are referred to in the unit. It may give you ideas for
further reading. You are not expected to read all the books on this list.
Please note: In a few cases full details of publications referred to in
the module have not been provided, as we have been unable to
confirm the details with the original authors.
There is a list of Further Reading at the end of each module. This
includes books and articles referred to in the module and are
suggestions for those who wish to explore topics further. You are
encouraged to read as widely as possible during and after the course,
but you are not expected to read all the books on this list.
Although there is no set requirement, you should aim to do some
follow-up reading to get alternative viewpoints and approaches. We
suggest you discuss this with your tutor. What is available to you in
libraries? Are there other books of particular interest to you or your
region? Can you use alternative resources, such as newspapers and
the internet?

Unit summary
At the end of each unit there is a list of the main points. Use it to help
you review your learning. Go back if you think you have not covered
something properly.

16 Module overview
 Module 2: Young People and Society

Icons
In the margins of the Study Guide, you will find these icons that tell
you what to do:

Self-help question
Answer the questions. Suggested answers are provided at the
end of each unit.

Activity
Complete the activity. Activities are often used to encourage
reflective learning and may involve a practical task. Answers are
not provided.

Reading
Read as suggested.

Case study
Read these examples and complete any related self-help
question or activity.

Studying at a distance

There are many advantages to studying by distance education – a full

set of learning materials is provided, and you can study close to home
in your own community. You can also plan some of your study time
to fit in with other commitments, such as work or family.
However, there are also challenges. Learning away from your learning
institution requires discipline and motivation. Here are some tips for
studying at a distance.
1 Plan – Give priority to study sessions with your tutor and make
sure you allow enough travel time to your meeting place. Make a
study schedule and try to stick to it. Set specific days and times
each week for study and keep them free of other activities. Make
a note of the dates that your assessment pieces are due and plan
for extra study time around those dates.
2 Manage your time – Set aside a reasonable amount of time each
week for your study programme – but don’t be too ambitious or
you won’t be able to keep up the pace. Work in productive blocks
of time and include regular rests.

Module overview 17
Commonwealth Youth Programme Diploma in Youth Development Work

3 Be organised – Have your study materials organised in one place

and keep your notes clearly labelled and sorted. Work through
the topics in your study guide systematically and seek help for
difficulties straight away. Never leave problems until later.
4 Find a good place to study – Most people need order and quiet
to study effectively, so try to find a suitable place to do your work
– preferably somewhere where you can leave your study materials
set out ready until next time.
5 Ask for help if you need it – This is the most vital part of
studying at a distance. No matter what the difficulty is, seek help
from your tutor or fellow students straight away.
6 Don’t give up – If you miss deadlines for assessment pieces,
speak to your tutor – together you can work out what to do.
Talking to other students can also make a difference to your study
progress. Seeking help when you need it is a key way of making
sure you complete your studies – so don’t give up!

If you need help

If you have any difficulties with your studies, contact your local
learning centre or your tutor, who will be able to help you.
Note: You will find more detailed information about learner support
from your learning institution.
We wish you all the best with your studies.

18 Module overview
Unit 1: Ways of
seeing young people

Unit introduction ....................................................... 21

Unit learning outcomes .............................................. 21
The concepts of society and culture ............................ 22
Theoretical approaches to society ............................... 33
Defining youth ........................................................... 44
The nature of youth work ........................................... 51
Unit summary ............................................................ 54
Answers to self-help questions .................................... 55
References.................................................................. 57
 Module 2: Young People and Society

Unit introduction

Welcome to Unit 1 Ways of seeing young people. To work with young

people in a development programme, you need more than a

Unit 1
commonsense understanding of them. It’s important to have some
insight into how they come to be what they are. A crucial part of this
is to understand how they fit into their society, community and
family.
The way young people are perceived, and how the term ‘youth’ is
defined, are not the same in all societies and cultures. Therefore, to
grasp fully what is meant by ‘youth’, we have to examine what is
meant by ‘society’ and ‘culture’ and how they are interrelated.
Social theorists have developed three basic ways of explaining how
societies form in the ways that they do and why people behave as they
do. Each of these three approaches can contribute to our
understanding of how to work with young people. The three
approaches – functionalism, conflict theory and the interactionist
approach – are explored in this unit.
Following that, we will discuss the definitions of youth as an age
category, as a transitional stage and as a social construct.
Finally, we consider the nature of youth work and how your
understanding of young people’s experiences and their place in
society influences the way you work with them.
When you finish this unit you will have a working knowledge of how
young people are perceived by themselves and by others.

Unit learning outcomes

When you have worked through this unit, you should be able to:
z define the key concepts of society and culture
z outline three theoretical approaches to the study of society
z compare different ways of defining youth
z discuss different perceptions of young people in different cultures
z apply these ideas to different examples and your own view of
your role as a youth development worker.

Unit 1: Ways of seeing young people 21

Commonwealth Youth Programme Diploma in Youth Development Work

The concepts of society and culture

Young people do not exist in isolation; they are a part of their society
and culture. In fact, young people are defined by the society and
culture of which they are a part. Before we can understand fully what
the term ‘youth’ means, we need to look first at the concepts of
society and culture.

Society
Human beings are social beings. That is, we live together in societies
and communities. We talk to each other; we laugh and cry together;
we love and sometimes hate each other. What I do, and what you do,
affects others. We interact with each other and so develop social
relationships. By interacting with others, we change ourselves and
change them at the same time.

F B

E C

Relationships among individuals in a society

In the diagram above, A, B, C, D, E, F and G represent people living

in a social group. The arrows show that they have relationships with
each other. ‘A’ relates to ‘B’ and ‘B’ relates to ‘A’, and so on. The
arrows also show that they affect and influence each other.
Human beings are not the only creatures that live in societies. There
are other social creatures, such as ants, termites, bees, monkeys and
apes (to name only a few). Social creatures are highly organised. Each
individual (or group of individuals) has specific tasks to perform. This
idea is emphasised by the ecosystem concept that you will meet in
Module 13 Sustainable Development and Environmental Issues.
Picture some ants going to or from their nest, carrying food. If you
get the chance, spend a few minutes watching some real ants, or bees
in a hive or a colony of termites. Perhaps you could talk to someone
who has studied similar creatures.

22 Unit 1: Ways of seeing young people

 Module 2: Young People and Society

You will probably notice at least three things about the ants.
1. As social creatures, ants communicate with each other as they
pass each other.
2. If an ant is trying to carry a piece of food that is too large, it
enlists the help of others, or others come to its aid.

Unit 1
3. If an ant is injured, the others don’t just leave it there, they carry
it back to the nest.
So, what can we learn from the ants? Observations reveal that
creatures living collectively need to develop complex social
relationships and communication systems in order to be able to live
together successfully. It is known that in ant colonies, groups of ants
have different, specialised tasks to perform. They are able to transmit
crucial information (about food, danger and changed conditions)
rapidly, through a complex, shared signalling system. Some of the
ants form specialised groups of workers who go out to look for food.
Others make up the various specialised groups of ‘warriors’ who
guard the nest. The task of the Queen Ant is to lay huge numbers of
eggs, and her attendants protect and nurture the eggs and the Queen.
All of this information is built into the ants’ collective
communication system.
What all this makes clear is that the condition of living in social
groups means that, though individual members may experience their
worlds individually, they must interact socially.
All creatures that live in societies must have certain basic processes in
common. The members of the society, whether they are human
beings, ants or monkeys, must communicate and relate to each other.
They must also be protected from harm or danger. One source of
danger is from changes in their environment, such as wind, rain,
snow and heat. But harm can also come from predators – animals
that prey on other animals. Human beings build shelters to protect
themselves. They also select some people to lead and guide them,
others to protect them physically, others to develop specialist
knowledge that will protect them against the dangers of disease and
environmental change, and so on.
At the base of collective insect societies there appears to be an
overwhelming drive and a system to ensure the survival and
continuity of the social group. All the sub-systems of their collective
behaviour are subordinate to that. In order for the society to continue
when members die or are killed, the population balance must be
restored in such a way that the social group can survive. It can be
argued that this collective drive is there in human groups as well. But
the sub-systems of human societies are much more adaptable and
complex. For example, we exchange members with other social
groups to guarantee long-term prosperity and survival. We even
engage in social revolutions, if possible, when it is recognised that the
leaders of our system threaten our collective survival. No matter how
much we disagree and quarrel, for a society to survive there must be a

Unit 1: Ways of seeing young people 23

Commonwealth Youth Programme Diploma in Youth Development Work

significant level of collective action – some general commitment to

fulfil the tasks that have to be done. There must be enough consensus
about shared common values and objectives to keep us working
together, or at least an ability to manage our disagreements.
Obviously, not all the members of a society have the same values and
goals and not all are agreed about the essential tasks that have to be
done. It is normal enough for individuals and groups to be in conflict
with each other. Some conflict is inevitable, and even desirable, in a
complex human society.
In many developing societies today, because of the ethos of rapid
change, young people find themselves in a situation where there is a
continual struggle to reach a minimum level of agreement about what
the society should believe in and what goals it should pursue, if it is to
survive and prosper. Under the impact of these group processes,
young people are having continually to reconstruct their skills and
renegotiate their identities. The youth development worker is very
important in this process.

Activity 1.1
(about 10 minutes)
Use your learning journal to write your own definition of what
you observe society to be, based on your experience and on
what you have just read.
Write short notes about how you see the role of the youth
worker.

You will get a chance to add to these first thoughts later.

Defining culture
The concepts of society and culture are closely related. Sometimes
the terms are used almost interchangeably.
Culture can be defined simply as the total way of life of the people
living in a society. Culture encompasses all that people know, say and
do as members of a particular society. The anthropologist, Sir
Edward B. Tylor, gave a comprehensive definition of culture:
“… that complex whole which includes knowledge, belief, art,
morals, law, custom and any other capabilities and habits
acquired by man as a member of society.”
(Tylor, 1871).

Every society has a culture, a constructed way of life, no matter how

simple that culture may be. We are all immersed in the culture or
cultures that we share with our social group. The requirements of
living in the culture permeate every aspect of our being.

24 Unit 1: Ways of seeing young people

 Module 2: Young People and Society

Members of a society usually share a common culture, which they

have to learn. They may also belong to subcultures which they
acquire within or around the main culture (such as Maasai culture
within Kenyan culture). Those subcultures may be very different from
the main culture, and may well be in conflict with it. What is more,
they may for periods belong, while inside the subculture, to an even
smaller subculture with an ethos dramatically different from

Unit 1
mainstream culture and even from the subculture. You will be able to
analyse how this works later on, with an account in Case study 1.3 of
the differences of culture between junior warriors and elders among
the Ilparakuyo Maasai of Tanzania.
Culture is not inherited. Culture is transmitted from generation to
generation and member to member of the social group. Children
acquire it by being immersed in it, usually from birth. The prevailing
expectations of our culture normally tend to limit our behaviours and
values to those of the cultures we live in and identify with.
In Case study 1.1, a teenage Caribbean girl describes a social event in
which she took part. As you read, think about her experience,
comparing it with what might or might not happen in your own
culture.

Case Study 1.1

My first dance
‘I will never forget the first public dance I attended. I was fifteen years
old and there were two reasons why my father allowed me to go to
the dance. Firstly, it was being held in the hall of my school and
secondly, my big brother was going to be there as well. If the dance
had been scheduled for the nightclub at Fort James-by-the-Sea, there
was no way my father would have given me permission to go. He said
that the atmosphere of a nightclub is too seductive.
I wore a blue dress that my friend Janet had made. I spent the whole
day polishing my fingernails, crimping, and curling my hair. But I
also remember the anxiety; the fear of being a wallflower. Us girls sat
in chairs lining the walls of the hall. The boys milled around, chatting
and joking with each other until the music started up. With a rush
they all went quickly to the line of girls, asking them to dance. Would
I be picked? Would I be left out? I tried to look unconcerned as one
girl after another left her seat. The boys held the girls’ hands as they
led them onto the dance floor. Their bodies pressed lightly on each
other as they started to dance to the rhythm of the steel band. But the
embrace didn’t last long. The steel band was playing a jumpy calypso
and soon every boy and girl was twirling and twisting away, doing
their own thing.
Thank God, I wasn’t left out. Yes! I was among the last to have been
asked to dance, but I made it onto the dance floor! Never mind my
partner was not the most popular boy in our set. At least I was not

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Commonwealth Youth Programme Diploma in Youth Development Work

still sitting in my seat like Karen. There she was, trying to look as
though she didn’t care that almost everyone else was dancing.’

Activity 1.2
(about 15 minutes)
Based on your reading of Case study 1.1, reflect on the
following questions and record your responses in your learning
journal.
1. Do teenagers in your culture go to these sorts of dances?
2. Are teenage boys and girls allowed to dance with each
other in public? If not, why?
3. Do fathers in your culture decide what types of public
activities their teenage daughters and sons can engage in?
4. In your culture, are older brothers given the responsibility
of protecting younger sisters, as indicated in the case
study? If they are, in what circumstances do they do this?
5 Can you sympathise with the young girl’s fears of being
rejected or left out of the dance? Do her fears make sense
to you?
6 Clearly, dancing is important to the young people in the
case study. Why is this?

For some cultures, the practice of young people dancing in public

with a member of the opposite sex is not allowed. Even the thought
of holding the hand of a member of the opposite sex, unsupervised,
may be disturbing. If you find the experience of the young girl in the
passage strange, you will realise that cultures differ widely. What is
acceptable behaviour in one culture may be totally inappropriate in
another. Observing and comparing behaviours in different cultures
helps us to understand young people’s different experiences of
growing up.

Activity 1.3
(about 10 minutes)
Use your learning journal to write your own definition of
culture, based on what you have just read and on what you
know from experience.

Again, you will get a chance to add to these first thoughts later on.

26 Unit 1: Ways of seeing young people

 Module 2: Young People and Society

Defining society
You will have your own view of the nature of society and culture.
Now let’s refine our definition of society by looking at the concept of
society in two ways:
z first at a concrete level

Unit 1
z then at a more abstract, theoretical level.
First, let’s look at the concrete level of political economy. At this level
society can be viewed as an entity – something that has a distinct and
independent existence. We can think of a human society as consisting
of a population of individuals who occupy a particular territory, who
have some form of shared government and who share some common
patterns of behaviour.
For example, in Nigeria, in spite of the existence of at least three
major separate cultures, at a general level we can still speak
meaningfully of a Nigerian society. The same is true in Pakistan,
where there are large cultural divergences between the different states.
Jamaican society and English society are much more homogeneous,
though there are still considerable regional differences of culture.
Governments usually have a vested interest in emphasising the unity
of their societies rather than the rich differences of culture. When you
work with young people, however, they may tend to identify
themselves more with core elements of their cultural experience
rather than with the larger society. Young Kashmiris from Pakistani
Kashmir may see themselves first as Kashmiris and Muslims, and
secondly as Pakistanis. If so, you may have to engage with them on
that basis first, before you tackle the broader, societal issues with
them. In the developing world, where the social formations are
frequently the complex outcome of tribal relationships and colonial
social engineering, the youth worker has to tread extremely carefully.
Let’s look more closely at the example of Nigeria again to illustrate
this point. The Federal Government of Nigeria is the government of
a huge population occupying a vast, internationally recognised
territory – Nigeria. But the name of the government tells us that this
is really a powerful federation of large states, not a single nation state.
The similarities between the federal constitution and the regional
constitutions are deceptive and hide wide differences of practice.
Nigeria was constructed by colonial powers out of separate,
ethnically disparate societies. Several of them throughout history
have been hugely influential, with separate complex and vigorous
cultures, and involved in serious disputes, sometimes war, with each
other.
If we look at the Nigerian society at a global level, we would be
referring to a specific population called the Nigerian people, as
distinct from other peoples such as the Ghanaians or Kenyans. The
members of that population share a common culture: some patterns
of interpersonal behaviour, ‘hi-life’ and juju music, plaiting of the hair

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Commonwealth Youth Programme Diploma in Youth Development Work

in intricate designs and so on. These are the norms of general

Nigerian culture. But at the deepest levels of beliefs and values and
felt experience, there are considerable differences in religious
orientation, family and community expectations and adaptation to
the postmodern world, because of the influence of religious, tribal
and regional differences. And the youth worker has to take account of
that.
Now let us look at a more abstract or theoretical level. At this level we
can define society as a ‘system of social relationships between
individuals and groups’. Individuals and groups in a society interact
with one another and develop crucial social relationships. Young
people negotiate their identities first at the subjective, interpersonal
level.
One of the first social relationships to be established is that between a
mother and her child. From the moment children are born, they
interact closely with their mothers (or substitute mothers) thereby
forming the core experience of their personal relationships,
something that normally lasts throughout the lifespan.
But that is not the level of personal identity that they engage with
when they find themselves in group situations such as cultural
gatherings. Sometimes, such gatherings end in riotous, even violent,
behaviour. Family and community elders, knowing a young person at
the interpersonal level, may not be able to recognise the youth who
has rioted as the person they know. Of course, it’s not the same
features of the youth’s identity that have caused the violence. This has
come from a different level of identity: the identity that is negotiated
inside the subcultural group that rioted and the situation in which it
rioted, not the one that is constructed around family and intimate life.
The following case study gives an account of culturally influenced
behaviour. It tells us something about the way culture affects young
people’s negotiation of their identities. When you have read it, do the
activity that follows.

Case Study 1.2

London’s Notting Hill Carnival
A recent study by a UK Open University team includes a film of the
Notting Hill Carnival in London, run by people who originated in the
Caribbean but are now living in London.
The Carnival is world famous, and has been at times ‘infamous’
because of riots that have sometimes broken out. Over the years there
have been many explanations put forward for the rioting, including
the claim that ‘people are different when they are in large crowds;
they are mindless and just go along with the crowd.’ The Open
University team show clearly that this is a myth, that one of the most
infamous Notting Hill riots was brought about by ‘insensitive
policing’, by the failure of the police to ‘read’ the cultural meaning of

28 Unit 1: Ways of seeing young people

 Module 2: Young People and Society

the abnormal behaviour of the Afro-Caribbean youths, which had

then broken out into riot.
The origins of the carnival are in Jamaica, where one of the carnival’s
purposes is to renegotiate, at least for a time, the ordinary
community’s relationship with authority, and where it is normal to
see the police during carnival dancing alongside the community – a

Unit 1
clear break from their normal, tough, policing role. The effect and
value of this is that it reduces tension in the community.
The youths who rioted in Notting Hill were trying to negotiate
something similar, perhaps to make London feel friendlier and more
homelike to them. When the police investigated the causes of the riot,
and learned the reasons for it, it is to their credit that the following
year they softened up considerably, and the carnival was as peaceful
and beautiful as it should be. The same abnormal behaviour took
place, but the police treated it very tolerantly and empathetically. So
important bridges were built in the area between young Afro-
Caribbeans and authority, and these have tended to last.

Activity 1.4
(about 10 minutes, not including the discussion)
Note what the case study suggests about how culture
influenced the youths’ attitude to the carnival and their sense
of identify.
If possible, discuss the Notting Hill example with friends, and
consider how it may be relevant to the role of a youth
development worker.
Write your notes in your learning journal.

Next we look at the impact on society of economic conditions.

Society and the economy

‘People are as the time is.’ This is a slightly adjusted version of a line
from Shakespeare’s play, King Lear. It reflects the fact that society and
culture change with the social and economic conditions. Therefore
the way that people’s identities are constructed also changes.
Take the example of China over recent years. Twenty-five years ago,
the public and the social behaviour of most of the people from the
People’s Republic of China were collectivist. The Cultural Revolution
– which aimed to create a fully collectivist, co-operative ethos by
reducing the contradictions between town and country, manual and
intellectual labour, teachers and taught – had only recently finished.
Everyone tended to dress in the same, fairly drab tunic suits, and

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Commonwealth Youth Programme Diploma in Youth Development Work

millions rode bicycles or walked. Individual identities were played

down in favour of collective values.
Today, in China’s rapidly developing cities and regions, the opposite
is true. The new middle classes negotiate their identities around how
much money they earn, or make through entrepreneurial activity,
compared with others. They buy huge amounts of consumer goods,
and take pride spending a lot of money on a car or jewellery, in
boarding their children in famous schools in metropolitan countries,
and in setting up businesses and making profits wherever possible
around the world. These people are vastly different socially and
culturally from their parents. They are developing a new Chinese
consciousness: they are engaged in the struggle of all against all,
which is the very core of the global free market. Young middle-class
people are consequently very like young people in the metropolitan
countries: many of whom drink and take drugs and attempt to live
free sexual lives when they find themselves in a situation where that is
possible, while at the same time struggling to become rich adults.
The reason for the change is that the ruling Chinese Communist
Party has changed, because of the earlier failure to lift the country out
of its under-developed state by the method of cultural revolution. It
has accepted the strategy of setting free the market forces of
capitalism and the psychological force of individualism, under a
protective state umbrella. Given the size and potential wealth of
China, this will rapidly transform the country’s capacity to develop.
The classical capitalist free market principle is that the rich will
produce so much wealth that this will generate prosperity for
everybody through new businesses and so on, built on the private
investment of the rich. Perhaps when that development has taken
place, the Chinese government will seek to revert to collectivist
principles of distribution of wealth. Or perhaps those who have
become wealthy will persuade the rulers of the country that the new
individualist values will always be best for China. Who knows?
Now turn to Reading 1: ‘The Global Economy’ by Pam Woodall and
Reading 2: ‘The Threat of Globalization’ by Edward S. Herman.
These discuss opposing views of the global market and of the
capacity of the free market to generate wealth for the mass of a
country’s population.
Read these articles now and use them to stimulate your own views.
For example, compare the views that are expressed with your own
experience and knowledge. As the articles were written several years
ago, how far do their arguments still hold true?

To explore further the impacts of economics on society and culture,

we look at the examples of Britain and Commonwealth countries.
The economic and social theories that dominate Commonwealth
countries have also gone through great changes since the Second
World War.

30 Unit 1: Ways of seeing young people

 Module 2: Young People and Society

In 1945, under the influence of social democratic economists and

politicians, certain collectivist ideas came to dominate public thinking
in Britain as a result of the failure of free market capitalism in the
period before the war. The national health and education systems
were set up: health became free at the point of delivery; a system of
free secondary education for all was developed, so that all children
could stay at school until the age of 15, later 16. In order to guarantee

Unit 1
a proper balance between spending and investment, to prevent the
horrible results of the downswings of trade in the capitalist
marketplace, the economy became more state-managed, sometimes
with huge state corporations guaranteeing jobs and investment to
millions of people. People constructed their identities around their
places in this semi-collective system, and youth work principles were
semi-collectivist in nature. These ideas were exported to the
Commonwealth.
However, this system increasingly failed to meet its competitive
targets as the world changed under the impact of new technology and
with the advance of powerful new economic competition as
globalisation speeded up. Western industrial societies have
consequently become increasingly influenced by the idea that markets
are better at allocating and generating resources than governments,
and that increase in government authority leads to socialism,
totalitarianism and loss of freedom. This idea was exported to the
Commonwealth under the aegis of aid, accompanied by the threat of
structural adjustment. It has massively affected human values and
behaviour in Britain and in parts of the Commonwealth.
Margaret Thatcher (Prime Minister of the UK from 1979 to 1990),
once stated: ‘There is no such thing as society. Only men and women
and families.’ This was an attempt to legitimate individualism against
collectivism. It undoubtedly reflected massive changes in social
behaviour. Some of the consequences can be seen now in the
weakening of civil society in some deprived UK inner-city areas. This
is expressed powerfully in Noel Clarke’s film, Kidulthood (released in
February 2006). A gifted actor and writer, Clarke grew up in a
deprived suburb in London. The film is his attempt to show clearly
the degree of violence and promiscuity that some young people are
experiencing as they negotiate the new identities they feel they need
to take on in order to deal with deprivation and individualism.
These free market ideas argue for minimum government control of
economic and social activity: no tariffs or control of trade, no control
of wages or work conditions, no preference to local industry or the
labour market. If you grow bananas on a small farm in the Windward
Islands, you may question the ethics of this, but not if you manage a
rich multinational. Interestingly, the USA, the home of free market
capitalism, is very careful to protect its agriculture and certain key
industries.
You may live in a Commonwealth country where your village, tribe
or clan (these are English words for structures that may be a
significant part of your culture) still operates on a communal or

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Commonwealth Youth Programme Diploma in Youth Development Work

collective basis, perhaps with a paternalistic rural elite (as in

Bangladesh, for example). If so, you will find this embedded in
people’s values, assumptions and behaviour. You may be helping
people to set up individual small businesses, but you will have to
construct your ideas around the paternalist, collectivist attitudes and
skills that the young people have.
Even if in the end you ask young people to embrace free market
values, it is important to recognise that ideas of market economics are
theories constructed by people, not fixed scientific laws (though some
people argue that they are). Today, metropolitan countries and
international companies are putting more and more pressure on
collectively organised societies to become more individualistic.
(Marginson, 1993).
This section has illustrated the way economic changes affect society,
culture and identity. The next self-help question will help you bring
together the main points from the unit so far.

Self-help question 1.1

(about 5 minutes)
Read the following statements and decide whether they are
true or false.

True False
1 Human beings are the only social
creatures.
2 People inherit their culture from their
parents.
3 The members of a society share some
common patterns of behaviour.
4 The members of a society must be in
agreement all the time if the society is
to survive.
5 Cultures are the same the world over.
6 People develop many social relationships
throughout their lifetimes.
7 Societies are organised systems of social
relationships between individuals and
groups.
8 Economic conditions do not affect
people’s identity.

Compare your answers with those provided at the end of the

unit.

32 Unit 1: Ways of seeing young people

 Module 2: Young People and Society

Theoretical approaches to society

In this section, we will be discussing three approaches to the study of

society:
z the functionalist perspective

Unit 1
z the conflict perspective, which includes such variations as
Marxism and radical feminism
z the interactionist perspective.
We also look at the concept of social exclusion and the idea of the
underclass.
Each perspective is a coherent system of ideas, beliefs and values, by
which we can try and understand society. The approaches are
sometimes employed uncritically, as an ideology (unquestioned belief
system), but that is not the intention here.
If we understand the way a particular perspective explains things, it
often gives us some insight into what is happening in society. Then, as
we understand the next perspective, it enables us to see other things
going on, or to see the same things in a quite different way. As a
learner on this programme, you are not expected to take on any of
these perspectives and use them as a personal approach. The aim is to
help you examine how your society works.

Functionalist perspective
The functionalist (or structural-functionalist) perspective is one of the
oldest sociological theoretical frameworks. Functionalism is based on
the work of thinkers such as Emile Durkheim (1858–1917). The
major assumption is that a society is like a biological organism. Just
as an organism is composed of many parts, each with its own
functions, so too a society has many parts, each with its own
function.
In a biological organism such as a human being, the heart has a
particular function to perform: it pumps blood throughout the body.
Similarly, the lungs, the feet, the digestive system: each performs a
specific function or functions, to maintain the working of the whole
body. According to the functionalist view, society too has various
parts, which perform specific but interrelated functions, which help to
maintain the social order.
Functionalists consider the parts of a society to be institutions. In this
context, institutions are organised patterns of behaviour relating to
major areas of life, such as the family, politics, education, religion and
the economy. A functionalist would argue, for example, that the main
function of the institution of the family is to reproduce and train new
members of society. Functionalists make certain other assumptions
about the way societies are organised.

Unit 1: Ways of seeing young people 33

Commonwealth Youth Programme Diploma in Youth Development Work

They assume that:

z societies are structured with members relating to each other in an
orderly manner and acting according to norms or expected
patterns of behaviour
z societies tend to be stable and orderly because parts of society are
constructed to perform functions that help to maintain it, for
example the police. Change may come about, but to the
functionalist it has to be gradual if the whole society is to
maintain orderliness.
However, not all patterns of behaviour, nor all institutions, function
for the good of the society. For example, the established behaviours
and institutions relating to the buying, selling and use of illegal drugs
are harmful to society. The functionalist describes these as
dysfunctional. Functionalists maintain that society has to try to
eliminate dysfunctional behaviour patterns. Society will use its
various tools to try to restore ‘equilibrium’ – an evenly balanced order
where all the parts of society are in harmony.
You can see immediately how the functionalist view is likely to affect
youth workers. As you will see later in this module, the majority of
youth policies and practices focus on attitude and behaviour change.
In your society, there is likely to be a dominant view about which
norms and values young people ought to conform to.
Do you think that part of your role as a youth development worker is
to use the youth service to help young people acquire the behaviours
of the established order, so that the stability of society can be
maintained? Is this the view of young people in your society? Does
this view underpin youth policy? If so, then recognise that these views
would be described as functionalist.

34 Unit 1: Ways of seeing young people

 Module 2: Young People and Society

Self-help question 1.2

(about 10 minutes)
Fill in the spaces in the following statements, which are based
on the functionalist perspective.

Unit 1
A functionalist would say:
1 Social systems tend to be relatively stable and persistent.
_________ is usually gradual.
2 Patterns of established behaviour are called _________.
3 The members of a society must have a minimum level of
__________ about values and norms or the society ceases
to exist.
4 If a part of society is not performing its function well or is
bringing harm to the society, it is said to be
_____________.
5 When the members of society act according to norms, the
society is said to be ____________.
6 When parts of society become disruptive, the society tries
to _____________ the unwanted behaviour patterns.

Compare your answers with those provided at the end of the

unit.

Conflict perspective: Marxist and radical feminist

dimensions
There are various social conflict theories, ranging from the structural
conflict theories of Max Weber, to radical feminism. However, all
have their roots in the philosophical writing of Karl Marx (1818–
1883).
The conflict perspective is a radical alternative to that of the
functionalists:
z Functionalists stress that the basic nature of society is that of
organisation, order and stability.
z Conflict theorists stress that social order is only on the surface,
that underneath there are deep conflicts of interest among the
various social groups, and this suppressed conflict is what leads
to social change and development.

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Commonwealth Youth Programme Diploma in Youth Development Work

Marxism
According to Marx, economic relationships are the basis of human
existence. In order to survive, human beings must produce food and
shelter. It is primarily for this reason that we enter into social relations
with each other to satisfy our economic needs. Fundamentally, we
measure our relationship with one another as social groups, in terms
of the differences of wealth that we have got as a result of these
relations.
Marx said that the means of production (land, factories, money for
investment, raw materials and machines) as well as the social
relations of production, form the basis of society. All other aspects of
society (its values, ideas, beliefs, politics, law, education and so on) are
largely shaped by economic forces and the social relations of
production. These other aspects Marx called the ‘superstructure’.
Marx further maintained that every society contains basic
contradictions, which involve the exploitation of one social group by
another. Groups within a society are in constant underlying conflict
with each other. For example, in a capitalist society, the capitalists
(the owners of the means of producing wealth) have a major interest
in maximising their profits in order to manage and develop their
businesses. This is in direct conflict with the immediate interests of
those who work for them, whose motivation is to secure the best
wages they can for their labour. That contradiction spreads out into
the struggle for what share each class gets of the best housing, health,
education. Although it is not usually visible as a class struggle, the
major social classes are always engaged in struggle.

Let’s take two examples of class struggle, from Bolivia and the UK.
Sometimes the working classes win a battle, as when the Bolivian
Workers’ Party won their first democratic election in 1952. When this
party failed to keep the original wealth and power balance in Bolivia,
the landowning and business elite used the army to remove them
from power.
In the UK, the struggle between the middle classes and working
classes used to be quite open and confrontational. For example, when
new working-class housing estates were built next to middle-class
suburbs, sometimes the middle classes tried to prevent this. In several
cases they insisted that walls and fences be erected to prevent
working-class people from easily walking past middle-class houses to
get home. In African cities too, middle- and upper-class homes are
often protected by huge chain-link fences, savage dogs and guards,
and are very separate areas from the township areas of poorer people.
In the UK after the Second World War, the semi-collectivist social
democratic government, by instituting free secondary education for
all, displaced the class struggle from the suburban housing estates to a
more silent struggle in the classroom. Here, the curriculum for

36 Unit 1: Ways of seeing young people

 Module 2: Young People and Society

working-class pupils was at a much lower level than for middle-class

pupils, their teachers were not as qualified, and spending on them was
significantly less than on most middle-class pupils. The pupils’
performance results reflected this. By the 1970s, the chance of a child
from an unskilled manual working-class UK family of getting to
university was less than it had been before and just after the First
World War.

Unit 1
Whatever version of conflict theory is espoused, conflict theorists
disagree strongly with the functionalist position that societies are
essentially stable. On the contrary, they argue that societies are in a
state of constant underlying struggle, with no real consensus about
values and norms, only periods of temporary peace between the
conflicting groups who are in competition over resources.
For example, the influence of feminism has forced changes in the law
in many countries to make unequal pay for the same work illegal.
That was a bitter struggle between men and women in parliaments
and in civil society, and the results have been very uneven, but it has
theoretically changed the employment position of women
permanently. The war against apartheid in South Africa was to some
extent a class struggle as well as a racial struggle, and it made possible
the very slow raising of the social position and wealth of poor black
workers.

Radical feminism
Radical feminists do not see the basic struggle in society as the
struggle between capitalists and workers, but between men and
women. They argue that the control of society by men – patriarchy –
is the root of all the other social inequalities, oppressions and
injustices. There are, of course, several softer versions of this position,
from liberal feminism to Marxist feminism. There is certainly
evidence world-wide to support this position. It has been estimated
that women do 65 per cent of the world’s work, and own only 10 per
cent of the world’s wealth.

No matter what Commonwealth country you come from, you may

recognise similar patterns in your society, of struggle between social
classes and between men and women. If you work for a multinational
company, you are likely to be part of a trade union or professional
association in order to protect your conditions of employment, or
even to prevent the firm going to another country where conditions
are better, because of management’s need to maximise profits. And
you will almost certainly be part of a growing struggle concerning the
relative position between men and women.
The ideas and actions of groups within society can contribute to
change. Various groups have different goals, and individuals and
groups are always introducing new ideas, and new ways of doing
things that impinge on the old ways. There are also individual people

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Commonwealth Youth Programme Diploma in Youth Development Work

and groups who do not conform to the accepted patterns of

behaviour. Conflict theorists say that a lack of general agreement is
always present in every social system.
In addition, conflict theorists emphasise that coercion (the use of
force based on power) is found in all societies. They argue that in
every society some people or groups have more power than others.
Their power is mainly derived from their control of economic
resources. These groups usually constitute a minority of the
population. They use their power to persuade others to conform to
their ideas, beliefs and values. Thus, a minority of the ‘haves’ control,
oppress and coerce the ‘have-nots’. This can be done in a civilised
way, but sometimes is not. This has been very evident in the power
struggles in Latin America and Central America, for example in
Chile and Nicaragua, where the elites have been supported by their
own armies.
A person’s class position or gender will largely influence their
behaviour, their ideas, their values, and indeed their whole outlook on
life.
We can summarise the assumptions of conflict theory as:
z conflict and change are inevitable in society
z individuals and groups struggle over scarce economic resources in
society
z there is an underlying lack of consensus about values and norms
z power is unevenly distributed in society. It is generally in the
hands of a minority who control the economic resources.
Think about how this perspective would affect youth workers and
their view of their role. For example, do you think part of your role is
to help young people to struggle against dominant interests or to gain
a larger economic share? Do these views underpin youth policies? If
so, then recognise that these views represent a conflict perspective.

38 Unit 1: Ways of seeing young people

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Self-help question 1.3

(about 5 minutes)
Tick whether the following statements are true or false,
according to conflict theories.

Unit 1
True False
1 Society is stable. † †
2 Change is normal in societies. † †
3 Everyone in society has equal access to power. † †
4 The members of a society share a common
value system. † †
5 Various groups in society have conflicting
interests. † †
Compare your answers with those provided at the end of the
unit.

Interactionist perspective
What functionalists and conflict theorists have in common is that
they both look at society as a whole. They study society in terms of
the large structures and forces that shape it. However, this macro
(broad) view of society is criticised as inadequate by some of those
who call themselves social interactionists.
Interactionists attempt to arrive at an understanding of how society
works and how it develops the larger structures, by examining the
processes by which small groups of people interact with each other.
They examine the way people use symbol systems (such as those we
find in language) to communicate and to build up patterns of
behaviour that turn into social roles and eventually into the large
social structures. Interactionists express strong disapproval about the
fact that small groups of individuals, who are really the actors who
construct society, have been left out of the picture by the
functionalists and conflict theorists. This model of society is
particularly relevant to youth work.
A basic assumption of the interactionist viewpoint is that social actors
like you and I attach symbolic meaning and significance to our
actions and our language. Thus, in order to understand social action,
we must be able to interpret the symbolic meanings that individuals
give to their activities. To interactionists, meaning depends partly on
the context of the interaction.
Let’s take the following scenario as an illustration of this. Picture a
large, healthy-looking cow standing in a pasture. In different societies
or cultures (different contexts) the picture of a cow may evoke various

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Commonwealth Youth Programme Diploma in Youth Development Work

reactions. The cow may symbolise different things to different people.

To an American tourist, the picture of the cow may evoke reactions
about the possibility of a high quality meal: a nice, juicy steak they
can afford to buy. To a Hindu, the picture of the cow may evoke
strong feelings of reverence, as the cow is a sacred being to Hindus.
To a subsistence farmer in the Caribbean, the cow symbolises hope
and survival for the family.
For these three people, the cow means something different, and they
may act very differently. For example, feeding huge amounts of good
vegetable feedstuffs to the cow in order to turn it into steak meals
lasting a few days, when it could sustain a family for many years with
its milk and manure for crops, would either horrify subsistence
farmers or cause them to accord high status to someone who can
afford to behave like this.
Interactionists maintain that, within a particular society or culture,
the members always share a common set of symbols so that they can
communicate the same meanings to each other. Language embodies
these sets of shared symbols. So do the popular icons of our culture,
such as the quality of the motor car we drive, the media celebrities
our journalists celebrate, the houses we live in. These have great
meaning for us and considerable cultural power.
Through our agreement in a cultural form of life, we can then use our
ordinary language as a system of symbols that allow us to share our
understanding of the meanings we appear to have given to these
symbols. However, when we examine these symbols carefully, we
soon realise that they often influence us to accept the social structure
as the elite have formulated it. For example, some people travel to
foreign countries on aeroplanes and this may give their family
superior status, but this behaviour ignores the fact that every time we
fly we help to pollute the environment (which has consequences for
everyone, particularly for the poor). We need to be aware that
language and icons may be crucial to elites aiming to maintain their
power invisibly through social interaction.
It is through interaction with others that we develop social awareness
and build a concept of ourselves. Our self-concept is largely
determined by how we think others see us. This is conveyed in the
language people use about us. It can also be conveyed through the
symbolic tests we are set, for example intelligence tests. Indeed this is
the theoretical underpinning of what is called ‘labelling’ theory in
education, or the ‘self-fulfilling prophecy’, where if someone is
strongly aware of how they are viewed, they will act in ways that
support that view.
How does the social interactionist perspective affect youth workers
and their view of their role? Take the example of ‘labelling theory’. If
a youth or community worker keeps telling a young person that they
are nothing but a troublemaker, then that young person will tend to
become the troublemaker they have been labelled. Another example
is when schools label pupils as unintelligent, based on their failure to

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 Module 2: Young People and Society

learn something. This will usually have a depressing effect on pupils’

willingness to learn and on their self-confidence, even though the
failure is the fault of the teaching system, not of the pupil.
It is for this reason that we stress the need for youth development
workers to try to help young people build positive images of
themselves as far as possible through the way we talk with them, and

Unit 1
encourage them to talk themselves.

Self-help question 1.4

(about 10 minutes)
Fill in the spaces in the following statements, based on the
interactionist perspective.
1 Explanations of social life are to be found at the
__________ level.
2 ________________ is the basis of communication between
individuals and groups.
3 The meanings people give to social action vary with the
____________ in which the action takes place.
4 Interactionists tend to focus on __________ groups rather
than society as a whole.
5 Through ________________ with others, we develop our
self-concept.
Compare your answers with those provided at the end of the
unit.

Social exclusion
Social exclusion has been defined as being ‘a shorthand label for what
can happen when individuals or areas suffer from a combination of
linked problems such as unemployment, poor skills, low incomes,
poor housing, high crime environments, bad health and family
breakdown. It can also have a wider meaning which encompasses the
exclusion of people from the normal exchanges, practices and rights
of society.’ (Neighbourhood Renewal Unit, 2007.)
The concept can be interpreted in a variety of ways, reflecting
different social approaches and perspectives. Here we consider it in
relation to structural adjustment policies.
Structural adjustment is a process though it is often assumed to be
just an economic policy. It is becoming an increasingly necessary
response to the requirements of market economics. This means that
governments can no longer afford to use public money to create jobs
or boost education enough to lift generations of poor families out of
poverty. Instead, everything is becoming funded by what the market

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Commonwealth Youth Programme Diploma in Youth Development Work

in human labour requires. Where it requires only low skills or creates

generational unemployment, then funding on education and the
community falls. With the growth and acceleration of the global
market, the effect on schools and communities has become severe.
Large pockets of unemployed or semi-employed people form who are
unable to keep up their educational and skill development under the
new regimen. This means that they cannot compete for jobs in the
new industries. In some communities, even in metropolitan countries,
there are now many families where several generations have never
worked and have to exist on benefits and on what they can make in
the ‘grey economy’. These communities or individuals may be
described as socially excluded.
Problems for young American people in transition from school to
work were described by free market theorists of the radical right, such
as Charles Murray. He argued these problems were the result of the
emergence of a deviant, welfare-dependent and dangerous underclass.
Murray’s work in the USA identified particular groups (usually
African and Hispanic Americans) who, he claimed, espoused values
outside of, and in conflict with, mainstream society. According to
Murray, they didn’t want to join mainstream society, didn’t want to
work and intended to live off welfare benefits all their lives.
Extending his work to the UK in the 1980s and 1990s, Murray
focused on areas of generational unemployment and economic
depression, such as the north east of England. He argued that young
people in places in the north east constituted an underclass, where
crime, unemployment and single motherhood were typical. He
argued that these people were poor through their own actions and
values and that their anti-social and anti-work cultures threatened the
moral and social health of society. (MacDonald, 1997 and 1998).
This argument was favourably received by right-wing governments
(such as those headed by Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher in
the 1980s) which were eager to cut welfare benefits and other
programmes which might not have any immediate economic benefit.
The essential point of Murray’s argument is that young people’s
attitudes and values had led to them being poor and unemployed.
Many left-wing commentators agreed that many young people were
excluded from mainstream society, but argued that this was a result of
social and economic policy and that the values and behaviour of the
‘underclass’ were a survival strategy for poor people. Howard
Williamson, a British youth worker, coined the term ‘status zero’ for
young people aged 16 to 27 who were not in education, training or
employment. While their position seemed hopeless, he argued that
most subscribed to mainstream society’s goals (for example, they
wanted jobs, and they wanted to own houses and support families by
their efforts). He wrote:
“The ‘underclass’ is a convenient ideological tool for either
abandoning any commitment to the poor and disadvantaged, or
cultivating popular support for more coercive measures. The

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 Module 2: Young People and Society

irony, in our view, is that either of these measures is in fact

likely to create and solidify an underclass. It becomes a self-
fulfilling prophecy.”
(Williamson, 1995)

The underclass debate is largely conducted in urban industrialised

societies. It is an example of labelling. (Another example is the

Unit 1
frequent use of the term ‘hoodies’ in the UK media to lump together
young people (mainly young men) who wear hooded sweatshirts as a
threatening, possibly criminal subgroup.) There are groups of young
people who are excluded from mainstream society in other countries,
for example the ‘rascals’ (criminal gangs) in Papua New Guinea.
Turn now to the extract in Reading 3: ‘Structural adjustment and
education’, by Lynn Ilon. As you read, think about whether or not
you can recognise the impact of structural adjustment and other
economic processes on your own society and community. If possible,
discuss these questions with colleagues. Then do Activity 1.5.

Activity 1.5
(about 15 minutes, not including the discussion)
Drawing on Reading 3 and your own observations, answer the
following questions. Note your responses in your learning
journal.
1 Are there groups of young people in your community who
are excluded from the mainstream?
2 How are they described?
3 What are their values and actions?
4 Do you think that they have brought about their own
exclusion, or is it a result of social and economic policies?
5 If you see no such excluded group, are there dangers of
some young people being excluded in future?
How you answer these questions will depend on your own
context and experiences. If you have the time, discuss your
thoughts with others – co-workers, family, friends, tutors or
supervisors. Consider how the concept of social exclusion and
labelling of youth as an underclass affect youth workers and
their view of their role.

In this section we have looked at theoretical approaches to the study

of society and how these may affect youth development work. Next,
we go on to look at different ways of perceiving young people.

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Commonwealth Youth Programme Diploma in Youth Development Work

Defining youth

In this section of the unit, we analyse three ways of looking at the

concept of young people.
We shall be looking at youth as:
z an age category;
z a transitional stage between childhood and adulthood (including
here a discussion of some gender issues)
z a social construct.

An age category
Youth as an age category is the most conventional, popular and
common-sense way in which youth has been defined.
Those who think about youth principally in terms of an age category
argue that this defines youth best. They point to the similarity of
experiences that young people of the same age tend to have. These
common experiences are what make young people define themselves
as sharing the same position. For example, they may all feel
themselves to be powerless in a world where adults have the power.
The main problem with using an age definition is that it is difficult to
reach a reliable consensus as to where youth begins and ends. An
example of this difficulty is shown in the two different age bands
adopted by the leading international organisations concerned with
youth. The United Nations’ age band is 14–24 years, while the
Commonwealth Youth Programme uses 15–29 years. The elastic
concept of youth is illustrated in Malaysia, which has an age band
stretching from 15–40 years old. It is significant to note also that the
Malawian National Youth Policy agreed to an age band of 14–25, but
points out the difficulties in accepting this range:
“It is recognised that youth is not only a chronological
definition, but also a term commonly used to describe roles in
society ascribed to the young. This policy, therefore, will be
flexible to accommodate young people under 14 years and over
25 years depending on their social and economic
circumstances.”
“The age definition, despite its limitation, offers a certain
statistical utility as well as the practical convenience of a
definitive social group, which has its own specific problems and
needs.”
Age may be a necessary characteristic of any definition of youth, but
it can never be an adequate definition on its own. Some social factors
will always have to be added. In the quotation above, it is social and
economic circumstances as well as age that define whether a person
comes under the Malawian National Youth Policy.

44 Unit 1: Ways of seeing young people

 Module 2: Young People and Society

There has been further criticism of the practice of using only the age
criterion to define youth. State officials tend to favour the exclusive
use of the age criterion because this allows them to ignore the
problems of class and gender inequality among young people. For
instance, they may define the social unrest that is caused by poverty
as something that young people do. By doing this, they are able to
ignore the fact that it tends to occur among poor young people.

Unit 1
Activity 1.6
(about 1 hour)
If you can, try to find a copy of your country’s national youth
policy. Your tutor should be able to assist with this. If this isn’t
possible, you can call the relevant department or ask someone
who might know the answers to the following questions:
1 What is the agreed age band used to define youth in your
community?
2 What are the reasons given for using this particular age
band?
3 Do you think this age band is appropriate for youth in your
society? Explain why, or why not.
4 What aspects of the position of young men and women in
your society does the use of this age band reflect?
Write your answers to these questions in your learning journal.

A transitional stage
Four significant happenings mark the transition from childhood to
adulthood, according to Mitterauer (1993), a social scientist who has
researched how the conceptualisation of youth has changed over time
in Europe. He maintains that these transitional markers have
remained fairly stable over time. They are:
z leaving home
z finding employment
z setting up home
z marriage.
However, Mitterauer points out that these transitional markers have
limitations in helping us to define who young people are. Not only do
their meanings and the order in which they occur differ from region
to region, but they might also differ significantly for men and women.

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Commonwealth Youth Programme Diploma in Youth Development Work

As he puts it:
“Youth, as a period of transition to adulthood, is not usefully
categorised in this way, because the timing of these aspects of
transition, their meaning and their order of occurrence differ for
young men and young women, and from one region to another,
reflecting urban-rural differences as well as regional economic
differences.”
(Quoted in Wyn and White, 1997:14)

Of course, they also differ from society to society or from culture to

culture.

Gender and transitional markers

For many societies or cultures the four traditional markers described
above would seem to be applicable to both male and female. But
other transitional markers are traditionally applicable only to young
men. For example, until recently, in many societies or cultures,
recruitment into the army was for males only. This transitional
marker, which is a sign of achievement of adult status, was applicable
only to males.
In addition, the point has to be made that the very concept of youth is
deeply embedded in the practices of patriarchy – male domination
and control of society. It should not be a surprise, then, that when we
use or hear the term ‘youth’, we usually have a mental image of a
young male.
This point can be emphasised by the fact that in the UK in the late
1960s and early 1970s, a lot of work was done on spectacular youth
sub-cultures such as hippies, mods and rockers. Later, the spotlight
was turned on the punk rockers, and on hip-hop and rap. The one
thing they had in common was their almost exclusive focus on the
activities of young men. When young women did appear in the
results of the research, it was merely as an appendage to the activities
of young males.
The invisibility of girls raises interesting and relevant questions:
z Were young women really absent from those youth sub-cultures?
z Or were they there but simply rendered invisible because of the
gender bias of sociological research?
It appears that many of the researchers who studied these youth sub-
cultures were men who started from the premise that the sub-cultures
were predominantly male.

So far in our analysis of youth as a transitional stage, we have implied

that there is a distinction between youth status and adulthood.
Adulthood is assumed to be the end or destination of youth. One of

46 Unit 1: Ways of seeing young people

 Module 2: Young People and Society

Mitterauer’s transitional markers to adulthood is having a job. But is

this a reasonable marker?
The impact of world economics, and in particular the effects of
structural adjustment programmes being implemented by many
developing countries, have meant that youth unemployment has been
extremely high. Does this mean that young unemployed persons,

Unit 1
particularly males, cannot make the transition to adulthood? And
what about those older persons who have been structurally adjusted
out of a job? Do they lose the status of adulthood? These kinds of
concerns show that there are further limitations to the concept of
youth as a transitional stage.
Finally, we have to ask the question: Does youth exist as a stage at all?
Mitterauer’s research was done in Europe. His concept of youth,
therefore, is Eurocentric, that is, based on European culture and seen
through European eyes. In some other countries, it would appear that
even the stage which is supposed to precede youth, namely,
childhood, does not clearly exist. A glance at the data for child labour
raises questions about this stage. According to the International
Labour Organisation in 2002 worldwide some 211 million children
aged 5–14 could be found at work, the vast majority in developing
countries.
It is the existence of data such as these that compels another
researcher, Boyden, to conclude that the conceptualisation of
childhood and youth as an ideal period, characterised by innocence,
safety and happiness, is nothing more than a myth. This myth he
claims is:
“… built around the social preoccupations and priorities of the
capitalist countries of Europe and the United States.”
(Quoted in Wyn and White, 1997: 10)

Boyden (1990) produces powerful evidence from his own research to

support this conclusion. He shows, for example, that in India,
children are expected to work. They work not only for economic
reasons, but also because of the belief that they should engage with
adult life as early as possible.
As we have seen, there are limitations on the use of age-related
criteria and transitional markers to define youth as the stage between
childhood and adulthood. This view implies that becoming a youth is
mainly a matter of growing older, leaving childhood behind and
preparing to move on to adulthood. It emphasises the biological
factors that determine the stage of being a youth, since we know that
every individual grows older biologically.
However, it is difficult to define exactly where the biological processes
that define youth begin and end. Thus, we cannot say that youth is a
natural category. Similarly, we know that youth is not the same the
world over. Therefore, youth cannot be a universal concept. Finally,
we know that the social meaning of youth one hundred years ago was
not the same as it is today. The concept of youth changes over time.

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Commonwealth Youth Programme Diploma in Youth Development Work

Therefore, the concept is not ahistorical (independent of its place in

history).
In summary, if we conceptualise youth purely as an age category or
as a transitional stage between childhood and adulthood it will be
inadequate. This is because:
z it fails to take into account the specific race, gender, class or
cultural context in which a young person actually negotiates his
or her life
z it ignores the problems raised by the assumption that there are
clear and absolute differences between childhood, youth and
adulthood
z it encourages the view that youth is a biologically determined
process that is natural, universal and ahistorical.

A social construct
Our common-sense theories tell us that we know what youth is. After
all, we have all been young and we see young people around us all the
time. We can generally tell what people’s ages are by looking at them
and we have a concept of what people are like at those ages. But our
views are strongly influenced by the views our society holds.
Every society creates ways of seeing youth. To put it another way,
every society constructs views of youth. These social constructs of
youth are not necessarily biologically or socially true, nor do they
always show youth the way they really are psychologically. So, social
constructs are not always based on objective reality – the way things
really are.
For instance, in some societies, the past is seen as a golden age and
the present a sad departure from the glories that once were. Adults
often see young people as more rebellious, ruder and more
disobedient to their parents than they were themselves when young.
Is this view likely to be true? Young people certainly do not see
themselves in this way. Nevertheless, if we are to work with young
people towards constructive change, we have to get as close as
possible to an objective understanding of what ‘youth’ really means in
the situations we will work in.
One of the best ways of understanding the social construction of
youth is to study how other societies construct views of young people.
These views differ from society to society. A comparison of different
views can help us to understand our own views.
Youth can be an astonishingly brief period in some societies, such as
those where the people live by hunting and gathering. There, the skills
required for survival are usually acquired in childhood. These skills
are usually needed as early as possible in adult roles.
In other societies, particularly late capitalist economies such as those
of present-day Europe and the USA, the concept of youth, or at least

48 Unit 1: Ways of seeing young people

 Module 2: Young People and Society

of young people, is being stretched further and further. As structural

adjustment continues to create extended periods of unemployment,
especially for school leavers, people tend to remain longer in the
category of youth. Today, in many western countries, the category of
youth even seems to include people in their early thirties.
The following case study is an anthropological account of a

Unit 1
dramatically marked process of transition from that of warrior youth
to junior elder among the Ilparakuyo Maasai of Tanzania. It shows
how in this society, cultural patterns of behaviour are incorporated in
the social construct of youth.
This case study has been adapted from the book Persistent Pastoralists
by Peter Rigby (1985).The Ilparakuyo Maasai are pastoralist – cattle
herders. Although to many of us, the events in the passage may seem
strange and exotic, they took place in Tanzania at a time when that
country was under the leadership of Nyerere’s TANU party, when
Tanzania was already a highly sophisticated society. Note that the
passage speaks of watches, radios, bicycles – all modern articles.

Case Study 1.3

Transition from youth among the Ilparakuyo Maasai of
Tanzania
The term olpul means both a meat-feast and the place at which it
occurs. No beast may be slaughtered inside the homestead or
anywhere within eye range of it.
No men of the ilmurran age grade (warriors), particularly junior
ilmurran, may eat meat that has even been looked upon by a mature
married woman; therefore no ilmurran may eat meat within the
homestead. In proper (full-scale) olpuli, ilmurran, unmarried girls and
lovers, as well as some uninitiated youths and servants, may attend.
They are often accompanied by senior elders who act as ritual
advisers and tutors during the sometimes extended stay (between two
and three months) at olpuli.
Great quantities of meat, fat, soups and medicines are consumed at
olpuli, which are carried out in remote, thickly forested areas where
strangers, or persons in the categories not allowed to attend, are
unlikely to stumble upon the feast. Shelters are constructed both for
the meat and the participants by the ilmurran and the young girls, and
the order of slaughter of the beasts is decided upon. As the meat is
consumed in ever greater quantities, mixed with a wide range of
medicines, the ilmurran begin to sing songs of olpul, especially the
enkipolosa, which induce trance and shaking, and violent behaviour, a
desirable state to be in before battle.
But olpuli in themselves are, and always have been, essential for the
following reasons: before a circumcised youth becomes a full warrior,
he must contribute a first beast at olpul, which gives him entoroj
(special status). Until he does so, he cannot attain entoroj and

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Commonwealth Youth Programme Diploma in Youth Development Work

therefore cannot transfer fully from the status of circumcised initiate

to that of olmurrani (full warrior).
Once a youth has qualified by contributing to an olpul, the full force
of sanctions concerning meat eating apply to him: he has now
achieved entoroj. This means that he must never eat alone, or drink
milk alone – he must be with at least one other age-mate. He cannot
eat meat anywhere near or in the homestead; and he is free to claim
full rights of hospitality from every member of his age-set. He must
share everything, including his most prized possessions, including
watches, radios, bicycles, etc. with his age-set and never deny them
anything within the normal bounds of reason, no matter where they
come from. Most of the positive injunctions of entoroj last a lifetime,
even when the individual reaches senior elderhood; but the negative
prohibitions fall away gradually. Thus, throughout the extended
period of olpul, the theme is the separation from the community of
the main participants. They are, in a sense, wild, associated with
nature, danger, bravery and death.
Before olpul is closed, word is sent to the homesteads of all those
concerned to prepare the mutai feasts with which they are welcomed
back. Mutai is composed of normal food, of milk, maize, ugali and
vegetables. The olpul is finally over, the participants reabsorbed, some
of them in their full new status, into the community.

Activity 1.7
(about 20 minutes)
After reading this case study, analyse how this society defines
youth.
z What are the key features that indicate to the Ilparakuyo
Maasai what the term ‘youth’ means in their society?
z How does this differ from your country? What are the key
features there than indicate what the term youth means to
your society.
Write your answers in your learning journal.

With this activity, which ends the section on defining youth, you may
have been able to bring together aspects of age, transition and social
views of youth as well as ideas about society and culture from earlier
in the unit.
To end the unit, we will examine the nature of youth work in relation
to ways of seeing young people.

50 Unit 1: Ways of seeing young people

 Module 2: Young People and Society

The nature of youth work

As you continue to read this module and do the activities, you need to
bear in mind that in your work you will be dealing with real young
people in a real world. The experiences you have had personally, your
background, your age and your gender will all affect how you relate

Unit 1
to the young people with whom you work.
The following case study gives one person’s reflective views about the
nature of youth work.

Case Study 1.4

A view of youth work
‘I am an educator, an academic and a somewhat older person who is
still involved in youth work. However, I feel some ambivalence and
anxiety about intervening in the lives of young people.
When I was a youth worker out in the field, I always thought that
youth work was not a lifelong career in the traditional sense. I
thought that it was a job that I should only do while I was still young
and energetic, and while I felt that I was still in touch with young
people. I figured that once I lost that feeling and my youthful energy,
then young people would begin to see me as just another brick in the
wall – and an old one at that! That would be the time to get out! Yet,
today, I am still in youth work and I still have the same ideals I had
when I started out.
When I moved into management and administration, I felt somewhat
uneasy about old (or should I say older?) people making and
implementing policy for younger people.
This could only be a good thing if, by being older, youth workers can
help young people because they have more knowledge about the
social structure than young people do. But do we?
Some of these thoughts come from my own experience of
parenthood. I have one son who has just turned twenty-one, and
another who is about to enter the period commonly known as
adolescence. I am therefore firmly on the far side of the generation
gap.
I am at once too close to young people for comfort and too far from
them to find the easy solutions to their problems that I would like. I
am too close in terms of dealing with the fears (and joys) of parenting
in a context where the threat of AIDS, violence and unemployment,
are all too real. I am too far in the sense that I no longer live in their
reality. I am in fact an outsider, so I have to intervene in their world
from a distance. So when I say to my younger son, ‘I was young once
you know’, he simply replies, ‘Yes, but that was a long time ago,
Dad.’

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Commonwealth Youth Programme Diploma in Youth Development Work

I sometimes wonder whether the experience of youth in the 1960s is

similar enough to the experience of youth in the second millennium
to enable me to bridge the so-called generation gap. The answer is
probably ‘Yes, to some extent’, but some similarity is not enough.
What we need is an ability to get inside the minds of the young
people we work with, so we can fully empathise with them. But we
need also to have a scientific understanding of what is happening in
the social world in which they have to make the journey to
adulthood.’

There are two aspects to working with young people that we have to
take into account:
z what young people feel and think
z what their place in the society really is or might be.
One anxiety you may feel is that you are out of touch with young
people. For example, in a society where there are street gangs, young
people may congregate on street corners. Many of the members of
these gangs are likely to be male. If you are female you may find it
very difficult to interact with these young people. This is a problem
that is difficult to overcome. In such a situation, you may have to
work alongside a male colleague or find a creative way of getting
these young men to interact with you in a neutral place. But we
recognise also that in some cultures, it may not be possible at all for a
female youth worker to work with young men.
Possibly, you are worried about your ability to get close to the current
thinking of young people. But remember that, if the police learned
the lesson about insensitive policing in the Notting Hill Carnival, so
can you.
This module and some of the others will give you the chance to do
some action research – research that is quick and simple and close to
the action. Action research will give you the chance to:
z find out what’s going on by talking to and observing young
people and reading about the situations young people find
themselves in
z formulate a theory about what it means and what to do about it
z do some investigation
z evaluate the results.
Action research can become a standard technique in your youth in
development work practice.
You may also be concerned that your own interpretations (theories)
about what is going on in the society around you are inadequate.
That is a problem for all of us. But one of the major purposes of this
Diploma is to give you a better understanding of the social world and
how to deal with it.

52 Unit 1: Ways of seeing young people

 Module 2: Young People and Society

Action research should become a basic technique used in the

planning and design process of project work, and in solving problems.

Activity 1.8
(about 20 minutes)

Unit 1
Now look back at the work you did in Activities 1.1 and 1.3.
Review your definitions of society and culture and your notes
about how you see the role of the youth worker. Add to them
in the light of what you have learned in this unit. You may find
it useful to discuss your ideas with others – co-workers or a
tutorial group.
Write your responses in your learning journal.

The final activity in this unit is an activity which you will continue
throughout the module.

Activity 1.9
(on-going)
As a continuing activity throughout this module (and indeed
throughout the Diploma), listen to the voices of young people
themselves.
Hear their opinions about the issues that affect them. Discuss
with them your own views and aim to present the ideas you
learn from the module in a way which they can understand.
You could also collect material from newspapers, magazines or
other media that express young people’s voices.
Reflect on what you hear. How does it relate to the ideas you
learn in the module? How may it affect the way you work with
young people?
Keep a record of these young people’s voices, your discussions
and your reflections in your learning journal.

This on-going activity will help you connect your learning to real life.
It will also feed into your assignment at the end of this module.

Unit 1: Ways of seeing young people 53

Commonwealth Youth Programme Diploma in Youth Development Work

Unit summary

In this unit, you have considered:

z what is meant by the concepts of society and culture and how to
define them.
z three main approaches to the study of society – the functionalist
approach, the conflict theory approach (looking specifically at
Marxism and at radical feminism) and the interactionist
approach. You saw that each approach makes basic assumptions
about how society is organised and approaches it from a different
perspective, and that no single approach is necessarily right or
wrong.
You also looked at:
z social exclusion and the theory of an ‘underclass’
z different ways of defining youth: as an age category, as a
transitional stage, and as a social construct.
Finally, you reflected further on the nature of youth work and your
role as a youth worker.

In Unit 2, we will examine the concept of adolescence.

To check how you have got on, look back at the learning outcomes
for this unit and see if you can now do them. When you have done
this, look through your learning journal to remind yourself of what
you have learned and the ideas you have generated.

54 Unit 1: Ways of seeing young people

 Module 2: Young People and Society

Answers to self-help questions

Self-help question 1.1

1 False – there are many other animals and insects that are social
creatures e.g. wasps and monkeys.

Unit 1
2 False – young people tend to LEARN (not inherit) their culture
from adults.
3 True – members of a society share patterns of behaviour, such as
dress code and attitudes to music and dancing, and beliefs such as
religion.
4 False – individuals and groups are often in conflict with each
other. However, if the members of a society do not have a
minimum level of solidarity and some measure of consensus of
values and goals, the society will cease to exist.
5 False – cultures vary from society to society, country to country.
6 True – people develop many relationships throughout a lifetime;
the first is usually with the mother or mother substitute.
7 True – societies are organised systems of social relationships
between individuals and groups.
8 False – society and culture change with economic conditions and
these in turn affect the way people’s identities are constructed.

Self-help question 1.2

According to the functionalist perspective:
1 Social systems tend to be relatively stable and persistent. Change is
usually gradual.
2 Rules or patterns of established behaviour are called norms.
3 The members of a society must have a minimal level of consensus
of values and norms or the society ceases to exist.
4 If a part of society is not performing its function well or is
bringing harm to the society, it is said to be dysfunctional.
5 When the members of a society act according to the norms, the
society is said to be structured.
6 When parts of a society become disruptive, the society tries to
eliminate the unwanted behaviour patterns.

Self-help question 1.3

According to the conflict theory or Marxist perspective:
1 False – individuals and groups struggle over scarce economic
resources in society.

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Commonwealth Youth Programme Diploma in Youth Development Work

2 True – conflict and change are normal in societies.

3 False – power is generally in the hands of a minority who control
the economic resources.
4 False – a person’s class will influence their behaviour, ideas and
values.
5 True – the owners of production (the haves) want to maximise
profit while the workers (the have-nots) want to secure adequate
wages for their labour. This is a conflict of interest.

Self-help question 1.4

According to the interactionist perspective:
1 Explanations of social life are to be found at the micro level.
2 Language is the basis of communication between individuals and
groups.
3 The meanings people give to social action vary with the context in
which the action takes place.
4 Interactionists tend to focus on small groups rather than society as
a whole.
5 Through interaction with others, we develop our self-concepts.

56 Unit 1: Ways of seeing young people

 Module 2: Young People and Society

References

Boyden, J. (1990) ‘Childhood and the policy makers: A comparative

perspective on the globalisation of childhood’ in James, A. and Prout,
A. (eds.), Constructing and Reconstructing Childhood: Contemporary Issues
in the Sociological Study of Children, Falmer, London.

Unit 1
International Labour Organization: [Link]
MacDonald, R. (ed) (1997) Youth, the Underclass and Social Exclusion,
Routledge, London.
MacDonald, R. (1998) ‘Youth, Transitions and Social Exclusion:
Some Issues for Youth Research in the UK’, Journal of Youth Studies,
Vol. 1 No. 1.
Marginson, S. (1993) Education and Public Policy in Australia,
Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.
Mitterauer, M. (1993) A History of Youth, (trans. Dunphy), Blackwell,
Oxford.
The Neighbourhood Renewal Unit (NRU), UK:
[Link]
Rigby, P. (1985) Persistent Pastoralists. Nomadic Societies in Transition,
ZED Books, London.
Tylor, E. B. (1871) Primitive Culture, Vol. 1, John Murray Publishers,
London.
Williamson, H, (1995) ‘Status Zero and the underclass; some
considerations.’ Paper presented to Youth 2000 Conference,
University of Teesside.
Wyn, J. and White, R. (1997) Rethinking Youth, Sage, London.

Unit 1: Ways of seeing young people 57

Unit 2: Adolescence

Unit introduction ....................................................... 61

Unit learning outcomes .............................................. 61
Describing and defining adolescence........................... 62
Psychoanalytic theories of adolescence ....................... 75
Sociological theories of adolescence ........................... 87
Unit summary ............................................................ 92
Answers to self-help questions .................................... 93
References.................................................................. 95
 Module 2: Young People and Society

Unit introduction

Welcome to Unit 2 Adolescence. In Unit 1, we discussed youth as a

transition stage. We indicated that youth is often perceived as a clear-
cut stage between childhood and adulthood. We showed, however,
that this view has serious limitations.
In this unit, we will be looking at another concept that is critical to an
understanding of how young people are perceived. We will discuss

Unit 2
the concept of adolescence, which is generally held to be a stage
through which all young people must pass. You will discover that this
concept, too, means different things in different societies and cultures.
We then examine critically psychoanalytic and sociological theories
of adolescence.

Unit learning outcomes

When you have worked through this unit, you should be able to:
z compare different experiences of adolescence in different cultures
z relate these accounts to ways of defining adolescence and to the
perspectives you studied in Unit 1
z summarise and critique different theories of adolescence (the
‘nature/nurture’ debate and psychoanalytic and sociological
theories)
z use your own evidence to analyse experiences of adolescence in
your society, including the ideas of the generation gap and
identity crisis.

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Describing and defining adolescence

You need to be aware that understanding society and what happens in

it has three dimensions:
z First, to understand what is happening socially around you, you
need to know what people think is happening around you. This is
because people act on the basis of the way they see things, and in
doing so, they influence what happens.
z Second, you need to understand the various underlying social
forces that create and influence the situations you are trying to
understand. These forces may be economic or political or
cultural, for example.
z Third, you need to grasp the social processes through which
things are made to happen. These processes include: human
interaction, the effect of the value system on people’s behaviour
and the way language and other symbols (such as dress, cars and
animals) are used as tokens of wealth or power.
In this unit, we will be focusing on all three dimensions in an effort to
understand the concept of adolescence. You should note that Unit 4
of this module addresses adolescence issues related to drug abuse,
among other things. However, for more details on such issues you
should consult Module 12 Youth and Health.
In this section, we explore how the term ‘adolescence’ describes a
process.
We start with a general discussion of the idea of adolescence as a
process, then compare two case studies that describe how adolescence
is seen, the first in the Bemba culture in Zambia and the second in an
urban culture. We then examine other ways of describing and
defining adolescence in terms of age, development and life stages.
Finally, we look at whether nature (biology) or nurture (environment)
has more impact on the process of adolescence.
The term ‘adolescence’ describes a process of maturation or growth,
rather than a category of youth. The term is applied to quite a short
period of time in an individual’s life. It is regarded as starting with
puberty, the biological stage when girls and boys begin to develop
secondary sexual characteristics, such as body hair on sexual organs,
menstruation in girls and the ability to ejaculate in boys. It ends when
the basic maturation process (at the physical, psychological and social
levels) has been completed.
Before we look at this process, let us look at some common notions
about adolescence.

62 Unit 2: Adolescence
 Module 2: Young People and Society

Rebellious
All teenagers
behaviour always
hover on the
means there are
edge of serious
developmental
behaviour
problems
problems

Peers, not parents,

Unit 2
are the main
influence
There’s an
insurmountable
generation gap
in every family.’

Bad friends lead good

kids astray Most adolescents reject their
parents’ standards and
values

Adolescence in the Bemba culture

What follows is an account of female adolescence as a transition
from girlhood to womanhood. The ceremony described is practised
by some (though not all) members of the Bemba people in Zambia.

Case Study 2.1

The Bemba Chisunga ceremony
In the Bemba tradition generally, the Chisunga ceremony secures the
transition from a calm but unproductive girlhood to a more
challenging and fertile womanhood.
The ceremony takes place after a girl has had her first period and after
this event has itself been marked by a separate puberty rite. The
puberty rite may involve ceremonial washing of the girl and isolation
indoors before her return to the community. The girl then waits until
it is convenient for her Chisunga ceremony to begin.
This ceremony is composed of many individual rituals, including the
physical testing of the girl through various ordeals, her social
isolation as a form of ritual separation and the singing of ritual songs.

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Commonwealth Youth Programme Diploma in Youth Development Work

The ceremony lasts for over a month and ends with the girl’s change
of status being marked by the end of her social isolation.
The girl is bathed, dressed in new clothes, brought out of the hut, and
placed on a new mat outside the door. The girl sits in silence in front
of the villagers, who throw small presents onto the mat. The
Chisunga prepares girls for marriage, by teaching them the secrets of
Bemba women, by making them grow, and by making them women.
At the end of the ceremony, girls are considered ready for marriage,
and often, a marriage ceremony immediately follows.
Richards, cited in Pilcher (1982), p. 66.

Activity 2.1
(about 15 minutes, not counting discussion)
Try to imagine what it is like to be a Bemba girl during the
Chisunga ceremony. This exercise in empathy is difficult but
worth doing as it is a technique you can use when working with
young people who have undergone very different experiences
from yourself.
Think about the questions below. If you can, discuss this case
study with others (friends, peers, family, tutors). Write your
responses in your learning journal.
z Why do you think the girl’s social isolation is one month?
z What do you think is the significance of the rituals of
bathing and dressing the girl in new clothes and then
having her brought out of the hut?
z What positive functions do you think are fulfilled by this
ceremony?
z How are these functions fulfilled in your society or
community?

We can guess that up to this point the young girl has lived as a girl-
child, having fun with her peers, but obedient and hard-working
around the home. She must have been looking towards her future role
as a wife and mother and acquiring many of the techniques, attitudes
and values of that role. But the process of transition has to be
symbolically marked, so that grasping the meaning of being a woman
takes her across a mental and cultural boundary.
For some young girls, having a first period may be a shock, but in
some cultures, it may be socially constructed as being an everyday
matter. For example, there is some evidence to show that women and
young girls fighting in liberation struggles have, of necessity, to treat
the onset of menstruation without much attention or any markers.

64 Unit 2: Adolescence
 Module 2: Young People and Society

However, it seems important for the Bemba to use it as a symbolic

marker of transition to womanhood, because it powerfully
strengthens that sense of a climactic change taking place. Some call
this a rite of passage to a new phase in a woman’s life. This transition
is managed through the initial ritual washing of her body to remove
the sense of identification with childhood, and through the (perhaps
traumatic) isolation and the testing ordeals. A Bemba girl may be a
little afraid as she anticipates being married to a man. The ritualistic
experiences, many of them very new experiences to the individual,
must make her realise how challenging her new role will be, and how
strong she will have to be to deal with it. In short, the Chisunga
ceremony forces her to change the way she structures her perception

Unit 2
of herself.
This process of transition is effectively managed in a few weeks. They
will be weeks of intensely heightened psychological and spiritual
sensitivity, of turbulence, of uncertainty, of self-doubt, as the young
woman internalises the new conceptual structure. Her new awareness
of herself as woman, of leaving childhood behind, must be
accomplished in this very short time.
The function that the Chisunga ceremony most likely has in Bemba
tradition is to ensure that key adult roles are filled without too much
disruption in a subsistence farming community where roles are very
clear.
If similar ceremonies persist today in areas where there is a cash-crop
economy or an urban industrial economy, it would be interesting to
find out why. One possible reason why they may still take place is that
ideas, beliefs and symbolic systems like the Chisunga ceremony tend
to change more slowly than socio-economic conditions. Also, despite
the emergence of new power groupings based on new ways of
acquiring wealth, the links to the traditional power groupings based
on subsistence farming may still be strong. Extended family
structures, which embrace the older relatives as well as the younger,
more modern members, are likely to still exist.
From this discussion on the Bemba people, it is clear that the process
of transition from child to adult takes just a few weeks in that society.
Many of us would not normally think of adolescence in terms of
such a short period. But really, what we mean by adolescence is a
process of transition, whether this process takes a few weeks or all of
the teen years.

Adolescence in metropolitan and urban cultures

In the next case study, we present a view of adolescence in the UK,
which has a mainly urban, metropolitan culture. This passage
illustrates another perception of adolescence and the way the process
of transition takes place.

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Commonwealth Youth Programme Diploma in Youth Development Work

Case Study 2.2

Youth transitions
Rather than seek a complex and often unsatisfactory age definition
for youth, many academic writers have defined it as a series of
transitions. Achieving the status of adulthood is thus dependent upon
successfully making at least some of these transitions, rather than
reaching some arbitrary chronological age.
The main transitions of youth which are of critical importance are as
follows:
z the transition from full-time education and training to a job in the
labour market (the school-to-work transition)
z the transition from family of origin (mainly the biological family)
to family of destination (the domestic transition)
z the transition from residence with parents (or surrogate parents)
to living away from them (the housing transition).
One of the main concepts to theorise transitions is the concept of
‘career’. By career is meant the sequence of statuses through which
young people pass as they move from childhood dependency to
adulthood. Some of these statuses may be prescribed by law, some
will be the result of the intervention of an ‘agency’ of the state, such
as doing compulsory military service, while others will be ‘chosen’ by
young people themselves, although often under the strong influence
of their parents. But whatever the basis on which a particular status is
allocated, this status sets in train a series of social processes which
has the potentiality to ‘determine’ the likely course of a young
person’s future status sequence.
For example, under the age of 16, all young people within the UK are
required to be in full-time education. The three main transition lines
listed above contain status opportunities for young people. So far,
before the age of 16, there have been only a series of structured
choices which are made either by young people and their parents, or
by other agencies responsible for young people’s welfare. At the age
of 16, a person may ‘choose’ whether to stay on at school, go on to
sixth-form studies or take courses in colleges of further education and
in youth training, or seek employment. Yet these main structures of
choice are themselves determined by social and economic conditions,
and these, in turn, are largely shaped by social and economic policies.
Well-qualified 16- or 18- year-olds may formally have the opportunity
to continue with their education, but their real opportunities to do so
may depend on the number of places available at college or university
and the willingness and capabilities of either the state or their parents
to meet the costs of supporting them when they are there. Both the
education policy and resources of the parents’ generation can
therefore influence the real nature of opportunity structures.
Educational and labour careers are thus influenced not only by the

66 Unit 2: Adolescence
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qualifications attained by young people, or by their individual career

choices alone, but also by state policies. Public expenditure on such
things as education and training, and the buoyancy of the economy,
all affect the choice process. Young people may have the legal right to
leave education at the age of 16 and enter the labour market, but the
chances of gaining employment are dependent upon employers
having jobs they are willing to offer them. Thus labour market
conditions, too, fundamentally affect choice patterns. If there are few
jobs available in the local labour market, or if they are perceived by
young people as being of limited long-term value to their career
development, they may ‘choose’ not to enter the labour market and
continue with their education.

Unit 2
Similarly, moving into independent accommodation is dependent not
only on choice, preference and access to resources, but also upon the
state of the housing market, including the provision of
accommodation for students, trainees and workers wishing to study,
train and work away from home. Youth transitions must therefore be
examined from the point of view of both the choice patterns of
young people and the ways in which economic and social policies
help to shape opportunity structures.
From Coles (1995) Chapter 1.

Activity 2.2
(about 20 minutes, not counting discussion)
If possible, discuss this case study with others (friends, peers,
family, tutors, etc.). Then re-read Case study 2.1 and write
your responses to the following questions in your learning
journal.
z How do the experiences of transition differ between the
Bemba girls and the young people discussed in Case study
2.2?
z Are there any similarities between the Bemba girls and the
young people discussed in Case study 2.2?
z Give one reason why there are significant differences
between the two sets of transitions.

Similarities
Superficially, the two sets of experiences in the two cultures are quite
different.
However, perhaps one way of looking at the two case studies is to ask
whether or not the behaviours and experiences of metropolitan
adolescents are simply compressed in the case of the Bemba girls. In

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Commonwealth Youth Programme Diploma in Youth Development Work

other words, for a short period including some weeks before the
Chisunga ceremony and during the ceremony itself, Bemba girls go
through quite a few changes. They possibly experience all the
difficulties, uncertainties, self-doubts and search for identity that mark
metropolitan youth, compressed and intense, in those few weeks.
If this were the case, then the goals of both groups would be the
same. They are simply attempting to find a place in adult society,
rather than rebelling against it. In the case of the Bemba, they are
supported through this by the adult women and by the structures of
ritual. In contrast, for metropolitan young people, difficulties may be
caused by state policy or the labour market, and the effect of mass
culture.
As you will see later, what evidence there is suggests that adolescents
in metropolitan societies really do want what their parents have. But
there is cultural pressure, such as the cult of individualism, which
makes them appear to pursue an adult role by individual routes.
However, as we will point out in Unit 3, the family tends to have a
lasting influence on the lives of individuals. From the sociological
literature, the evidence is clear that family of origin largely determines
the lifestyles of individuals and how they perform their adult roles.
Generally, adolescents, on reaching adulthood, tend to follow the
paths laid out by parents.

Differences
One reason for the differences described in the two case studies could
be the fact that for many metropolitan youth, there is a delay in
entering employment. This is partly due to the broad learning base
that is thought necessary for flexible employment, although for many
poorer adolescents this is not true in practice.
Delaying entry to employment is certainly a way to prevent swamping
labour markets with excess unskilled labour, as most of the unskilled
and much of the semi-skilled work is today rapidly disappearing. The
trend of delaying the entry of adolescents into the labour market in
western countries began with the development of the factory system.
Its dangerous machinery and appalling working conditions forced
children and adolescents out of work and into education.
The consequences for metropolitan youth are, of course, that the
turbulent and creative energies released by the transitional period of
adolescence now grow in strength, because there is time and space for
them. They can turn in any direction: towards dangerous, anti-social
and disruptive behaviour, and/or towards self and community
development. They can also be harnessed and exploited by ruthless
individuals and commerce, or they can be integrated with mainstream
adult goals and forged into a force to transform society.
Let’s look at how the ideas we discussed in Unit 1 can be applied
here.

68 Unit 2: Adolescence
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z The functionalist perspective would suggest that we should work

with dysfunctional groups to support them until they become
more amenable to a functional role.
z The conflict perspective would suggest that the social conflict
experienced by most anti-social groups is a realistic response to
their social conditions. They are likely to be the losing groups in
the conflict over resources. What we should do is work with their
creative energies so that they are no longer destructive energies,
and use them to improve the unequal social structures that have
made them anti-social.
z The interactionists would suggest that, since social reality can be

Unit 2
made and remade in different ways by the quality of the social
interactions, then we should work to raise the consciousness and
social and communicative skills of an anti-social group. Then
they can learn how to deal creatively with their circumstances.
As a youth development worker, you will meet situations where you
may have to consider one or more of these three theoretical
perspectives in your attempt to deal with specific problems affecting
youth. As you will see, the three perspectives are not mutually
exclusive: more than one may apply to any case.

Is adolescence an age group?

In the literature on adolescence, some writers use chronological or
age criteria to describe or define adolescence. From what has been
said so far, it should be apparent that the use of chronological criteria
is inadequate to describe or define adolescence. We can summarise
the limitations of the use of age criteria as follows:
z There is usually wide variation between individuals in the
relationship of age to other criteria, such as biological,
psychological and social factors. This is true even among
individuals in the same society or culture. For example, not all
15-year-olds are at the same level of social maturity measured in
terms of independence, poise, self-confidence and so on.
z There is wide variation between cultures in the general pattern of
relationships between age and the other criteria mentioned above.
From Case study 2.1 on the Chisunga ceremony, you can see that
at the end of the ceremony, a Bemba girl is ready for marriage. In
contrast, girls in European societies are not considered ready for
marriage simply because they have started to menstruate.
z The age at which a cohort (a group of individuals who share
some common characteristics) of young people experience
biological processes tends to vary according to the norms of the
culture. We know, for example, that young women are beginning
puberty at a much younger age in developed societies than they
used to in the past. This may be diet-related and possibly also
related to the way girls are socialised.

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Commonwealth Youth Programme Diploma in Youth Development Work

z Usually, some socially or institutionally marked criteria have to

be added to chronological and biological criteria to define the
concept of adolescence fully. For instance, in many western
societies, being given the right to vote (usually at the age of 18) is
one criterion that marks the upper limit of adolescence. Similarly,
graduation from secondary school may be another. We may guess
that for some Bemba girls, it is the completion of the Chisunga
ceremony – a socially important event – that marks the end of her
adolescence.

Is adolescence a developmental stage?

Even when stages of development are used instead of simple
chronological criteria it is difficult to give a precise definition of the
term ‘adolescence’. For instance, in contrasting adolescence with
adulthood and childhood, Richard Jessor (1991a, p.11) offers the
following definition:
“If childhood is the time to master basic human functions such
as motor skills and language, and adulthood is the time to
consolidate personal and social identity, then adolescence is the
time of exploration and opportunity, when most young people
lay down the foundations for physical, psychological and social
maturity.”
However, we must remember that for Bemba girls, puberty marks the
onset of near adulthood. They are ready to assume adult roles of
marriage and childbearing. Even in countries as modern as Kenya,
Nigeria and India, many girls at puberty are treated as adult women.
They are often married or betrothed soon after their first menses.

Is adolescence a life stage?

When describing and defining adolescence as a developmental stage,
we can consider it as a life stage. This way of conceptualising
adolescence requires us to define (socially construct) it as one of a
number of stages. For instance, we can consider the following stages
as being typical of many, but not all, societies: birth, infancy,
childhood, adolescence, adulthood, death.
We have to realise, however, that not all societies recognise all these
stages: some societies may recognise only two or three stages. The
transition from childhood to adolescence is usually held to occur at
puberty, and is often marked by the rituals generally referred to as
puberty rites. We have shown that the stage of adolescence can be
very short: a mere few weeks for some. For others, it may not be
recognised as a separate stage at all. The transition may simply be
from childhood to adulthood, the transition marker being the onset of
puberty.
Where adolescence is recognised as a stage in life, it can seem to be a
period which establishes and consolidates patterns for living. Many
of the behavioural patterns, beliefs, values and attitudes of adult life

70 Unit 2: Adolescence
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are learned and reinforced there. What happens in adolescence can

therefore have long-term implications for the individual and society.
For example, in societies where the onset of puberty signals the time
for marriage, the problem of adolescent, unmarried mothers is not
critical. However, in developed societies, where marriage is often
delayed until many years after puberty, sexual education for
adolescents is crucial. It is important because many young people
begin experimenting with sex during adolescence. Today, the
possibility of contracting HIV is ever present. It is unlikely that two
young people experimenting with unprotected sex for the first time
will contract HIV. However, there is a potential danger in establishing

Unit 2
the behavioural pattern of sex as a risk-free activity. The more often
this experience is reinforced in early adolescence, the more difficult it
will become to develop safe sex habits in later life.

The nature/nurture debate

Is the experience of adolescence more a result of biological change
(nature) or of the culture and environment in which the young person
has grown up (nurture)? This controversial question has been debated
for over 100 years.
The nature argument was based on the idea that adolescence is a
period characterised by high anxiety. This idea was promoted in
Hall’s book Adolescence (1904) which influenced psychology for
decades after. For Hall, the ‘storm and stress’ of adolescence is due to
the inevitable hormonal upheaval associated with puberty. Hall saw
adolescence as a time of sexual confusion, of great emotional stress
and self-doubt. He argued that even when adolescents appeared to be
calm and confident on the outside, they were experiencing
considerable turmoil on the inside. Hall’s model had a profound
influence on the development of social institutions and movements,
especially those for young working-class males.
Hall was concerned with the adolescent process in white, middle-class
males. In fact, he based his theory on this group of young people
regarding them as the model of normality. He proceeded to make
statements about youth in general and considered his generalisations
valid because he believed that the whole process of adolescence was
determined by human biology. Because of this, he believed his model
would be applicable to all human beings.
On the side of the nurture argument, anthropologists considered that
there was no scientific evidence for Hall’s theories. Franz Boas was a
founder of the discipline of anthropology in the USA and believed
strongly in the influence of culture on adolescence. He was a teacher
and mentor for the anthropologist Margaret Mead, who was sceptical
of the ‘storm and stress’ position. The following case study illustrates
how the debate was pursued to support different views of
adolescence.

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Case Study 2.3

The Mead-Freeman controversy
Margaret Mead felt that the difficulties affecting adolescents in the
USA in the 1920s were caused by conflicting standards and the
American ideological belief that every individual should make his or
her own choices. She believed that if she showed, from
anthropological research, that different cultures produced difference
experiences, it could be concluded that ‘storm and stress’ could not be
considered a biological inevitability. In 1925, Margaret Mead
travelled to American Samoa and lived for a while on the remote
island of Ta’u, where she studied fifty girls in three neighbouring
villages. She concluded that adolescence was not generally stressful
for young women in Samoa and that masturbation and casual
heterosexual affairs were common. Mead’s work was published in a
popular version as Coming of Age in Samoa (1928), and for many years
was required reading for student teachers, youth workers and others.
A New Zealand-born anthropologist, Derek Freeman, argued that
Mead’s account was ‘fundamentally in error’. In a major book
(Margaret Mead and Samoa: The making and unmaking of an
anthropological myth, 1983) and several articles, TV broadcasts and a
documentary film, Freeman claimed that Mead’s conclusion was
‘preposterous’. His argument took three main forms:
z that Mead contradicted herself and actually described a society
with more storm and stress than in western countries
z that crime and delinquency were rampant in all parts of Samoa
z that the argument was refuted by ‘highly educated Samoans’.
A further issue that was the accusation by a Samoan woman,
Fa’apua’a Fa’amu, that she had gained amusement by telling Mead
lies and tall stories about sexual behaviour. This ‘evidence’ was made
much of in film and TV accounts.
Freeman’s argument is too detailed to examine here. Mead could not
offer any significant defence, as the major accusations were published
after her death in 1978. However, the evidence has been carefully
analysed by James E. Cote, a Canadian sociologist. In his book
Adolescent Storm and Stress. An evaluation of the Mead-Freeman
Controversy (1994) he concludes that there is little in Freeman’s
critique to constitute a refutation. He also points out that Mead
sensationalised part of her account to make her book more
marketable, and engaged in some unsubstantiated speculation about
why coming of age was relatively easy in Samoa. Nevertheless, Cote
concluded, ‘her main thesis appears to be supported by the evidence’.
Freeman had a strong association with Western Samoa, originating in
the 1940s. During his first stay, he was adopted by a Samoan matai
(chief) and granted a symbolic chiefly title. There is evidence that his
identification with the Samoan chiefly class led him into a mission to

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correct the ‘wrong done by Mead to the Samoan people’ in relation to

her portrayal of sexuality and virginity. Freeman’s evidence of
contradictions is based on the report of some delinquency among
Mead’s group. However, the deviance appears to have been a factor
since early childhood and not a result of adolescence. His arguments
for high rates of crime and violence are based on figures for Western
Samoa in the 1960s rather than for American Samoa in the 1920s.
His experts were likewise drawn from 1960s Western Samoa and
there is some doubt if their views were accurately analysed. Finally, it
appears that Fa’apua’a Fa’amu, who claimed to have deceived
Margaret Mead, did not actually live in the three villages of Mead’s
study and had little contact with Mead, to the extent that she was

Unit 2
unaware that Mead was an anthropologist. The chances of her
stories, true or false, being part of Mead’s data appear to be very
small.

The debate still continues and reflects opposing positions and

interests. Why is this academic controversy important?
Cote and Allahar (1994) argue that the dominant view of youth in
industrial western society has been biological. Adolescence has been
seen as a biological affliction, which for many will pass with the
passage of time. This view, they argue, serves the interests of those in
power, as well as the functionalist psychological and psychiatric
professionals who have a vested interest in adjusting young people,
rather than criticising society. Cote and Allahar discuss postmodern
views which portray youth as:
z alienated through technology spread by global capitalism,
emphasising individualism
z a period during which the state regulates how they spend time
and classifies normality and success.
Cote and Allahar see young people as a kind of social class without
power, disenfranchised economically, socially and politically. In order
to mask this disempowerment, the state imposes a long period of
indoctrination into acquiescence and acceptance of existing power
structures as natural, good and benign. In late twentieth-century
Canada and the USA, they defined youth as ‘a generation on hold’
with no clear social or economic role in society, often relegated to
part-time employment or jobs below the expectation of their
educational level. They argue for a society with full employment and
distribution of wealth where there are strategies to involve young
people increasingly in all levels of social, economic and political life.
The best available model, they conclude, is Sweden.
Many of you will work with young people in former colonial
societies, in developing economies. Consider how the experience of
adolescence has changed since the arrival of western traders and
missionaries. Traditional youth roles as warriors are no longer
required and young people have an extended experience of school.

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Many of your countries may have mining and manufacturing

industries with an interest in disempowering young people.
The self-help activity that follows will help you bring together what
you have learned so far in this unit about ways of describing and
defining adolescence.

Self-help question 2.1

(about 10 minutes)
Indicate whether the following statements are true or false.
True False
1. Adolescence is best described in terms of an
age span. † †
2. Adolescents generally reject parental standards
and values. † †
3. The idea that adolescence is a social construct
means that a society creates the way
adolescence is viewed. † †
4. Each culture socially constructs adolescents
differently. † †
5. Adolescence is just one of a number of life
stages. † †
6. In western societies, the upper limit of the
period of adolescence is usually marked by
some social and/or institutional event. † †
7. Many of the behaviour patterns of adult life are
learned and reinforced in adolescence. † †
8. The onset of puberty is often regarded as the
beginning of the period of adolescence. † †
Compare your answers with those provided at the end of the
unit.

The following activity considers the nature/nurture debate.

74 Unit 2: Adolescence
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Activity 2.3
(about 10 minutes)
This activity asks you to relate the nature/nurture debate to
your own observations and experience.
From your observation of young people, which do you think has
more effect on their behaviour: a person’s nature (biological
development, heredity) or their nurture (the environment and
culture in which they grow up)? Give examples of young people
you know to provide evidence to support your views.

Unit 2
Write your response in your learning journal.

The next section may help to throw further light on your observations
about nature and nurture. We will look briefly at some of the main
theories that seek to describe and explain the adolescent stage of
development. These theories can be broadly classified into two main
approaches: the psychoanalytic and the sociological.

Psychoanalytic theories of adolescence

The theories of adolescence, both psychoanalytic and sociological,

have been developed mainly through observation, experimentation
and investigation in modern western societies.
They are based on theories largely started in Europe, so they are not
unbiased and value-free. Be careful in applying these ideas to the
young people you work with. Use them to throw light on problems,
not to explain problems away. Remember that there are other valid
accounts of this life stage that may derive from the religious views of
your community or simply from years of observation and testing in
the practices of family and community life. Always test these theories
against what you know to be real, to see if they work in the process of
helping people grow.
The common feature of psychoanalytical theories of adolescence is
that they share the analytical framework of Freud’s psychology,
which has at its core three concepts: the id, the ego and the super-ego.
Other theorists operating within the psychoanalytic framework draw
our attention to psychological processes taking place during
adolescence. We shall deal briefly with the key points put forward by
three of these theorists under the following headings:
z Erikson’s psycho-social theory of development
z Blos’ theory of the process of disengagement by adolescents
z Richard Jessor’s problem-behaviour theory.

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Freud
Space does not allow for a detailed discussion of Freud’s theory,
except to point out that it has come under serious attack, in particular
from many radical feminist theorists. They have argued that Freudian
psychology apologises for patriarchy and the rule of men.
We should treat Freud’s theory critically, like all theories, and use it
for illumination rather than treat it as absolute truth. In this way, his
theory, like others, is an approach or perspective that we can use to
gain understanding of young people.
Freud can help us come to terms with the concept of adolescence and
this will help us to work effectively with young men and women. Let
us look at each of the three concepts. the id, the ego and the super-ego.
Freud saw these as forces or energies (drives) which become
organised and structured as we grow.

The id
This describes that part of our personality that underlies our
instinctive needs and drives: for example, our biological needs for
food, warmth and sexual gratification. According to Freud:
“The id contains everything that is inherited, that is present at
birth, that is laid down in the constitution – above all, therefore,
the instincts.”
(Freud, 1964, quoted in Gross, 1992: 591)

The ego
Freud described this as the ‘executive of the personality’ because this
is the part of our personality that deals with the outside world and
enables us to distinguish reality from a dream. It is for this reason that
Freud argued that the ego is governed by the ‘reality principle’. Freud
contrasts the id and the ego in the following way:
“The ego represents what may be called reason and common
sense, in contrast to the id, which contains the passions.”
(Freud, 1923, quoted in Gross, 1992: 592)

The super-ego
If the ego is the executive of the personality, then the super-ego is the
‘judge’ of the personality. It is the part of the personality that passes
judgement on our thoughts and actions. This judicial branch of the
personality has two aspects to it:
z conscience – this uses guilt to punish us for bad thoughts and
deeds.
z ego-ideal – this uses pride and high self-esteem to reward us for
good thoughts and deeds.
Freud sees adolescence as the time when the struggle between the
desires of the id and requirements of the super-ego reappears in the

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form of a struggle between the young person seeking independence

and the parents. Until it is resolved, this struggle can lead to
unbalanced development of the ego and an unrealistic relationship
with the everyday world. Sometimes we meet young people who may
well have genuine ethical standards but lack a sense of reality, so that
they will engage in risk-taking behaviour because they are unable to
see the long-term problems for them in the real world. Their egos are
deficient in some way, and they desperately need training to
understand the relationships between what they do and the effects on
them and others. Again, the issue is psychological balance.
Though Freud doesn’t concentrate on adolescence, his ideas can

Unit 2
throw light on some of the problems in human development that we
see exaggerated in adolescence. For example, we may often meet
young people who allow their moral values to dictate totally their
responses to the ordinary human dilemmas they face. It’s clear that
they have not achieved a harmonic balance between for example their
sexual needs, the requirement to live ethically and the realities of
having to live in an often sordid everyday world. The youth worker
has a very important counselling and educational role with them,
helping them to understand the need for that Freudian balance of
energies and drives.

Self-help question 2.2

To help you check the meaning of Freud’s terms, answer the
following multiple-choice questions by circling or ticking the
answer that you think is correct.
1 Freud’s concept of the id includes:
a) our instincts
b) our conscience
c) our powers of reasoning.
2 The super-ego may be regarded as:
a) a superhuman being
b) the part of the personality that assesses our actions
and thoughts
c) the controller of our passions.
3 The ego may be regarded as:
a) out of touch with the real world
b) useless during childhood
c) the sensible part of the personality, balancing desire
and conscience.
Compare your answers with those provided at the end of the
unit.

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Erikson
Erikson’s theory of adolescence has to be discussed in the context of
his overall psycho-social theory of human development. In his book
Childhood and Society (1950), in the chapter entitled ‘Eight Ages of
Man’, he argued that all human beings pass through eight stages of
development which are determined by our genes. For Erikson, each
of these stages of development must be resolved successfully before
the individual can move to the next higher stage of development.
The following table contains a comparison between Erikson’s and
Freud’s stages of development. You should note that the heading
‘Stage of development’ refers to Erikson’s model.

Approximate ages
of being & acting)
(Dominant modes

Freud’s psycho-
Human virtues
Name of stage
(Psycho-social

Psycho-social

sexual stages
development

relationships

(Qualities of
modalities

significant
Radius of

strength)
Stage of

crisis)

1 Basic trust To get, to Mother or Hope Oral 0–1

versus basic give in mother-figure Respiratory
mistrust return Sensory-
Kinaesthetic
2 Autonomy To hold on, Parents Willpower Anal- 1–3
versus to let go urethral,
shame and muscular
doubt
3 Initiative To make Basic family Purpose Phallic, 3–6
versus guilt (going after) locomotor
To ‘make
like’
(playing)
4 Industry To make Neighbour- Competen Latency 7–12
versus things hood and ce
inferiority (completing) school
To make
things
together
5 Identity To be Peer groups Fidelity Genital 12–18
versus oneself (or and
inferiority not to be) outgroups,
To share models of
being leadership
oneself
6 Intimacy To lose and Partners in Love 20s
versus find oneself friendship,
isolation in another sex,
competition,
co-operation

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Approximate ages
of being & acting)
(Dominant modes

Freud’s psycho-
Human virtues
Name of stage
(Psycho-social

Psycho-social

sexual stages
development

relationships

(Qualities of
modalities

significant
Radius of

strength)
Stage of

crisis)
7 Generativity To make be, Divided labour Care 20s–50s
versus To take care and share
stagnation of household
8 Ego integrity To be, ‘Humankind’ Wisdom 50s and
versus through ‘my kind’ beyond

Unit 2
despair having been
To face not
being
(From Gross (1992), p.627)

Stage 5 represents the stage of adolescence. Erikson characterised the

identity crisis that occurs at this stage as one which revolves around
‘personal identity’ versus ‘role confusion’. The critical task for an
adolescent at this stage of his or her life is to establish a secure
identity. As Erikson himself puts it (as quoted in Gross, 1992: 633):
“... at no other phase of the life cycle are the pressures of
finding oneself and the threat of losing oneself so closely
allied.”
By self or personal identity, Erikson means that adolescents must
reach the point where:
z they feel at home in their bodies
z the know where they are going
z they have an inner assurance that they will gain recognition from
those who count.
In Erikson’s model, development takes place simultaneously on three
fronts:
z biological (or physical)
z social
z psychological.

Biological
The adolescent may experience a sudden spurt of growth and become
a bit clumsy and awkward. Sexuality is aroused and this may be
accompanied by sexual fantasies that can never be totally fulfilled.
Socially and psychologically, the adolescent has to come to terms
with his or her sexuality and sexual preferences. The table which
follows sets out the main stages in biological development.

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Maturation in boys Maturation in girls

z testes and scrotum increase z adolescent growth spurt
in size starts
z pubic hair begins to appear z pubic hair begins to appear
z adolescent growth spurt z breast development begins,
starts hips round, axillary hair
z the penis begins to enlarge develops
z voice deepens as larynx z uterus, vagina, clitoris,
grows labia increase in size
z hair appears under arms, z breasts develop further
on upper lip z growth spurt reaches peak,
z sperm production increases then declines
z growth rate reaches peak z onset of menstruation –
z prostate gland increases almost always after peak
rate of growth in height
z sperm production sufficient
for fertility z pubic hair development
complete, followed by
z physical strength reaches a
mature breast development
peak.
and axillary hair
z period of adolescent
sterility ends at the onset
of menstruation.
(Adapted from Conger and Petersen (1984) pp. 106–107.)

Social
It is generally accepted that in modern western societies, adolescence
is a kind of moratorium – a socially recognised period of temporary
delay in the process of entering the labour market. Extended
education and laws which establish minimum ages for marriage,
voting and driving, support this moratorium. Some of these social
restrictions can be psychologically problematic for some adolescents
and can possibly add to their confusion. We may ask the question
here: What are the social and psychological consequences for
adolescents who may remain unemployed for a very long time?

Psychological
At this level, Erikson argues that adolescents re-experience some of
the early conflict with parents, particularly the early encounter with
parents as authority figures around such processes as toilet training.
He argues that even though adolescents can think abstractly and do
realise that their views are not the only valid views of the world, they
continue to assume that everyone is as obsessed with their behaviour
as they are. It is this assumption that accounts for their ego-centrism –
their self-centeredness. The table below sets out the stages in the
psychological development of adolescents.

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Stage Early Middle Late

adolescence adolescence adolescence
(ages 12–14) (ages 15–17) (ages 18 and up)
Independence z less interest in z peaks of z reacceptance of
parental parental parental advice
activities conflicts and values
Body image z preoccupation z general z acceptance of
with self and acceptance of pubertal
pubertal body changes
changes z concern over
z uncertainty making body

Unit 2
about more attractive
appearance
Peer relations z intense z peak of peer z peer group less
relationships involvement important
with same sex z conformity with z more time
friends peer values spent in
z increased intimate
sexual activity relationships
Identity z increased z increased scope z practical,
cognition of feelings realistic
z increased z increased vocational goals
fantasy world intellectual z refinement of
z idealistic powers values
vocational goals z feelings of z ability to
z increased need omnipotence compromise and
for privacy z risk-taking to set limits
z lack of impulse behaviour
control
(Adapted from Neinstein and Stewart (1984), p. 40.)

Elkind (1970), as quoted in Gross (1992: 631), also points out that on
this level, adolescents constantly play to an imaginary audience; they
think they are very special and have a ‘personal fable’ which they tell
to themselves, which is a fantasised construction helping them to deal
with their psychological needs. They also have a strong sense of
immortality. This point is of particular importance when we try to
analyse why adolescents engage in ‘risk behaviour’.
Erikson also draws our attention to the fact that this period is
characterised by mood swings and ambivalence, where the latter
means some uncertainty in making choices. These characteristics
usually manifest themselves in co-operative behaviour at one minute
and unco-operative behaviour the next. These behaviour patterns are
irritating for adults interacting with an adolescent, but it is vital that
such adults remain stable, firm and predictable.

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Activity 2.4
(about 15 minutes, not counting discussion)
Again, for this activity, draw on your experience and
observation of your own society and culture.
Do you think that adolescents in your society experience an
identity crisis as Erikson has suggested? Give reasons and
examples to provide evidence for your view.
If possible, talk to others about this question. Write your
responses in your learning journal.

One of the major difficulties with Erikson’s theory of an identity

crisis is how to measure identity. It is also difficult to know when a
person is having an identity crisis. It is possible for researchers like
Erikson to theorise about the concept of identity, but how can we go
out into the real world and measure it? What does self-identity look
like, and how do we know when we have found it?
It should be noted that researchers often use low self-esteem as an
indicator of identity crisis. Much of the data, for example that of
Coleman and Hendry, suggests that low self-esteem is more prevalent
in early adolescence than before or in late adolescence. Coleman and
Hendry sum up their research in the following way:
“... only a relatively small proportion of the total adolescent
population is likely to have a negative self-image or to have very
low self-esteem.”
(Coleman and Hendry (1990), as quoted in Gross (1992) p.639).

Blos
The Blos theory of the process of disengagement by adolescents
(1967) emphasises the process of the adolescent seeking to separate
him or herself from the parent. Blos points out that the adolescent is
undergoing a second individuation process (i.e. the process of
becoming a separate person). The first individuation is said to take
place just after the age of three. Part of individuation is the process of
‘disengagement’. This term is used to describe the process by which
adolescents seek to establish independence from the immediate
family which has been their main source of emotional stability during
childhood.
Blos argues that adolescent disengagement offers the opportunity to
revisit unresolved crises in emotional and object relations in the
family, with the purpose of resolving them. This process leads to the
development of an ‘affect and object hunger’ that has to be satisfied if
the adolescent is to cope with the ‘inner emptiness’ which comes from
the breaking of childhood ties. The adolescent then seeks to satisfy

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this hunger for emotional attachments and things to go for, in order to

fill this emptiness, by one or more of the following strategies:
z commitment to peer group experiences
z doing exciting and dangerous things
z making frequent and abrupt changes in relationships
z indulging in drug-induced and mystical experiences.
Group experiences act as a kind of emotional and social family
substitute. This can mean that some adolescents are especially
vulnerable to cults or fringe political movements which offer this type

Unit 2
of emotional satisfaction.
Doing exciting and dangerous things just for the hell of it is a
particular aspect of adolescent behaviour which we will look at in
greater detail later, when we look at the work of Jessor.
Like Erikson, Blos also sees the process of disengagement from the
family as entailing a certain degree of regression in behaviour and
double-think. He maintains that these characteristics often manifest
themselves in rebellious behaviour. He views such behaviour as a
good strategy on the part of adolescents to stop themselves from
succumbing to the temptation of staying in the comfort zone of being
dependent on their parents.

Jessor
Jessor (1991b) constructed a model based on the psychoanalytic
approach. We discuss it here in some detail, as it may be of some help
to youth development workers. Jessor is particularly interested in
developing a problem-behaviour theory that can assist in the
prediction of which adolescents are most likely to take part in high
health-risk behaviour, such as drug abuse and drink-driving.
He argues that adolescence is a critical period in which young people
are particularly vulnerable to high-risk behaviour, which can cause
serious damage to their health. According to Jessor (1991b, p.21):
“What singles out adolescence as a time of relatively high risk
is that it is a key stage in which risk-related learning takes place
– learning of new risk behaviours, of risk-prone personality
disposition and of risk-enhancing opportunities in the
environment.”
Jessor argues that there are a number of factors at work that make a
significant number of adolescents disposed to engage in such high
risk behaviour, namely:
z Peer-group pressure. Here, Jessor argues that the influence of
peer-group pressure increases significantly during adolescence
with a corresponding decrease in parental influence. This
increases the opportunity for young people to be exposed to non-

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conventional life styles and the high-risk behaviour that usually

accompanies such life styles.
z Greater availability of material that can compromise health. This
is particularly the case in developed countries where young
people have greater access to such things as cars, motorcycles and
certain kinds of pharmaceutical drugs. Globally, the access to
illegal drugs and alcohol has increased considerably.
z Continuous change in what it is to be young. Young people are in
the forefront of the production of new cultural forms which carry
with them new life styles and ways of behaving. The choices
open to young people increase the uncertainty as to what is
appropriate behaviour.
z Greater stress. Greater choice of life styles and the increase in
peer pressure (particularly expectations from the peer group to
wear the latest designer clothes, for example) can lead to feelings
of inadequacy and a greater fear of failure.
It is for these reasons that Jessor (1991b: p.8) argues that a significant
developmental task for adolescents of today is:
“The assumption and management of personal responsibility
for their own health and social responsibility for the health of
others.”
For Jessor, engagement in high-risk behaviour is a crucial part of the
adolescent transitional process. It is important here to note another
significant point that Jessor makes. He argues that adolescents who
engage in high-risk behaviour do not engage in isolated risk
behaviour. Rather, they exhibit a pattern of high-risk behaviours
which he describes as a ‘syndrome’. For example, adolescents who
begin to practise truancy from school are also more likely to begin
smoking and to be sexually active at an earlier age.

Functions of high-risk behaviour

Jessor argues that if we want to understand why adolescents engage
in high-risk behaviour, then we need to appreciate the:
“… personal meanings, symbolic significance and psychological
functions that such behaviours can serve adolescents …”
He reminds us that such behaviour should not be seen as perverse or
irrational. He notes that risk behaviour, like all learned behaviours, is:
“… purposive, goal directed, and capable of fulfilling multiple
goals that are central to adolescent life.”
The list below sets out some of the possible functions that risk-taking
behaviour serves in adolescence:
1 An instrumental effort to attain goals that are blocked or seem
otherwise unattainable. Thus, engaging in early sexual
intercourse and becoming pregnant can be a way of attaining

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independence from parental control and regulation. It may also

serve as a means of taking personal control of one’s life.
2 A means of expressing opposition to adult authority and the
conventional society whose norms and values are not shared by
the younger generation. Much of young people’s drug use during
the Vietnam era in America was a symbolic way of showing their
opposition to the war. They engaged in precisely the behaviour
that the larger society was trying to proscribe.
3 A coping mechanism for dealing with anxiety, frustration,
inadequacy, failure or the fear of failure – whether in relation to
school performance, the expectations of peers, or the high

Unit 2
standards of parents. Heavy involvement with alcohol, for
example, or even overeating, can be a way of dealing with poor
academic achievement, with a sense of social rejection, or with
the perception of parental disappointment.
4 A way of gaining admission to the peer group, of expressing
solidarity with peers, or of demonstrating identification with the
youth subculture. Cigarette smoking, or the sharing of a
marijuana ‘spliff ’, are well-established and widely recognised
marks of membership in the peer group of young males in
Jamaica.
5 A confirmation of important attributes of personal identity.
Drinking, smoking and driving after drinking are readily learned
as ways of showing that one is ‘macho’, ‘cool’, or experienced, or
has some other characteristic that is valued in adolescent culture.
6 A transition marker, a symbol of a developmental transition,
from a less mature to a more mature status. This function of risk
behaviour is an especially important one for adolescents. It
derives from the fact that certain behaviours tend to be age-
graded – that is, considered by society as appropriate only for
those who have reached a certain age or age-related status. The
use of alcohol is a good example. It is proscribed for those below
the legal age but permitted for those above it. When behaviours
are age-graded, engaging in them earlier than is defined as
appropriate can be a way of affirming maturity – a way of
attempting to show that one has indeed passed from adolescence
to young adulthood.
7 Fun and excitement. Jessor reminds us that young people
engaging in risk behaviour frequently stress the fun and
excitement they derive from these types of behaviours. They see
them as ways of warding off the boredom and routine that ensue
when you have not yet established a clear direction to your life.

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Self-help question 2.3

To help you check your understanding of the ideas of Blos and
Jessor, fill in the spaces in the following sentences with
appropriate words or phrases. Try to do the exercise from
memory before you check back to the text for the answers.

1 The term _____________ is used by Blos to describe the

process by which adolescents seek to establish independence
from the immediate family.
2 According to Blos, group experiences for adolescents can
act as a kind of __________ ____________ .
3 Blos sees _____________ _____________ as a good strategy
by adolescents to reduce their dependency on their parents.
4 Jessor developed a problem-behaviour theory which can
help us to predict which adolescents are likely to engage in
_____ ______ ___________ .
5 Jessor argues that peer group pressure increases
significantly during _____________ with a corresponding
decrease in _________ _________ .
6 Jessor describes a pattern of high risk behaviours as a
_____________ .
7 To Jessor, high risk behaviour may be a means of expressing
opposition to ___________ ___________ .
8 The authors state that in Jamaica, cigarette smoking is a
well-established and widely recognised mark of membership in
the ______ _______ ___ ___________ ___________ .
9 Engaging in age-graded behaviour earlier than is defined as
appropriate can be a way for adolescents to _______ _______
__________ .
10 Engaging in high-risk behaviour for fun and excitement may
be a way of warding off _________ ____ ___________ .
Compare your answers with those provided at the end of the
unit.

Critique of psychoanalytic theories

To summarise what we consider to be the main points of the
psychoanalytic models of adolescence:
z Youth is a unitary category, with certain psychological
characteristics and social needs common to the age group.

86 Unit 2: Adolescence
 Module 2: Young People and Society

z Youth is an especially formative stage of development where the

foundations for attitudes and values are laid down for adult life.
z The transition from childhood dependence to adult autonomy
usually involves a rebellious phase and this is seen as normal.
z Young people in modern society sometimes experience difficulty
in making a successful transition from childhood to adulthood.
They may, therefore, require professional help, advice and
support, for example, not only from psychiatrists, but from youth
development workers.
However, we also outline here several key criticisms that could be

Unit 2
levelled at the psychoanalytic theories.
Psychoanalytic theories or models, especially Erikson’s, assume that
adolescent conflict necessarily focuses on family relations. But this
need not be the case. Many of these conflicts may get displaced and
worked out in the peer group. They may be conflicts involved in
having to adapt to living among your peers, as so many films have
explored.
In these theories, heterosexuality is set up as one of the most
important development goals for the adolescent. Thus, all other forms
of sexuality are deemed to either be abnormal or infantile.
The markers of maturity from a psychoanalytic perspective reflect
those found in middle-class men in western societies. These models
could then be described as being very ethno- and gender-centric. The
last point links into the feminist critique of psychoanalysis. A feminist
viewpoint is that Freud and Erikson did not transcend patriarchy – a
male-dominated social system. Rather, they took it for granted and
reinforced it by making it seem legitimate or right.

Sociological theories of adolescence

Now we look at sociological theories. First, a reminder of the

warning we gave before introducing psychoanalytic theories. These
theories have been developed mainly through observation,
experimentation and investigation in modern western societies, so
they are not unbiased and value-free. Always test the theories against
what you know to be real, to see if they work in the process of
helping people grow.
Sociological theories tend to see the process of adolescence as being
influenced mainly by environmental factors. This means factors
originating in the social world surrounding the individual adolescent.
Here, we focus on just three of the key concepts that have emerged
out of sociological theories on adolescence. The three concepts are:
z socialisation

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z role assumption
z the generation gap.

Socialisation
Socialisation means all the processes by which individuals learn the
norms (the accepted standards of behaviour) and values of their
society. Individuals also have to internalise the norms and values.
That is, they have to make them a part of their personalities so that
they act on them without reflection. In Unit 3, we discuss the very
important role the family plays in the socialisation process.
It is argued that as individual adolescents leave childhood, they are
exposed to a much wider array of socialising agents, such as peer
groups and the mass media. These may convey different values from
those encountered in the family. This may lead to stress because
adolescents now have to exercise their own judgement in situations
where there are not always clear guidelines. Furthermore, they may
not have the experience or the knowledge they need to cope with the
situations they now encounter.

Role assumption
Role assumption refers to the expected behaviour that is associated
with the particular status or position an individual occupies in society.
Every individual in society occupies many different statuses and thus
has many different roles to perform. Sometimes the performance of
one role interferes or conflicts with the performance of another.
When this happens, we say that role conflict has occurred. In
addition, individuals may also experience role discontinuity. This
occurs where there is no ordered sequence between one status and the
next. Individuals may have to unlearn some, or all, of a previous role
before they are able to assume the next one.
It is argued that the processes of socialisation and role assumption are
more problematical during the transitional period of adolescence.
Role conflict and role discontinuity can cause acute distress during
the adolescent years. It is accepted that role change is an integral part
of the transition process, but this can lead to role confusion and
conflict.
For example, a young male may try to portray a ‘cool’ or ‘macho’
image to his peer group, whereas his parents may continue to treat
him like a child in front of his peers.
Similarly, some young male adolescents may experience (as many
adult males do) some confusion as to how to behave towards their
girlfriends. The role models their parents present are likely to be
somewhat out of step with the expectations young women have of
young men today.

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The generation gap

The idea of conflict between adults and adolescents has a long
history. The Greek philosopher Aristotle argued that the cause of
political struggle could be found in the conflict between fathers and
sons. Developing this point, many classical political writers saw this
conflict in very positive terms. Many argued that this conflict between
generations provided the catalyst for change in society. Auguste
Comte, one of the founders of the discipline of sociology, believed
that the pressure of one generation upon the other was one of the
most important phenomena in social life.

Unit 2
Another writer, Davis (1940) put forward that conflict between
different age groups is inevitable, because such conflicts are due to
three universal factors in human development. He argued further that
these three universals were modified or affected by four variables
related to modern conditions.
According to Davis, the three universal factors leading to parent-child
conflict are:
1 the basic birth cycle difference between parent and child
2 the decreasing rate of socialisation with the coming of maturity
i.e. young people change rapidly in personal orientation, while
their parents change more slowly in response to social interaction
3 the intrinsic differences between parents and children in the
physiological, sociological and psychosocial planes of behaviour.

Whether these universals in human development actually result in

generational conflict depends, he argued, on the four variables of:
1 the rate of social change (the greater the rate of change, the
higher the probability of parent-child conflict)
2 the extent of the complexity of the social structure (the more
complex, the higher the chances of parent-child conflict)
3 the degree of integration of the culture (the more fragmented the
culture, the greater the likelihood of parent-child conflict)
4 the velocity of movement within the culture.

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Activity 2.5
(about 15 minutes, not counting discussion)
Again, for this activity, draw on your own experience and
observation.
Do you agree with Davis’ theory that there are universals in
human development that lead inevitably to conflict between
generations? Do the processes of socialisation and role
assumption contribute? Give reasons and examples as evidence
for your view.
If possible, talk with others about this. Write your responses in
your learning journal.

There is very little empirical evidence (evidence based on detailed

research) to support the view that a generation gap exists, or that it is
inevitable in human societies. Indeed, the concept of a generation gap
may well be one of the myths surrounding the whole concept of
adolescence.
The psychologist Albert Bandura found no evidence to support the
view that a generation gap exists. He found that the values of
adolescents were very similar to those of their parents and that peer-
group values were similar to those of parents, too. This could be
explained by the fact that adolescents tend to choose friends from
within their own social class.
Also, it has been argued by Danns that the main source of tension
between parents and adolescents has to do with appearance and how
late they can stay out at nights. The conflict here, however, is not
sufficient to cause an unbridgeable gap between them. (Quoted in
Gross, 1992: 640)
Similarly, in a recent study entitled ‘Situational Analysis of Youth in
the Caribbean’, Danns et al (1997: 146) found that the values of youth
were not significantly different from those of adults. They found that:
“When the values of respondents are ranked in order of
priority, family and education are placed equally as the top
values …”
We can probably safely assert that these values are the ones that most
adults in the Caribbean cherish most.
So, at the end of this unit, how do you now see the concept of
adolescence, which is generally held to be a stage through which all
young people must pass? The final activity asks you to reflect on what
you have learned about adolescence in this unit.

90 Unit 2: Adolescence
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Activity 2.6
(about 10 minutes)
Looking back over the unit, note down in your learning journal
the main point you will take away from this unit which has
changed or added to your view of adolescence and
adolescents.

In this unit we have seen that adolescence is mainly a social

construct, and that different societies and cultures have different ideas

Unit 2
of what it is. We pointed out that theories of adolescence tend to have
cultural biases. They were developed mainly by European scholars
examining the youth in their societies. Thus, many of the experiences
and characteristics that they believed were universal (i.e. applicable to
all adolescents) are not necessarily so.
In conclusion, there seem to be some significant differences between
the theories of adolescence put forward by some scholars and what
actually happens in reality. What is probably needed is a more
rigorous theoretical analysis, supported by thorough and sustained
investigation, of the whole process of adolescence.

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Unit summary

In this unit you have considered:

z ways of describing and defining the concept of adolescence, with
examples from the Bemba culture and metropolitan or urban
culture
z different ideas in different societies and cultures of what
adolescence is. In some societies, the period of adolescence is
very short. In industrial societies it has been extended by longer
education, and lack of job opportunities. In particular, you
considered whether adolescence can be defined as an age group, a
development stage or a life stage.
z the nature/nurture debate, which explores whether biological
factors (nature) or culture and environment (nurture) are more
important in describing and defining adolescence
z psychoanalytic theories of adolescence, including:
o Freud’s concepts of the id, ego and superego,
o Erikson’s psycho-social theory of development
o Blos’ theory of the process of disengagement by adolescents
o Jessor’s problem-behaviour theory.
Finally, you looked at sociological theories, specifically the ideas of
z socialisation
z role assumption
z the generation gap.

In Unit 3, we will discuss various types of families and how the three
main sociological models (functionalist, conflict and interactionist)
and be used to analyse the family.

To check how you have got on, look back at the learning outcomes
for this unit and see if you can now do them. When you have done
this, look through your learning journal to remind yourself of what
you have learned and the ideas you have generated.

92 Unit 2: Adolescence
 Module 2: Young People and Society

Answers to self-help questions

Self-help question 2.1

1 False – although there does seem to be some agreement that the
lower limit is marked by puberty, the upper limit varies
dramatically from society to society.
2 False – this is a myth. Adolescents are generally trying to find out
how they fit into the role of an adult, rather than simply rebelling
against adults.

Unit 2
3 True – this is a valid way to define adolescence since what is
understood by ‘adolescence’ varies from society to society.
4 True – different societies construct adolescence differently, for
example: as a brief transition period of only a few weeks, or as
one that extends for several years. Some societies don’t consider
adolescence as a concept at all.
5 True – this is a valid way to define adolescence in those societies
that consider there is a stage between childhood and adulthood.
However, as mentioned before, in some societies the concept
doesn’t exist.
6 True – in many western societies the beginning of adulthood and
the end of adolescence may be marked by gaining the right to
vote, usually at the age of 18, or by completing high school.
Rituals such as the Chisunga ceremony – a social event – also
mark the end of adolescence in other societies.
7 True – adolescence is a critical time in a person’s life. What
happens during this time may affect a person for the rest of their
life.
8 True – biological signs of maturation often mark the end of
childhood and the beginning of adolescence – although this too
can vary from society to society.

Self-help question 2.2

1 a
2 b
3 c

Self-help question 2.3

1 The term ‘disengagement’ is used by Blos to describe the process
by which adolescents seek to establish independence from the
immediate family.
2 According to Blos, group experiences for adolescents can act as a
kind of family substitute.

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3 Blos sees rebellious behaviour as a good strategy by adolescents

to reduce their dependency on their parents.
4 Jessor developed a problem-behaviour theory which can help us
to predict which adolescents are likely to engage in high risk
behaviour.
5 Jessor argues that peer group pressure increases significantly
during adolescence with a corresponding decrease in parental
influence.
6 Jessor describes a constellation of high risk behaviour as a
syndrome.
7 To Jessor, high risk behaviour may be a means of expressing
opposition to adult authority.
8 The authors state that in Jamaica, cigarette smoking is a well-
established and widely recognised mark of membership in the
peer group of young males.
9 Engaging in age-graded behaviour earlier than is defined as
appropriate can be a way for adolescents to affirm their maturity.
10 Engaging in high-risk behaviour for fun and excitement may be a
way of warding off boredom and routine.

94 Unit 2: Adolescence
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References

Blos, P. (1967) ‘The second individuation process of adolescence.’ in

The psychoanalytic study of the child, Vol. 22. International University
Press, New York.
Coleman, J. C. and Hendry, L. (1990) The Nature of Adolescence, 2nd
ed., Routledge, London.
Coleman, J. C. (1992) ‘The nature of adolescence’, in Coleman, J. C.
and Warren-Adamson, C. (eds.) Youth Policy in the 1990s: the way

Unit 2
forward, Routledge, London.
Coles, B. (1995) Youth and Social Policy, UCL Press, London.
Conger, J. S. and Petersen, A. C. (1984) Adolescence and Youth:
Psychological Development in a Changing World, Harper and Row, New
York.
Cote, J. E. (1994) Adolescent Storm and Stress. An Evaluation of the
Mead-Freeman Controversy, Lawrence Erlbaum, Hillside, NJ.
Cote, J. E. and Allahar, A.L. (1994) Generation on Hold. Coming of Age
in the Late Twentieth Century, New York University Press, New York.
Danns, G., Henry, B. I. and LaFleur , P. (1997) ‘Situational Analysis
of Youth in the Caribbean’, CYP, London.
Davis, K. (1940), The Sociology of parent-youth conflict, American
Sociological Review, 5(4), pp. 523–534.
Elkind, D. (1970) ‘Erik Erikson: Eight Ages of Man’, New York Times
magazine, 5th April.
Erikson, E. (1950) Childhood and Society, Penguin, Harmondsworth.
Freeman, D (1983) Margaret Mead and Samoa: The making and
unmaking of an anthropological myth Harvard University Press,
Cambridge, MA.
Gross, R. D. (1992) Psychology. The Science of Mind and Behaviour,
Hodder and Stoughton, Sevenoaks, Kent.
Hall, G. S. (1904) Adolescence, D. Appleton and Co., New York.
Jessor, R. (1991a) Youth and Drugs. An Education Package for
Professionals (Unit 1), Addiction Research Foundation, Toronto,
Canada.
Jessor, R. (1991b) ‘Adolescent development and behavioural health’
in Annis, H. and Davis, C. (eds.), Book of Readings. Drug Use by
Adolescents: Identification, assessment, intervention, Addiction Research
Foundation, Toronto, Canada.
Mead, M. (1928) Coming of Age in Samoa, Penguin, Harmondsworth,
UK.

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Neinstein, L. S. and Stewart, D. C. (1984) Psychosocial Development of

Adolescents in Adolescent Health Care: A Practical Guide, Urban &
Schwarzenberg, Baltimore.
Pilcher, J. (1982) Age and Generation in Modern Britain, OUP, Oxford.

96 Unit 2: Adolescence
Unit 3: Young people
and the family

Unit introduction ....................................................... 99

Unit learning outcomes .............................................. 99
Family types..............................................................100
Approaches to the study of the family ........................109
Issues facing families today........................................124
The concept of community........................................130
Unit summary ...........................................................133
Answers to self-help questions ...................................134
References.................................................................135
 Module 2: Young People and Society

Unit introduction

Welcome to Unit 3 Young people and the family. In Units 1 and 2, we

explored theories about youth and the process of adolescence. Young
people belong to families, so it is important that we explore family
backgrounds and their influence on how young people are perceived,
and on how young people perceive themselves, and how they behave
in consequence.
We begin with a discussion of various types of families. We look
briefly at the roles and responsibilities of family members, including
young members. The type of family experiences that young people
have affect how they react to opportunities and services. It will also
influence how they relate to youth development workers like yourself.

Unit 3
In turn, your experiences will have implications for how you
approach your work in youth development.
After our discussion of types of families, we look at how
functionalist, conflict and interactionist approaches (which you met
in Unit 1 and applied to the study of adolescence in Unit 2) can be
applied to the study of the family.

Unit learning outcomes

When you have worked through this unit, you should be able to:
z describe and define different types of families
z summarise and critique three approaches to the study of the
family
z outline some important issues facing families and young people
today
z discuss the relationship between young people and their
community
z apply evidence from your own observations and experiences to
the discussion of families and young people
z recognise situations in which your youth work practice needs to
take account of family types and communities.

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Family types

Families are likely to play a large part in your youth development

work. Other than groups of young people themselves, the social
group that you are likely to have most contact with is the family. You
may have to negotiate with the family to release their young people
for work with you. You may need their support to run and fund
programmes for young people. You may be working with them to
help solve some of their problems.
In all cases, you will need to understand their social dynamics, the
part they play in the local culture and economy and the nature of
their relationship with their young people. When you encounter
young people in the community, you are also encountering the
dynamics of their families, embodied in their attitudes and behaviour.
Your interaction with them has to be sensitive to all that, if you are to
do your best for them. In what follows we explore some of the basic
ideas that sociology and social psychology can tell us about the
influence of families on young people.
First, let’s look at what the term ‘the family’ means. We start by
defining and describing different types of families. After you have
read this section on family types you will be asked to relate it to your
own experience and to that of the families of the young people you
work with.

The nuclear family

The functionalist position is that the nuclear family is the basic unit of
all types of family, around which other types of extended family are
constructed. (You may want to look back at Unit 1 to remind yourself
about the basis of the functionalist perspective. The functionalist
approach to the study of the family is discussed more fully later in
this unit.) This position is logical, given the need for a period of
intimate rearing to protect and nurture the young. This seems to
require a small nucleus of socially intimate members.
However, the term ‘nuclear family’, as it is used today, describes a
type of family unit that is of fairly recent origin and related to the
advanced stages of industrialised societies. The nuclear family is a
unit consisting of a husband/father, a wife/mother and their child or
children (biological or adopted).

100 Unit 3: Young people and the family

 Module 2: Young People and Society

Key: male female is married to

After Osoba and Steele, 1995. Used with permission of the authors.

In this diagram, a man is married to one woman and the couple has
five children, two males and three females.
The view that the nuclear family is the basic, universal family type
was advanced by Murdock, in his book Social Structure (1949). He

Unit 3
argued that all other types of family are variants of the nuclear family
or additions to the nuclear family.

The extended family

The extended family is the most common form of family all over the
world. There is a range of extended family types, the variations being
rooted in economic roles, history and cultural patterns.
According to Murdock, extended families are extensions of the
nuclear family. They may include grandparents and/or aunts and
uncles and cousins. However, this model does not cover the diversity
of extended family types. For example, in rural Pakistan, the family
can define itself to include numerous caste/clan aligned members,
depending on the situation, particularly if these people live locally in
the same town or group of villages. A family wedding may have over
2000 family guests.
There are two types of extended family:
z vertically extended
z horizontally extended.

The vertically extended family

When relatives from at least three generations live together in the
same house or compound, the family is said to be vertically extended.
A vertically extended family may consist of a married couple, one or
more of their married children and their children. In this case, there is
a linking of three generations through the parent/child bond.

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first generation

second generation

third generation

After Osoba and Steele, 1995. Used with permission of the authors.

Vertically extended families were, and still are, common in many

regions of Asia and Africa where agriculture is the main form of
livelihood. The family tends to live together on the land in a
compound of several houses linked together. The roots of this may lie
in the problem of succession: families often do not wish to fragment
their family land by sharing it with children and breaking it up into
small plots that are not economically viable. At the same time, they
will want to make use of whatever family labour is available for
periods like harvesting. The structure also safeguards the welfare of
elders as they age beyond working life.
Among migrant families in metropolitan countries, the vertical
extended family survives because of the power of cultural norms and
economic and social pressures, However, this is not the case when the
economic situation changes significantly – for example, if the family
becomes wealthier, if there is pension and welfare provision and if
the young people buy their own homes. Even so, they will tend to live
near the older members, so that the mutual system of support
survives.

The horizontally extended family

Sometimes families are joined together through the sibling tie – the tie
between sets of brothers and sisters. A horizontally extended family
tends to occur when two or more married brothers live together with
their wives and children. The family is extended across the same
generation: that of the brothers.

102 Unit 3: Young people and the family

 Module 2: Young People and Society

After Osoba and Steele, 1995. Used with permission of the authors.

In vertically and horizontally extended families socialisation is

markedly different from that in nuclear families. Psychological and
personality traits, as well as social values, may be very different.

Unit 3
For example, in Pakistan many marriages based on these two patterns
are between first cousins. That may strengthen links between the two
families who share their children, even when they do not live in the
same compound. But it may do the opposite when there is a crisis. If,
for example, the two related families have a falling out over rights to a
corner of land, a footpath or a family buffalo, the emotions raised are
intensified, as emotions always are among closely related family
members. This can become a serious source of problems within each
family unit. The young women who have married into the family
units may suffer from being forced to over-fulfil their normal domestic
obligations. There may be struggles over control of the children.
Divorces may ensue and there may be pressure for bride money to be
returned.
In many instances, families may be extended both horizontally and
vertically, giving rise to large groups of related kin. For example,
among the Yoruba of Western Nigeria, an important kin grouping is
the idile, which consists of all those who trace their descent through
males from a common male ancestor. In the past, the members of an
idile often lived together in the same compound called an agboole. The
members of an idile form a corporate group who own land, titles and
other property in common.

Families based on polygamous unions

The term ‘polygamy’ refers to any type of plural union or marriage.
There are two types of polygamy: polygyny and polyandry.
z Polygyny is the marriage of a man to two or more women at the
same time. Polygynous marriages are quite common in many
African societies and among Muslims.
z Polyandry is the marriage of a woman to two or more husbands
at the same time. Polyandry is rare. It is known only among a few

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social groups throughout the world. For example, the Toda, a

people in India, practice polyandry, as do some tribes in Tibet.

Polygamy
(plural marriage)

Polygyny Polyandry
(marriage of one man to (marriage of one woman
two or more women) to two or more men)

After Osoba and Steele, 1995. Used with permission of the authors.

Some writers argue that when families are formed as a result of

polygamous marriages, they are quite different from nuclear families.
Thus, they disagree with Murdock that the nuclear family is a basic
universal family type.

The polygynous family

In a polygynous family (a family based on the marriage of a man to
two or more women at the same time) the basic unit appears to be
that of a woman and her child or children. Very often in a
polygynous household the husband/father has a separate room or
house for himself. The various units of wives/mothers and their
children live apart from him. Each wife and her children usually have
a separate room or house to themselves.

After Osoba and Steele, 1995. Used with Permission of the authors.

The diagram above shows one man married to three wives. The wife
on the left has three children, two daughters and a son; the wife in the
middle has two sons and the wife on the right, two daughters.

The polyandrous family

Polyandry is rare. When it occurs, it is often based on the marriage of
a woman to two or more brothers. In some societies, men have to give
gifts to the families of their prospective brides, or actually purchase
their wives. They pay what is called a ‘bride price’. In societies where
the bride price may be high, some men cannot afford to get married.
Thus, in order to alleviate this problem, societies such as the Toda
allow two or more brothers to marry the same woman.

104 Unit 3: Young people and the family

 Module 2: Young People and Society

The woman lives in the same house or compound with her husbands
and bears children for them. It is not important in such societies to
determine just who is the biological father of the children born in the
family. The brothers do not have disputes about the paternity of the
children. The children belong to the family collectively.

After Osoba and Steele, 1995. Used with Permission of the authors.

Unit 3
Variations
There are other variations in family type that are not nuclear or
extended. Some examples are described below.

A single-parent family
This describes a family where only one adult is present. In most cases,
this type of family consists of a woman and her children.

A sibling family
This is a family in which the siblings (a group of brothers and sisters)
live together without any adult being present. This type of family may
occur through the death of both parents. It is becoming frighteningly
common among families afflicted by HIV/AIDS in Africa.

A foster family
This type of family may consist of a man and a woman who are
raising children other than their own. The children may or may not be
related to the man or woman. The children may also not be
biologically related to each other. Often, children are put in foster care
(allocated to a couple or even to a single person by the state, or a non-
governmental agency) so that they can be taken care of for various
lengths of time.

A family based on a visiting union

A woman may be living by herself with her child or children and is
visited frequently by a man. She is usually not married to the man.
The male visitor may or may not be the father of her children. Even
though he does not live with the woman and her children, he may
nevertheless contribute financially to the household. He may also
help to make important decisions in the family.

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The matrifocal family

This family type is prevalent in the Caribbean among poorer families
of African descent. In this family, women in their roles as mothers
have a great deal of authority over the members of the family. A
woman is usually the head of the family which often consists of a
woman, her daughter (or daughters) and their children. A significant
feature of such families is generally the absence of a resident male
adult. A similar situation is found in South Africa and neighbouring
countries, such as Botswana, Lesotho and Swaziland, where men
have left home to work in the mining industry. This employment
causes them to be absent for many months on end.

Families headed by same-sex couples

With recent changes in the law in countries such as Britain and
America, homosexual relationships are not only recognised as
socially acceptable, but it has become possible for homosexual
couples to marry and have all the rights of heterosexual couples. In
principle therefore, homosexual couples can form nuclear and, where
desired, extended families. They may adopt children, keep children
from a previous heterosexual relationship or have a fertilised egg
implanted in one of the couple.

Community families
Some of the young people you work with may live or have lived in a
home such as an orphanage run by the state or by a non-
governmental agency. Many of these community homes are run by
religious or humanitarian organisations, and aim to provide children
with similar advantages to those of a large extended family, though
they have a more formalised structure.

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Activity 3.1
(about 10 minutes)
Using the information discussed so far in this unit, draw a
diagram in your learning journal showing the type of family to
which you belong at present. In a few words, describe the type
of family.
An example is given here as a guide. Add a shaded symbol to
represents yourself, as shown in the example. Here, the family
consists of a father, a mother and their four children (three
daughters and a son). In addition, there is the wife of the son
and the children of that couple. Your family diagram may look
very different from this one, of course.

Unit 3
father mother

Brenda you May Ron Sue

Bob Ted

More than one family type

A significant point to note is that individuals may pass through more
than one of these family types during their lifetime. For example, a
young person may have the experience of moving from a nuclear
family to a single-parent family or to a community family such as an
orphanage. This could occur on the divorce of their parents or the
death of either parent: either way, the change is likely to be traumatic.
The devastation of the HIV/AIDS epidemic has caused many young
people to experience this. In such instances, the young person or
people concerned might benefit from the training and economic
support, and professional counselling skills, of a youth development
worker.
In reality, no matter how the family is defined or what form it takes, it
is generally agreed that it is an important institution in society. It is
usually responsible for the care, protection and upbringing of the
young members of society. In summary, the family has the
responsibility for training young people in the ways of the society. It

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is also a critical factor in moulding the personality of the individual

young person.

Self-help question 3.1

(about 10 minutes)
This self-help question will help you check your understanding
of types of families.

Answer the following multiple-choice questions by circling or

ticking the answer that you think is correct.
1 The claim that the nuclear family is universal means:
a it is a basic fact of life
b it is found in all societies
c it is the nucleus of the universe
d none of the above.
2 In the nuclear family:
a the husband/father is often absent
b there are no children
c the husband/father and wife/mother are present
d there is only one child.
3 The type of marriage in which a man is married to two or
more women at the same time is called:
a polyandry
b group marriage
c polygyny
d monogamy.
4 Extended families are common in:
a agricultural societies
b modern, complex societies
c industrialised societies
d simple societies.
5 In matrifocal families:
a women play a subordinate role
b there are only women

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c a woman is usually the head

d men are not wanted or needed.
Compare your answers with those suggested at the end of the
unit.

Activity 3.2
Think about the family types of young people with whom you
work and make notes in your learning journal.
For example:
z Do they come from the same kind of family as you, as you

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described in Activity 3.1?
z Do they all come from the same kind of family as each
other?
z How would you describe their families in terms of the
types described above?
z If they do not fit any of the types, briefly describe their
circumstances.
Make any notes relating to family types that you may need to
take into account in your youth work practice.

Approaches to the study of the family

There are several theoretical approaches to the study of the family.

We are going to focus here on the three theoretical approaches that
we used in the analysis of society in Unit 1, and again when looking
at adolescence in Unit 2. These are:
z functionalist
z conflict, particularly Marxist and radical feminist
z interactionist.
All three approaches to the study of the family tend to base their
research and arguments on the nuclear family. This is mainly because
the majority of the researchers come from the industrialised world
where the nuclear family is the dominant type of family. It is
generally agreed, however, that, as industrialisation spreads, it tends
to undermine the extended family and the polygamous family.
The discussion is followed by a critique of the three approaches,
comparing their strengths and weaknesses.

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Activity 3.3
(about one hour, spread throughout this section)
As you work through this section ‘Approaches to the study of
the family’, make quick notes about whether you agree or
disagree with the approaches, based on your own observations
and experiences of your family and other families in your
society.
We will come back to this activity at the end of the section.

The functionalist approach

Functionalists assume that the different forms of the family have
evolved in response to the requirements of their situations, the tasks
they have to fulfil. In other words their forms and practices are
functional for the roles that they play. The questions that then arise
are:
z How functional are particular family structures for this purpose?
z What are the sources of any dysfunctions?
By this account the large rural extended families of pre-capitalist
societies would become, to an extent, dysfunctional as capitalism
developed, so would be forced or persuaded into changing their
structures and functions over time.
The functionalists then, in studying the family, are mainly interested
in discovering what roles or functions the family has in society. They
ask questions such as:
z How does the family help society to continue to exist?
z How does the family train the new members of a society?
They argue that the family has (among others) four particularly
important functions to perform in society:
z economic
z reproductive
z socialisation
z stabilisation of adult personalities.

The economic function

The family as a unit looks after the welfare of its members, who are
fed, clothed, housed and protected. The family group is therefore
functional for the reproduction of society. In some families, the father
alone goes out to work, in others both parents work. Yet in many
families, the children, too, have to contribute to the upkeep of the
family. They may, for example, perform domestic tasks such as

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washing dishes and cleaning the house, or working on the farm or

small business. These chores may have an economic cost (an
opportunity cost) to the family, in that the children could possibly
earn more in wages by doing these chores for people outside of the
family than their worth is to the family at that time.

Case Study 3.1

Child labour
In some societies (for example in Pakistan and India), children under
the age of 15 are engaged in earning wages, which are an important
part of their family’s income. You can find them serving in roadside
restaurants, looking after small tyre repair and petrol stations, and
often doing quite challenging manual work. Such child labour is
deplored by the United Nations, the International Labour

Unit 3
Organisation (ILO) and other international bodies and also, in
countries like Pakistan, increasingly by the state and religious
organisations.
The functionalist policy-maker asks such questions as: Would it be
better functionally for the state to spend its resources on educating
these children so that they would be easy to train for modern sector
industries? In the rapid development trajectories of most countries
today, that probably makes more sense than having a policy
supporting child labour. This is what economists call an analysis of
the ‘opportunity cost’ of child labour: the loss of value by employing
the labour at too low a level of economic return. However, for many
families, the labour of such children is crucial to the survival of the
family. Families usually have a very realistic sense of what works for
them, and therefore are the ultimate functionalists.
Extreme care must be taken, however, that young children who work
are not abused, exploited or robbed of their physical and moral
resources through begging, child prostitution and working in
contaminated conditions. The governments and NGOs of many
countries in Asia, Africa and Latin America, where child labour is
common, are taking firm steps to reduce child labour. One policy that
is proving effective is the introduction of compulsory education up to
the age of 15, forcing families to bear part of the cost of development.
In addition, poor parents in rural areas are being counselled about the
value of education for the future of their children: persuading them
that there is an opportunity cost to the family of putting their children
into work at too low a level. In Bangladesh, the government has
business training schemes for young people in the rural areas, lending
them a small amount of capital at reasonable rates after training, so
that they can set up small rural businesses.

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The reproductive function

Some of the questions for society in this area include:
z Are enough families producing enough healthy children to make
the economy and the society and culture work as it should work?
z Are they producing too many?
z Is the health status of these children good enough, or is it putting
pressure on society’s resources?
When there are huge population losses after a war or a disease such
as HIV/AIDS, then it may well be impossible to staff industries,
farms, public institutions and so on. Governments will then do
whatever they can to boost the fertility rate or attack the sources of
disease. They may suddenly develop a new warmth towards the
wishes of migrants and refugees. Universities will investigate why
families are limiting their reproductive capacity, in order to advise the
government how it can make an appropriate functional response to
the problem.
The process of mating and reproduction is an intimate and private
matter, but its functions are profoundly social. This contradiction is
very important for young people to grasp.
All societies have rules and regulations governing reproduction. The
rules governing reproduction vary from society to society. For
example, in some societies, females, through early marriage, may
become mothers at an early age. In others, marriage and reproduction
usually take place much later. Whatever the society or culture, most
children in the world are born into particular families, to particular
parents. The family is usually very important for establishing children
in the social context of the village, the community or the wider
society. Children are often identified by the name of one parent or the
other, or by their family name if one exists. In this way they establish
their initial identity.

The socialisation function

To a functionalist, the family performs a critical social function in
passing on the norms of the culture of the society from one
generation to the next. The culture, which is the way of life of a
society, has to be taught to its new members. This is managed mainly
through socialisation – by observation and interaction with other
family members, acquiring social rules and social roles. Socialisation
consists of the intricate and numberless processes whereby the new
members are taught the values and behaviour patterns of their society.
They develop that society’s model of right and wrong, of acceptable
behaviour and what is unacceptable, of what are valuable or desirable
goals and what are not.
The majority of new members in a society are the children of families
that make up the social formation of that society. The adult members
of the family, the parents or guardians of children, have the central

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function of inducting them and establishing them through the

socialisation process. Because societies and cultures differ, what is
taught through socialisation can vary significantly from one society to
another.
An example of acceptable or polite behaviour that children may be
taught in some cultures is to say ‘Good morning’ to family members
when they awake. A rule might be: Always speak the truth. A
desirable goal might be to get an education by attending school.
As part of the socialisation process, all over the world young people
have to learn to value independence. They have to be prepared for a
time when they will need to leave the parental home. The goal of
eventual independence from family members has to be taught. The
value of independence, like other central values of the culture, not
only has to be learned, it has to be internalised. By this is meant that
it has to become a part of the individual personality. The child or
young person has to learn to act on it automatically. It must not be

Unit 3
seen as a problem.
Young people are taught to value independence most effectively
through their interactions with other members of their family.
Parents, in particular, generally have the responsibility of enabling
their children to become independent of them. In addition, young
people have to be motivated to achieve the desirable goals of the
society: the family plays a critical role in motivating young people.

The stabilisation of adult personalities

Even though the personalities of individuals are mainly formed
during childhood, adults still need support that strengthens and
protects them from the stresses and strains of life. The family is
normally the main agency to provide this support, which stabilises
adult personalities. Couples usually give such support to each other;
other adult family members may also offer each other support. This
need for support may be particularly important for adult members of
the nuclear family who tend to be more isolated than members of
extended families.
Some functionalists also claim that, within the family, adults can act
out any childish elements of behaviour they may still have. For
example, a father, through playing a sport with his children, can
safely act out any lingering childish elements of behaviour.
The next activity asks you to give examples from your society and
personal experience to show the different functions of the family
according to the functionalist approach.

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Activity 3.4
(about 15 minutes)
In your learning journal, give examples under each of the
headings below. If you prefer, you can give examples from your
own family.
Economic
List five things that younger members of a family in your
society are likely to do to help the family as a whole (e.g.
domestic tasks, helping in a family business). Put an E beside
those chores which have some economic value.
Reproductive
To help you identify the reproductive function of the family in
your society, note whether:
z there is social pressure for large or small families
z there is social pressure for children to belong to a
particular family type.
List two ways in which the social pressure is apparent.
Socialisation
List examples of social values and behaviour which children
learn in their family:
1 Two examples of acceptable behaviour that children are
taught by age six or so.
2 Two examples of rules that should not be broken.
3 Two examples of desirable or valuable goals.
Stabilisation of adult personalities
List two ways in which the family supports its adult members.

This activity should have helped you think about your own
experience of families, and relate the functionalist approach to real
life.

The conflict approach

As you saw in Unit 1, there are various social conflict theories which
have their roots in the writings of Karl Marx. Here we examine how
Marxist thinkers and radical feminists approach the study of the
family.
Marxists point out that the bourgeois family structure reflects and
supports the inequalities in capitalist society. Some family members
exploit others, usually men exploiting the labour of women – in this

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way, the family mirrors and supports capitalist values. Marxists argue
that the family also has an ideological function which it carries out
while socialising the young, in that it conveys the value that social
control by the people with the most resources is natural and
acceptable.
They may also argue that the family is an institution that is designed
to facilitate the inheritance of private property. Property is generally
owned by males, who pass it on to their own offspring. To facilitate
this, the family in modern capitalist states is usually based on
monogamous marriage (the marriage of one man to one
woman).Through monogamous marriage and the taboo on sexual
affairs outside marriage, the paternity of children is as assured as it
can be. In other words, there should be no doubt as to who is the
father of children born in a particular family, and only his children
are likely to be the inheritors of the family property.
Thus, according to Marxists and also to radical feminists, through

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monogamous marriage men have a large measure of control over
women’s sexuality in order to assure their property rights. The family
as an institution therefore tends to oppress women and also makes the
control of resources by one person or a small group a central ethical
principle.
Marxists also hold that, in capitalist societies, the need to reproduce
an appropriate labour force for the capitalist system becomes the
main role of the family. Young people must have the right balance of
consumerist and individualistic attitudes and values so that they can
fit into the labour force and will consume whatever the capitalist
production system delivers. The labour force must be one that obeys
orders and gives respect to private property. According to Marxists,
the family is the key institution that teaches these values and
attitudes. Parents condition their children to be obedient to authority
and to respect property. These children are thus turned into
appropriate future workers for the labour force.
Radical feminists say that children learn, particularly in the nuclear
family, to accept patriarchy as normal and good, and will therefore
reproduce male exploitation of and dominance over women when
they grow up. Marxist-feminist writers accept the existence of
patriarchy in the family but see the cause in the social and economic
structure of capitalism. Since capitalism needs cheap and exploitable
sources of labour, women bear and rear the children who will become
that labour force; they teach them to accept authority and to be
competitive. They service their husbands’ needs so that the men can
be put back to work each day in an exploitative system. Today, they
do this to themselves as well.
In addition, Marxists see the family as a major unit of consumption.
They argue that, before industrialisation, a lot of production took
place in the family. However, with the development of the factory
system in capitalist societies, the family was less and less of a
production unit. It became increasingly a consumption unit, as well

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as being a reproductive unit for the labour force. This means that the
family members have to purchase goods and services produced
outside the family, and children have to be socialised into the
consumption patterns appropriate to the society.
Marxists also claim that the family is ideologically stereotyped by
capitalist advertising as a happy nuclear family unit of father, mother
and their child or children. In reality, this ideal family often does not
exist. Late capitalism has led to the breakdown of family structures
and to the development of all sorts of family groupings, some of
which are severely disadvantaged structurally. There are also many
tensions and conflicts in the family between the parents, between the
children themselves and between parents and children. The family
has to practise its functions in a system where individual self-interest
is the main value that has to be inculcated. Feminists point to
women’s disproportionately heavy labour compared with males, and
the disproportionate distribution of the resources of the family which,
until the postmodern era, was particularly heavily biased against all
females.
The conflict sociology perspective helps us to understand how central
structural conflict is to all societies. You will meet clear evidence
among young people of the power of socialisation and the existence
of structural conflict in what they may be prepared to do with you.
This may be an issue deriving from a pre-capitalist social formation
such as the caste system, rather than a particularly temporary source
of conflict.
Consider the following case study example of a deep-level structural
conflict.

Case Study 3.2

Structural conflict and caste
This example from contemporary rural Pakistan involved the death
of a Qureishi. The old man was highly respected. He had lived in the
village all his life and had built the houses of many of the village
Choudharys (the landowning families). He had always been known as
a skilled and honest builder and repairer.
On the day after his death, he was due to be buried, as is the custom
in Islamic societies. However there were no young Qureishis in the
village at the time. The young Choudharys, genuine in their grief for
the dead man, were not prepared to dig his grave because he was of a
lower caste – an interdict acquired within the family from childhood.
This was a taboo that must have cut across a great deal of genuine
affection for him, and a collective sense of guilt. But it indicates a
deep structural conflict of ancient standing between the two caste
groups. Their structural conflict had somewhere in the past been
resolved by the caste/clan system of prohibitions. In contemporary
Pakistan, normally this conflict is submerged in the day-to-day

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interactions of the people living in the village. A functionalist

investigator would probably remark on the essential harmony and
give-and-take of village life.
In the end, it took the intervention of Matloob, a highly intelligent
and flexible Choudhary, who had come into the village some years
ago, from the mountains, and therefore was considered a relatively
poor man, to resolve the very serious problem of the burial. He dug a
magnificent grave, straight and level and exactly the right depth.

Self-help question 3.2

(about 5 minutes)
Use this self-help question to check your understanding of the
conflict approach to the study of the family.

Unit 3
Indicate whether the following statements are true or false.
True False
1 According to Marxists, monogamous marriage
helps to determine who has the right to inherit
private property. † †
2. Women in monogamous unions, from the Marxist
point of view, are the oppressors. † †
3 Parents tend to condition their children to be
obedient workers. † †
4 Today, the family tends to be a unit that
consumes rather than produces its own food
and services. † †
5 According to Marxists and radical feminists,
the members of a family are not necessarily
one happy unit. † †
Compare your answers with those provided at the end of the
unit.

The interactionist approach

When theorising about the family, interactionists emphasise how the
non-conscious processes of interaction among family members
predispose them to construct self concepts and concepts of others in
ways that are acceptable in that society. This is how their future
family roles are constructed for them, and to an extent their future
occupational roles. Because the processes seem natural and are never
reflected on, this makes it difficult for them to see what is happening
and therefore to escape the stereotypes that the family constructs
them into. That is unless the quality of the linguistic and symbolic
interaction is unusually open and critical.

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Interactionists focus mainly on the nuclear family. (However, there

are exceptions. The anthropological studies of extended families and
communities in Algeria in the 1960s by Pierre Bourdieu come close to
the detailed accounts of symbolic interaction of the interactionists.
Some of the work of anthropologists like Margaret Mead was
influenced by interactionist thinking.)
The anthropologist, Edmund Leach, in his book A Runaway World
(1967), advances the view that families are under great internal
pressure. He claims that the isolation of the nuclear family causes the
family members to place too many demands on each other. As Leach
puts it:
“In the past kinfolk and neighbours gave the individual
continuous moral support throughout his life. Today the
domestic household is isolated. The family looks inward upon
itself, there is an intensification of emotional stress between
husband and wife and parents and children. The strain is greater
than most of us can bear.”
The idea that the nuclear family is a source of stress and strain for its
members is epitomised in its extreme form by the work of
psychiatrist, R.D. Laing, who had encountered the results of this
process among his damaged patients. In his book The Divided Self
(1965), Laing illustrates how the processes within the family, under
the pressure of preparing its members to live in the social world, can
sometimes be a destructive and exploitative force. His most powerful
theory was that the very serious psychotic illness, schizophrenia, was
a logical way for some family members to deal with the
contradictions they faced in their family experience. Unfortunately,
this can lead to the disintegration of the whole personality under the
strain of reconciling the two irreconcilable selves that the individual
develops to deal with the problems. There can be intensely harmful
but submerged competition and stress within families: unspoken
perhaps but carried powerfully at the symbolic level in the social
interaction. Laing points out that family members can carry the scars
of conflicts and hurts throughout their lives.
These problems are not just part of the nuclear family structure that
Laing investigated, but can be found in extended families. You can
find some of the most illuminating accounts of this in novels and
plays and films, as the following example shows.

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Case Study 3.3

Things fall apart
Chinua Achebe’s story Things Fall Apart describes a polygamous
nineteenth century Ibo village society (Umuofia, which still exists in
Nigeria) and its reactions to the coming of white colonialists. In it
there is an account of the protagonist Okonkwo, who is an
ostentatiously brave and macho warrior and father, precisely because
his father was a weak, artistic man who failed to achieve any of the
titles he should have done. Okonkwo tries to give his personal style
and his view of what a man should be to his son Ikemefuna, to help
him rise in status within the tribe, like himself. But Ikemefuna is
gentle and thoughtful and is terribly oppressed by this sort of love.
This draws him away from his father and into the arms of the white
missionaries. In this intricate, moving account there is a powerful

Unit 3
study of how the details of the social interaction between Okonkwo
and his son carry the structural conflict that eventually destroys
Okonkwo and the family.

Laing argues, like Leach, that, because the nuclear family is so

isolated, it tends to create a barrier between the individual and the
wider society. It is in the family that people first learn to categorise the
world into ‘them’ and ‘us’.

Members of the The rest of society

nuclear family

US THEM

This division, Laing argues, lays the foundation for later division such
as ‘people like us’ and ‘people like them’. These attitudes tend to
foster and reinforce the deep divisions in society that can occur, based
on class, racism, sexism and homophobia (hatred or fear of
homosexuals).

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In agreement with Marxists and radical feminists, Laing also argues

that the family is the place where we are first taught the value of
obedience and not to question authority. We take these attitudes and
values with us into the wider society.
Obedience and respect for authority greatly help the smooth running
of society’s institutions, but they can have a profoundly negative
effect. There is a series of classic studies by the psychologist Stanley
Milgram, from experiments carried out during the 1960s and
described at length in many standard school and university
psychology text books. Milgram succeeded in persuading a high
percentage of research subjects to administer dangerous, high voltage,
electric shocks to supposed victims (really actors). He was able to do
this because he told people that it was in the context of a scientific
research project. This revealed that decent, normal, educated people
were willing to accept the requirements of what appears to be
legitimate authority, even when required to do things that are known
to be evil and dangerous in nature. This kind of obedience to
legitimate authority is learned in the family. The kinds of ethnic
cleansing atrocities, such as those that took place in Rwanda and in
Bosnia, are horrifying and inexplicable unless one can understand the
power of social influence to inculcate the habit of obedience
developed over childhood within family structures.

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Self-help question 3.3

(about 5 minutes)
Use this self-help question to check your understanding of the
interactionist approach to the study of the family.
Indicate whether the following statements are true or false.
True False

1 Like functionalists and Marxists, interactionists

focus on the nuclear family in particular. † †
2 Interactionists claim that relationships within the
nuclear family are always close and intimate. † †

Unit 3
3. Leach and Laing argue that the nuclear family is
to some extent isolated from the rest of society. † †
4. The notion of ‘us’ and ‘them’, which is first
learned within the family, helps to unite members
of a society. † †
5. From society’s point of view, it is usually a good
thing to teach the values of obedience and
respect for authority. † †
Compare your answers with those provided at the end of the
unit.

The following activity asks you to reflect on the three approaches to

the study of the family.

Activity 3.5
(about 10 minutes)
Look back at the notes you have made during your study of this
section, in response to Activity 3.3, about whether you agree
or disagree with the three approaches to the study of the
family.
Now note answers to the following questions in your learning
journal.
What do you think are the main strengths and weaknesses of
each approach, particularly as they apply (or don’t apply) to
your own society?
What, if anything, do they have in common?

The next section will help you think further about these questions.

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Critique of approaches
This table compares the strengths and weaknesses of each of the
three sociological approaches to the family.

Strengths Weaknesses
The functionalist approach
It was the first sociological approach It tends to focus on the nuclear
to explain scientifically the nature of family in modern, western societies.
the family as a social structure. When applied to extended families
It was the first to point out the and polygamous families, it tends to
crucial part the family plays in the import findings that are only really
socialisation of new members of secure in relation to nuclear
society. families.
It is a useful approach to the study It assumes family life is essentially
of the family in that it examines the functional, and generally paints a
contributions made by the family to picture of order and stability in the
the maintenance of society. family. This is often only superficially
true, and many families experience
great strain and conflict.
The family is part of a wider fabric
of training and support. Other
agencies, such as education and
social services, carry out many of
the functions of the family. Many
families in metropolitan countries
are supported financially by the
state for at least part of the time,
particularly in child-rearing.
The conflict approach
It has exposed the contradictions in It is too prescriptive, and ignores the
the functionalist approach, with its agency of the individuals in the
image of a happy, stable family as family. They have values and skills of
the centrepiece of the developed their own and use them to construct
world. It points out that behaviour in family life in the light of their ideas.
the family is influenced by the Marxism’s emphasis on the
underlying processes of conflict- importance of the family in the
driven capitalist social formations inheritance of private property is not
and carries the marks of pre- relevant for all families, in all
capitalist social conflicts. The family societies. Societies can vary a great
contains individuals of different deal. In some, property such as land,
gender and age categories, with houses, titles are held in common for
conflicting interests, engaged in an all members of the extended family.
often silent struggle over resources. Some extended families can be very
The Marxist and radical feminist large, the assets, such as land, being
approaches have focused public held in common by a small clan.
attention on the exploitation of the The Marxist approach, like the

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Strengths Weaknesses
labour of women in the family, functionalist approach, tends to
particularly in modern industrialised focus on the nuclear family in
societies. modern, western societies. Its
analysis of pre-capitalist forms of
the family is limited.
The radical feminist approach
oversimplifies in claiming patriarchy
is the main purpose of family
structure.
The interactionist approach
It focuses on the mediating processes It focus largely on the nuclear family
of family life, which is how the in modern, western societies.
family continually reconstitutes Leach’s and Laing’s views of the

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itself. This reminds us that families nuclear family as being cut off from
are composed of individuals who the wider society are exaggerated.
interact and communicate and that Many nuclear families today, even in
these processes are constructive. western societies, still maintain
Sometimes, when we analyse groups close ties with relatives such as
such as families, we forget that we grandparents, aunts and uncles.
are dealing with social agents
Laing was a psychiatrist who tended
actually involved in the process of
to deal with mentally disturbed
constructing the social world.
individuals. His negative views of the
The interactionist approach, like the harm members of the nuclear family
conflict approach, draws attention can inflict on each other are skewed.
to the fact that these processes are Not all nuclear families give their
full of complex tensions and forces. members lifelong emotional scars. In
any case, emotional hurts can be
healed; people do not have to carry
the scars all their lives.

Finally, a self-help question to bring together the ideas in this section.

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Self-help question 3.4

(about 5 minutes)
Answer the following question in four or five sentences.
What is the major criticism that is levelled at all three
approaches, the functionalist, the conflict and the
interactionist, in the study of the family?

Compare your answers with those provided at the end of the

unit.

Issues facing families today

So far in this unit we have looked at ways of defining and describing

types of families and sociological approaches to the study of the
family. Throughout we have asked you to test the ideas explored
against real life as you know it.
In the next section we look at a number of issues that face families
today, especially those which affect young people and your work as a
youth development worker. These are:
z gender inequalities
z the rise in unmarried adolescent pregnancies
z the impact of new technologies
z HIV/AIDS and the threat to families.

Gender inequalities
The United Nations State of the World Population report for 2005
highlights the central problem for families, of gender inequality and
problems of reproductive health for women. It points out that the
losers are not just women, but everyone, since women play so pivotal
a role in families.
“The costs of gender-discrimination are highest for low-income
countries, and within countries, for the poor. Women constitute
a large share of the labour force and play a central role in rural

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economies and food production. They are also primary

guardians of the next generation. Gender discrimination
squanders human capital by making inefficient use of individual
abilities, thus limiting the contribution of women. It also
undermines the effectiveness of development policies. When
discriminatory burdens are removed , the capacity and earning
power of women increase. Furthermore, women tend to reinvest
these gains in the welfare of their children and families,
multiplying their contributions to national development.
Empowering women propels countries towards the Millennium
Development Goals and improves the lives of all.”
The report argues for three urgent policies to begin to remedy the
problems faced by families:
z improving girls’ and women’s education (twice as many women
as men are illiterate, and there is a huge gender gap in secondary
and higher education)

Unit 3
z improving reproductive health information and services
z improving women’s economic rights.
Despite greatly increasing numbers of women in the paid work-force
they face a lot of forms of discrimination – particularly a restricted
range of occupations, lower wages and lack of access to credit and
ownership of capital. They tend to work more in the informal sector
which commands poor pay, conditions and security.
In many countries, more and more women are entering the labour
force to work for wages, but this tends to leave them with less time to
spend with their children. This is particularly acute in a nuclear or
matrifocal family, as children may suffer from lack of adequate
supervision and socialisation. It should be noted that fathers and
older brothers and sisters often help in socialising children. However,
it is generally recognised that in the early years, mothers play a crucial
role in the socialisation process. (Module 5 Gender and Development
looks in more detail at gender issues.)

The rise in unmarried adolescent pregnancies

The rise in unmarried adolescent pregnancies does appear to be an
issue of concern for both developed and developing countries.
For example:
z In Jamaica in 1993, 30 per cent of all live births were to young
mothers between the ages of 15 and 19, although young women
in this age group comprised only 16 per cent of the population.
z In Africa, the Population Council’s data show that the proportion
of premarital births to adolescents is increasing in Botswana,
Ghana and Zimbabwe.

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z The UN Fund for Population Activities found high rates of

teenage pregnancy in Fiji, the Solomon Islands, Vanuatu and the
Marshall Islands.
The consequences for unmarried adolescent girls who become
pregnant can be severe, for the following reasons:
z Pregnancy can halt or severely curtail education. In many
countries, there are limited provisions for pregnant adolescents to
continue their education.
z Many young girls are forced to leave school because of
pregnancy. In instances where they can stay in school or return to
school, the majority choose not to because of embarrassment.
z Bonds between unmarried adolescents and their partners are
usually weak. The reality of this is that more often than not the
teenage mother is left with the total responsibility of caring for
the child, economically and emotionally. It could be argued here
that there is a critical need for youth development workers to
work with young men in a way that will encourage them to
assume their share of parenting. Although contributing
financially is a start, the responsibility of parenting goes much
further than this.
z Neither parent is economically secure. This is why it is so critical
to ensure that adolescent mothers are able to continue their
education. Hopefully, this will increase their earning potential
and thereby reduce their dependency on the fathers of their
babies for their survival.
z Girls’ families may reject them, or provide only temporary
support. It is often the case that the time that young people most
need support from their family coincides with the time when the
family finds it most difficult to provide it. This may occur because
of financial pressure (particularly in poor households) or because
of the breakdown in relationships. Parents often feel let down and
ashamed, and exposed to gossip and ridicule by neighbours.
Many teenage mothers point out that it is the reaction of family
and people in the community, along with economic problems,
that often makes life difficult for them. Quite often, they are not
sure if it is being a teenage mother, or the fact that they are not
married, that causes the problem.
The consequences for the children of young, unmarried mothers, can
be also critical, as they may be growing up:
z within a cycle of poverty, especially if the young mother has no
or few marketable skills, and/or no financial support from family
or the father of the child
z with a parent who lacks personal maturity, education and/or
parenting skills (especially if the single mother lacks help from
her family)
z without adequate male role models.

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What are the reasons for teenage pregnancies? There are many
common assumptions. They may not seem relevant if you live in a
society where girls get married young and where unmarried teenage
pregnancy is not a problem. However, if you live a society where it is
a problem, you should look critically at some of the reasons that are
given, as there may be a tendency to blame the victim. Read the
following case study, which sets out some of the assumptions.

Case Study 3.4

Common beliefs about teenage pregnancies
Many of the moral guardians who cite teenage pregnancies as one of
the major causes of social decay, usually cite their reason as a lack of
moral fortitude. Other common reasons that are given are:
z the teenage mother herself received bad parenting

Unit 3
z the girl came from a ‘broken home’
z the girl was the daughter of an adolescent mother herself.
In countries with a relatively wide social security system, like the UK
for example, it is often argued that a large number of young women
get pregnant as a means of securing rights to rent a house owned by
the local state or other state benefits. These explanations either seem
to blame the girl or over-simplify what is often a quite complex set of
circumstances.
You might find it interesting to compare these views with the views of
a group of young people who were interviewed in a regional survey
about Caribbean youth. Here, the results are compiled as a percentage
of given answers.

Reasons for unmarried teenage pregnancy

Priority % Reasons
1 21.0 parental neglect
2 19.7 lack of sexual education.
3 18.2 low moral standards
4 12.6 failure to use contraceptives
5 9.8 peer pressure
6 8.2 influence of the media
7 7.0 economic problems
8 2.8 casual sex
9 2.8 the needs of those teenagers who were
looking for love
(Taken from Danns, G., Henry, B. I. and LaFleur, P. Situational Analysis of Youth in the
Caribbean, CYP, London, 1997)

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It is interesting to consider the last reason given because it is

reinforced in a large, ethnographic study across six countries in the
Caribbean. The researchers (Brown and Chevannes, 1995) found that
a significant number of teenage mothers reported that they became
involved in an early sexual relationship because it was the first time
that they felt loved and wanted by someone – a feeling they had not
experienced at home.

Could it be then that the family, contrary to functionalist theory, is

often a place where many young people fail to experience love,
warmth and emotional security? Perhaps the findings of the conflict
theorists and the interactionists are closer to what it’s actually like in
families for many people?

The impact of new technologies

In many countries, new technologies such as televisions, computers,
the internet and even mobile phones make demands on the time of
members of the family, and may serve to reduce communication
within a family.
For example, watching television and using the internet are activities
that people tend to do on their own. By engaging in such solitary
activities, the members of families spend less time talking, playing or
doing chores with each other. Lack of adequate communication
between family members can lead to misunderstandings, tension and
selfish behaviour.

HIV/AIDS and the threat to families

In many countries in Africa and Asia particularly, deaths from AIDS
have had a devastating effect on both nuclear and extended families.
Bhagban Prakash (2000) estimates that 10,000 people die from AIDS
each day in India, Thailand, Uganda and Zimbabwe. (Information
about education for the prevention of HIV/AIDS and support for
those with the disease will be given in Module 12 Youth and Health.)
The issue here is that many parents are now dead before their
children become fully independent. Traditionally, in many developing
societies, relatives and other members of the clan, tribe or village took
over responsibility. However, the extent of AIDS deaths is often so
great that there are not enough members of the extended family
surviving to cope with these responsibilities. Many African countries
are now forced to consider strategies used in developed countries
where extended families were weaker: orphanages run by state or
non-government agencies, or other programmes operating beyond
village and family level. Inevitably, with limited resources, it is often
impossible to provide substitutes for family care for many children
orphaned by AIDS.

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Activity 3.6
(about 20 minutes, not counting discussions)
This activity asks you to think more deeply about the issue of
unmarried adolescent pregnancy in your society, and to analyse
it is terms of the theoretical approaches this unit has covered.
Start by talking to others about the issue of unmarried
adolescent pregnancy. Is it a common situation in your country?
You could talk to family, friends, tutors and peers, but you
could also seek the views of young people themselves.
Next, in your learning journal, list three reasons for this
phenomenon that you think could be made from each of the
sociological perspectives on family that have been discussed in
this unit:

Unit 3
z functionalist
z conflict
z interactionist.
What, in your view, is the youth worker’s responsibility (if any)
concerning adolescent pregnancy?
Record your opinions in your learning journal.

You may also wish to discuss with other people (especially young
people) the other issues from this section – gender inequalities, the
impact of new technologies, and HIV/AIDS and the threat to
families – and to think about them in relation to the three
perspectives.
Your views and your answers will depend on your society and your
experiences. They may relate to wider community issues, beyond the
family, which are introduced in the next section.

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The concept of community

In this section we introduce the concept of community and how it

relates to the concepts of youth and adolescence and the approaches
to the study of the family you have already explored.
The concept of community is just as complex as those of youth,
adolescence and family. It has to be unpacked very carefully before
youth and educational policy can be developed. What follows is just a
brief introduction to the concept. You will find more detailed
discussion about definitions of community and changing ideas about
its meaning and functions in Module 4 Working with people in their
communities.
Communities have interwoven bonds but those bonds are not always
constructive. There is a complex power structure in any small
community, which may be held together as much by hostility and
mistrust as by co-operative activity and affection. The social
relationships are fundamentally economic and status relationships.
The resources are food, land, property, culture and knowledge. It is
hardly surprising that community leaders may block the ascent to
authority of high achievers when they are rivals; even the elders of
their own families may do so at times. Nor is the role of young people
a simple one. Like any group they may, if so motivated, use their
education to seize control of the community’s resources, or to exploit
gaps in the system.
Although many of the problems that young people experience
originate from factors operating at the broader societal level, the
impact of those experiences are felt at the level of the local
community. The community acts as a kind of filter that makes these
experiences specific and unique.
The term ‘community’ has many definitions. It is a slippery and
elastic term, yet this does not prevent policy makers and politicians
from using the term for social control. Talking about something that
is ‘for the good of the community’ or something else that is ‘harmful
to the community’ elicits strong responses.
You will recall that, for the interactionist, how we define ourselves is
very much bound up with our interaction with others and how they
see us. The community, however it is defined, provides an important
context in which interaction takes place and is therefore critical in the
development of identity for the young person.
From the functionalist perspective, the prerequisite function of the
community is to support and reinforce the socialisation role of the
family: the values and attitudes taught in the home should be
reflected in the agencies and institutions of the local community and
vice versa. The community, in this perspective, also performs the
function of serving as the link between the family and society at large.

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It is this potential of the community to influence young people’s

values, attitudes and behaviour that has led Richard Carter, using
Barbadian society as his case study, to argue that there is indeed a
‘causal relationship between the decline of community and the
decline of youth behaviour.’ (Lewis and Carter, 1995)
American researchers, such as Resnick et al (1993) looked at young
people from backgrounds that might lead to predictions of delinquent
or anti-social behaviour. They concluded that if community
‘connectedness’ was strong (that is when the young person had good
connections with school, community organisations or extended
family) such predictions were not fulfilled.
Many societies are experiencing a decline in community structure,
and in those institutions (family, schools and church) which facilitate
face-to-face interaction and the passing on of core values from one
generation to the next. Along with this, Carter says, goes a decline in
the behaviour of young people. Where HIV infections are high, this

Unit 3
also has a significant effect on communities and some may seek to
segregate those who are infected from those who are not.
A significant factor that Carter cites in his study was the rapid pace of
social and economic change, coupled with the increased geographical
social mobility entailed in such changes. This led to a breakdown in
agreement as to what society’s core values should be, and this
breakdown showed itself most markedly in the different value systems
developed by the different generations.
As we come to the end of this unit, there is a final activity to help you
think about the concept of community and how it relates to young
people and their families.
Before you start it, look again at Reading 1: ‘The Global Economy’,
Reading 2: ‘The Threat of Globalization’ and Reading 3: ‘Structural
Adjustment and Education’, for background understanding of the
broad societal changes taking place because of globalisation.

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Activity 3.7
(about 10 minutes)
Consider the following questions and your responses. Write
your views in your learning journal.
z Are changes in a community’s institutions responsible for
the supposed decline in young people’s behaviour?
z Or has the decline in young people’s behaviour led to a
decline in the effectiveness of community organisations?
z Or has a third variable caused the decline in both
community institutions and young people’s behaviour – for
example, a decline in the behaviour of adults?
z Or has the underlying economic structure robbed people of
any sense of empowerment, so that a decline in core
values is a logical response?
z Or could it be the result of a combination of issues?

This activity, with its focus on the wider changes taking place in
society, is a reminder of the broader context in which families and
communities have to operate. This is the background to your work as
a youth development worker.

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Unit summary

In this unit you have considered:

z the main types of families
z how the three main sociological models analyse the family
o the functionalist approach, which says that the family serves
four basic functions: economic, reproductive, socialisation
and stabilising of adult personalities. These functions
contribute to the maintenance of the community, and society
as a whole.
o the Marxist conflict approach, which says that the family is
essentially an institution which ensures the effective
inheritance of private property. Marxists and radical

Unit 3
feminists also say the family conditions its young members to
obey orders, accept patriarchy and respect private property. It
also argues that the family is a consumption unit for the
goods and services of capitalist societies.
o the interactionist approach, which says that the modern,
nuclear family may puts great strains on its members and that
the conflicts between the members of the family may spill
over into the general society.
z some of the issues that families face today, including gender
inequalities, unmarried teenage pregnancies, the impact of new
technologies, and HIV/AIDS.
Finally, the unit introduced the concept of community and, in some
cases, its decline.
In Unit 4, we will analyse some of the social issues that face young
people.
To check how you have got on, look back at the learning outcomes
for this unit and see if you can now do them. When you have done
this, look through your learning journal to remind yourself of what
you have learned and the ideas you have generated.

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Answers to self-help questions

Self-help question 3.1

1 b
2 c
3 c
4 a
5 c

Self-help question 3.2

1 True
2 False
3 True
4 True
5 True.

Self-help question 3.3

1 True
2 False
3 True
4 False
5 True.

Self-help question 3.4

The major criticism is that all three approaches tend to concentrate on
the nuclear family. They tend to ignore other types of families, if
indeed they recognise that other types exist. It must be pointed out
that the nuclear family is the dominant family type in western
societies. However, other types of families exist elsewhere and must
be acknowledged. Other cultural differences must also be taken into
account.

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References

Achebe, C. (1994) Things Fall Apart, Anchor.

Brown, J. and Chevannes, B. (1995) Gender Socialisation, Project of the
University of the West Indies, Caribbean Child Development Centre
and the Department of Sociology and Social Work (funded by
UNICEF).
Danns, G., Henry, B. I. and LaFleur, P. (1997) Situational Analysis of
Youth in the Caribbean, CYP, London.
Laing, R. D. (1971) ‘Series and Nexus in the Family’, in Worsley, P.,
The Politics of the Family, Penguin, Harmondsworth.
Laing, R.D. (1965) The Divided Self, Penguin Books, Harmondsworth.
UK.

Unit 3
Leach, E. (1967) A Runaway World, BBC Publications, London.
Lewis, L and Carter, R. (1995) Essays on youth in the Caribbean,
Institute of Social and Economic Research, University of the West
Indies, Mona.
Milgram, S. (1974) Obedience to Authority: an experimental view, Harper
and Row.
Murdock, G. P. (1949) Social Structure, New York: Macmillan.
Osoba, E. and Steele, B., (1995) An Introduction to Sociology, SY14A
Study Guide, University of the West Indies.
Prakash, B. (2000) Youth Work, Sexual Health and Development,
available from: [Link]
Resnick, M. Harris, L. and Blum, R. (1993) ‘The impact of care and
connectedness on adolescent health and well-being’, Journal of
Paediatric Child Health, V.29, Supplement 1.
UNFPA (2005) State of the World Population report for 2005, available
from: [Link]

Unit 3: Young people and the family 135

Unit 4: Young people
and social issues

Unit introduction ......................................................139

Unit learning outcomes .............................................139
Images of young people.............................................140
Young people and unemployment..............................147
Young people and crime ............................................157
The implications for youth development workers .......165
Unit summary ...........................................................167
References.................................................................168
 Module 2: Young People and Society

Unit introduction

Welcome to Unit 4 Young people and social issues. In this final unit of
Module 2, we discuss three important issues that affect youth:
z society’s images of young people
z young people and unemployment
z young people and crime
As in Units 1–3, you will note that some of the generalisations about
youth that you can read in the literature are not universal: they do not
necessarily hold true for all young people in all societies. You will
have to consider whether the viewpoints expressed apply to young
people in your culture and society. By taking a critical look at the
issues presented in this unit, we hope that you will better understand
your own position as a youth development worker.

Unit 4
Unit learning outcomes

When you have worked through this unit, you should be able to:
z analyse ways, both positive and negative, in which young people
are perceived
z describe the impact of unemployment on young people, and their
experiences
z outline different theories of crime and approaches to crime, and
relate them to young people
z relate what you learn to your work as a youth development
worker.

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Images of young people

To start this unit we will take a closer look at the ways in which
society expresses its relationship with young people. One common
image of youth views them as a metaphor of hope, change and
regeneration. Another contradictory image is of problems and
instability.
Irving et al (1995) presented a model that connects the functions of
the state to young people, and the faces that they present to the state.
“The model has three levels.”
“First, the state is concerned with youth as future citizens. Here
it plays a constitutive role in the age order; it creates the future
through young people, ensuring that age gives way to youth.
There are implications in such discrete policy areas as education
and training, and more specifically, in what used to be called
‘character formation’ – the training of young people to be
tomorrow’s leaders.”
“Secondly, young people present themselves to the state as
actual or potential problem individuals, as ‘delinquents’ as
young people who are homeless, unemployed or ‘at risk’ in
other ways. Here the state’s role is integrative, avoiding
disruption to the social order as a whole. Using familiar
techniques of persuasion or coercion, the state becomes active
in such areas as policing and welfare.”
“Thirdly, young people present themselves to the state in
generational terms, as people united by common experiences.
This face of young people came into focus in Australia during
the 1950s, and was most marked during the youth movement of
the late 1960s and early 1970s (protests against the war in
Vietnam and in support of civil rights). In the sense that youth
have a different outlook on life, this is still present among young
people today, although without the definition and depth of a
social movement. The state’s role in this relationship with young
people is to maintain the age order, or rather the dominance of
the older generation, by judicious concession, by granting access
and participation or, as a last resort, by repression. Thus, the
state not only constitutes the age order by seeing that age gives
way to youth, but also ensures, in the meantime, that youths
know their place. We can observe how the state has lowered the
voting age, established places for young people on advisory
boards, made bureaucratic arrangements for youth affairs, and
at times used the police to suppress alternative lifestyles and
cultures.”

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Youth as a positive concept

Youth brings hope and change. The idea of youth being ‘a
regenerative force’ in society is expressed in Ortega y Gasset’s 1931
theory of history (as described in Murdoch and McCron, 1975: 195).
In this theory, the stages of development for a society are represented
as the age-stages of an individual. Like a person, they say, society
develops from its childhood, youth or primitive stage to its adult or
civilised stage. Ortega y Gasset’s theory proposes that it is in the
youth stage that the foundations for taking society to a higher stage of
development are laid. Failure to teach correct values and knowledge
to the young means they cannot undertake their historic task of
transforming society, and this in turn leads to the degeneration of
society.
You may hear politicians, senior policy makers in youth affairs’
departments, and youth development workers expounding a modern
day version of this thesis when they point out that ‘youth is the
future’.
For example, the Commonwealth Youth Charter (1996) states:
“In many ways, the future of each country and the

Unit 4
Commonwealth rests with young women and men and their
vision, commitment, enthusiasm, skills and ability to manage
change and grasp opportunities to fulfil their potential.”
Similarly, we see this position expressed in Time for Action (report of
the West Indian Commission):
“To say that the youth are the future of the Caribbean is an
assertion, which goes beyond the clichéd expression. For the
Caribbean is, in developmental terms, much like the youth
which is the focus of this paper. From a history of intense
colonialism, most Caribbean societies are now in their second
or third decade of independence.” (1993: 380).
However metaphors can be misleading. Here, colonialism is depicted
as childhood, whereas the decades after independence are seen as
equivalent to the period of youth. Eventually the Caribbean will
attain, if the youth of today play the roles expected of them, mature
adult status. Presumably we are meant to assume that this is the stage
where the developed countries are today. From what has been said
earlier in this unit, it should already be obvious that this is a naive
view. It is potentially dangerous unless it is carefully unpacked and
developed. Such metaphors are poor substitutes for proper social
analysis.

Youth as a negative concept

The most prevalent image of young people is one of problems and
instability. It is an image that youth development workers often read
and hear through the media, usually from the mouths of defenders of
the established order.

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The continuity of this attitude towards young people can be seen in

the following quote from Shakespeare’s The Winter’s Tale:
“I would there was no age between sixteen and three-and-
twenty, or that youth would sleep out the rest; for there is
nothing in the between but getting wenches with child,
wronging the ancientry, stealing, fighting.”
Shakespeare puts this complaint into the mouth of an old shepherd,
much as a soap opera writer of today might put it into the mouth of a
pensioner. So this way of talking about youth was already well-
established in the 1600s when Shakespeare was writing.
This point is reinforced by Pearson (1983, as quoted in McRobbie,
1994: 205) who argues that for more than a century in Britain,
recorded complaints about young people have involved one or more
of the following issues:
z the immorality of young people
z the absence of parental control
z the way in which having too much free time leads to crime
z the threat which deviant behaviour poses to national identity and
to labour discipline.

Activity 4.1
(about 10 minutes)
Write in your learning journal your responses to the following
questions.
z What are the dominant images of young people held in
your community? If you can, give two or three examples
from recent media coverage.
z Are they mainly negative or positive?
If negative, note down your thoughts on why your society has
this negative image of their young people. Do you think this
image is universal (if so, why?) or might it be particular to
western industrialised societies (if so, why)?
If positive, note down your thoughts on why this may be so.

A number of authors (Cohen, 1980, Pearson, 1983, Hall et al, 1978)

argue that when a society faces deep structural problems, which
usually entail fundamental changes in the economic system, there is a
tendency for that society to find ways of not dealing directly with the
problem. The problem is displaced from the economic sphere to the
cultural sphere.
In this sphere a group is found, usually a group that is considered to
be marginal, and one to which blame can be attached for the

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problems being experienced by the wider society. This process is often

referred to as ‘finding a scapegoat’. Young people are always prime
candidates, as they are usually already seen as a problem group.
If this group engages in the most minor anti-social behaviour, it is
picked up by the media and blown out of all proportion. This
amplification begins to feed on itself, either when other parts of the
media jump on to the bandwagon, or when the forces of law and
order devote more time and energy to finding these so-called ‘enemies
of decent society’.
Sometimes, because of the high profile given to a particular group of
young people, others rush to join them and the whole process spirals
into what Stan Cohen called a ‘moral panic’.

Moral panics
A moral panic means the whole process of finding scapegoats rather
than dealing with fundamental socio-economic problems, and the
spiralling over-reactions that occur in response. This, in turn, has a
number of effects on society. This section examines some of the
characteristics and the effects of a moral panic.

Unit 4
Heightening fear and anxiety
Heightened levels of fear and anxiety encourage people not to face
the complexity of real problems. They may retreat into feelings of
powerlessness and paralysis that ‘nothing can be done’ or they may
adopt a ‘something must be done now’ mode (McRobbie 1994: 199).
Communities relinquish power, which leaves a clear space for anyone
sharp enough to exploit the situation.

Attempting discipline
Frightened parents of young people may attempt to take action to
ensure that their sons and daughters do not take part in what is
considered anti-social behaviour, for example going to rave parties or
dressing in an unconventional manner. (McRobbie 1994: 199).

Criticising the family

Moral panics usually entail looking back to a supposed golden age
where there was social stability and strong moral discipline. It is not
surprising therefore, that moral panics usually entail some criticism of
the family, because the family is regarded as the primary agency of
socialisation (Pearson, 1983).

Securing hegemony
The twentieth-century political theorist Antonio Gramsci introduced
the concept of ‘hegemony’ to describe the dominance which the
members of the ruling group in a society gain and maintain over
other groups within that society. He argued that a ruling group would
achieve hegemony by two things: coercion and persuasion.

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In terms of persuasion, the state, which represents the interests of the

ruling group, will attempt to manipulate people’s common-sense view
of things to support the policies that suit them. This is done partly by
the careful use of positive and negative images, and by language.
Gramsci argued that the state attempts to manipulate people’s
common-sense understanding of things, because in this way it can
persuade people that its policies are good for them. The state is often
the beneficiary of moral panics because moral panics provide
justification for the state to introduce policies and legislation that
control peoples’ lives more closely.
Gramsci, and other Marxists (for example, Althusser, 1971) argued
that, if the capitalist system is to survive for any length of time, it
must, like any other system, be able to reproduce itself as a social
system. Marxists use the phrase ‘social reproduction’ to describe this
process. The essential relationship of power between those people
that own and control the wealth of society and those that do not must
be maintained over succeeding generations. Preferably, this should be
achieved by everyone thinking that this is naturally how things are.
Using persuasion and moral panics is an integral part of this overall
strategy, and it helps to keep things as they are.

Exercising power
The writings of Foucault (1979) suggest why moral panics are such
an integral part of modern society. In his analysis of power, Foucault
reminds us that it is no longer helpful to think of power as a
centralised system of domination imposed on people.
He argues that power is exercised through the creation of ways of
talking and thinking (discourses) that can be used to control people’s
ideas about the various aspects of social life. A discourse sets out the
framework and the ground rules for discussing and thinking about
any area of social life; it controls invisibly what can be said and how
it is said.
According to this analysis, the rich and powerful are always aware
that there are alternative ways of organising society and people’s
knowledge. These alternatives threaten their view of the world. So,
the forces of law and order police the borders of acceptable behaviour
carefully, jumping on anything that steps over the line. They always
have an underlying fear of potential chaos. They are aware that there
can be a diversity of common-sense views and that people’s common-
sense views can be transformed. To take a historical example, this
happened in the USA, in the youthful marches and demonstrations
against the Vietnam War in the 1970s, which contributed to the
American state eventually having to pull out of the war.
The way society is currently organised systematically advantages
some groups and disadvantages others. For example, people are
disadvantaged on the grounds of social class, race, gender, age and
geographical location. There is always an incentive for members of a
disadvantaged group to challenge inequities and to disagree with

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what the majority think is natural and normal. This may take the
form of student or worker demonstrations, leading to further mass
action. To take another historical example, this happened in France in
1968, when mass demonstrations by students helped to bring workers
out of ‘Sud Aviation’, then other industries, until a state of general
strike and student/police riots occurred.
This type of analysis helps us to understand why young people who
create or participate in alternative youth cultures scare society so
much. They are feared because they often challenge what most people
conventionally define as ‘normal’ and ‘decent’, in the way they
behave and dress. Furthermore, they usually do so in settings that are
not under the immediate control of adults. For example, in the UK,
rave parties are usually organised secretly in large barns on the
outskirts of towns or in rural areas. Similarly, the language used in
these sub-cultures is designed to exclude adults; as soon as terms in
their language are decoded by the general adult population, they are
changed.
Yet the analysis of writers like Phil Cohen, Stan Cohen, Geoffry
Pearson, Mike Brake (and others), shows that these youthful cultures
do not fundamentally challenge the structures of power in society. In

Unit 4
fact, commercial interests quickly pick up their experiments in
clothing and self-adornment, to sell to the general public. And the
people who run the new night clubs and rave parties quickly become
normal entrepreneurs of the entertainment industry.
In this scenario then, young people who transgress the borders rarely
challenge the powerful. But they do provide those in power with an
excellent opportunity for labelling them as ‘deviants’ or ‘folk devils’
and thereby create opportunities to strengthen the boundaries of
normality and decency. This may make such events as the French
evenements of 1968 and the anti-Vietnam troubles of the 1970s a lot
less likely to happen.
The final point to note in this analysis is that young people may be
both marginalised in society and yet central to its development. In
being branded as ‘other’, they are excluded from mainstream society,
yet they are critical in maintaining the current social structure. It is
mainly their potential labour, at profit-generating prices, which
provides the means for the rich and powerful to invest in that
structure.

Identifying reference groups

Functionalism assumes that there is a social consensus on what are
acceptable roles and values. Within this framework, the existence of
deviant values can be accounted for through the existence of sub-
cultures or counter-cultures. The term ‘reference group’ has been used
for groups of ‘significant others’ from whom we learn values and
opinions and on whom we model our behaviour.

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A cause of considerable concern to the state is that, in times of

electronic and visual communications, people can identify with
groups with which they have little or no direct contact, especially via
the internet. Those who surf the internet are usually aware of such
international reference groups – for example, the anti-globalisation
movements and the anti-poverty movements. Of course, the internet
has also been used by terrorist groups.
The following case study takes an example of how young people’s
behaviour can challenge accepted norms. It is followed by an activity
which asks you to analyse the case study and also to relate the
example to your own experiences.

Case Study 4.1

Challenging norms
In a village on the island of Malaita in the Solomon Islands, many of
the teenage young women often wore jeans instead of the traditional
long and loose dresses. These young women were attracted to the life
style of western young women that they saw in films and video and
some of them had friends who moved to Australia and New Zealand
and wrote to them about life in those countries.
Occasionally, the village was visited by a woman who was the
daughter of a former chief. She had left to study at university and had
high qualifications and now worked for an international organisation
based in New Zealand. On her visits, this woman often wore jeans.
The young village women saved money they earned by trading
handicrafts and food, which they had grown in gardens. They used
this to buy western-style clothes.
The elders of the village were approached by the pastor to take action
against this. The pastor argued that jeans were tight fitting and
showed the shape of women’s legs and thighs. This was likely to
provoke rape and assault, or at least to encourage fornication.
Furthermore, jeans were, in fact, men’s clothes, and the wearing of
men’s clothing by women was condemned by the Bible.
The elders decided to impose a $50 fine on women who wore jeans.

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Activity 4.2
(about 15 minutes)
Write your responses to these questions in your learning
journal.
z Who were the cultural models for the young village women
in the case study?
z How might the young village women respond to the elders’
ruling?
z How could a youth development worker mediate in this
situation?
Think of an equivalent example in your society (for example
about dress or lifestyle). Describe the efforts on the part of
society (for example elders, other authorities, the media) to
control the situation. How would you as a youth development
worker mediate in the situation you describe?

Unit 4
Young people and unemployment

In this section, we look at some aspects of the situation in the early

twenty-first century. We look at the nature of youth unemployment
and its possible effects on young people. Then we discuss gender and
the labour market. Following this we look at two strategies often
proposed to tackle youth unemployment (vocational training and self-
employment). We finish by discussing a case study about youth
unemployment.
In 2001, the UN Secretary General, Kofi Annan noted that there
were approximately 66 million unemployed youth in the world today,
an increase of nearly 10 million since 1965 (Commonwealth
Secretariat, May 2004).
The UNFPA State of the World Population 2005 report says that nearly
half the world’s population (about 3 billion) are under the age of 25;
over 500 million youths (people aged 15–24) live on less than $2 a
day; those at work are mainly trapped in low-wage, low-skill sectors
with little chance of anything better or any way out of poverty, and
are often abused and badly exploited. Young people are half the
world’s unemployed.
z Since the 1970s, young people have become increasingly over-
represented among the unemployed in developed and developing
nations.
z A Commonwealth Youth Programme report (1996: 10)
summarised the situation when it pointed out that:

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“Young people are too frequently subject to a disproportionate

burden of unemployment, with young women and school
leavers especially vulnerable. Across the Commonwealth, youth
accounts for approximately one-third of the total labour force,
with youth unemployment rates around 30–50 per cent or more
of the total unemployed.”
z Cote and Allaher (1994) argue that in industrial countries such as
Canada, adolescence has been extended through longer
education, and child labour laws. Further, the labour of young
people is not needed except in service industries and that young
people have to wait longer to be fully recognised as adults.
z However, Curtain (2000) points out that young people in the
North are benefiting from economic growth. As they now only
represent one fifth of the population because of falling birth rates,
this means that fewer young people are chasing the new jobs now
being created.
z In the least developed economies, the proportion of young people
in the population is over one-third to a half, and they are facing
increased competition for the few jobs available.
z Unemployment and serious social problems such as drug abuse,
crime and vandalism, are likely to be connected and it is often
argued that high levels of unemployment may lead to serious
social unrest.
z Urban youth, with little schooling and few job opportunities,
have played a part in conflicts in Fiji, the Solomon Islands and
Sierra Leone.
z A study of civil wars in 161 countries in the latter half of the
twentieth century concluded that the average country
experiencing civil conflict had only 45 per cent of the males in
the relevant age groups in secondary education (Curtain, 2000).

The nature of youth unemployment

However, the nature of youth unemployment needs to be seen against
the background of the economies in each country.
How young people experience unemployment will depend on the
interaction of many factors, for example:
z race – the unemployment rate for ethnic minority youth in the
UK is far higher than that for their white peers. In developing
countries, cultural and family connections (wantoks in Melanesia)
may assist or create barriers in gaining employment.
z gender – women tend to experience discrimination in applying
for jobs that are traditionally thought of as men’s. However, in
some situations, traditional roles may assist in finding some form
of employment. Women may be preferred in textile factories

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(such as are developing in the Pacific and are common in Asia) or

in domestic situations.
z class – an unskilled young person from a lower socio-economic
group is far more likely to be unemployed than a graduate from a
higher socio-economic group. However, countries with a highly
developed education system (such as India) may not be able to
provide enough suitable jobs for university graduates. Many other
countries may not have enough jobs for school leavers.
z the community in which the young people live – they may not be
lucky enough to live near employment opportunities.
z skills – ‘there is a notable widening gap between the skills
demand in a wage economy and the skills level of young people,
due largely to the failure of the education system to prepare
youth appropriately for the wage economy’ (Commonwealth
Secretariat, 2004).
Where opportunities arise, many people migrate from developing
countries to industrialised ones. Migration is tightly controlled to
restrict those coming without authority, even though they may be
refugees or asylum seekers. For example, Australia has instituted a

Unit 4
policy of mandatory detention for those deemed ‘illegal’ arrivals, and
restrictions have been enforced by the UK.
Even for those who have attained legal residence, employment is not
always easily gained. For example, data from the Runnymede Trust
(1994) in the UK showed that the unemployment rate for Pakistani
and Bangladeshi populations was 30.9 per cent, for the
African/Caribbean population it was 46.6 per cent and for the Indian
population it was 23.3 per cent. All these were high compared to 15.4
per cent for their white peers. This difference could not be explained
by differences in higher educational qualifications, since there was no
significant difference in the level of higher qualification between all
ethnic minorities and the white population.
In an article in The Times (UK), March 9 2006, economist Camilla
Cavendish writes about ‘Potholes in the global road’. Here she
describes how the passion for the free global market is very sensible
for the international elite that benefit from it, but not for the
displaced, educated middle classes in the metropolitan countries, nor
for the non-elite in the rapidly developing countries.
“For now India has more people with the requisite skills and
sensibilities to work across borders at the very top level. Those
people are joining the highly educated global elite that moves
seamlessly between countries. An elite that has studied at the
same business schools, worked for the same consultancy firms
and even skied the same glaciers. They speak a language of
tolerance, opportunity and performance indicators. For them,
globalisation offers tremendous career possibilities – and for
scientific and business advances that could benefit all nations.
Yet they have more in common with each other than with most

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of the people in their country of origin. As this group continues

to accelerate away from the rest, their less fortunate peers may
find it hard to swallow. The stage is set for an ugly clash within
countries, as well as between them.”

Activity 4.3
(about 15 minutes)
Before reading further, write your responses to the following in
your learning journal.
z What is the extent of youth unemployment in your country?
(If you do not know this, think about how to find out.)
z What impact do you think unemployment is likely to have
on young people in your country?
z How does it differ for young men and young women?
z What is the impact of the other factors mentioned – race,
class, location, skills?
z Given the ideas discussed in this unit, is it right to talk
about young people as a single homogeneous group?

You may have identified some of the effects described in the next
section.

Possible effects of unemployment

Unemployment can have serious economic, social and psychological
effects, especially on the young. Leaving full-time education and
moving into employment is usually seen by society as a significant
transition marker. Being unable to get paid work could therefore be
seen in this context as inhibiting the transition to adult status.
Unemployment may force young people to stay at home longer than
they or their parents may wish. This may lead to increased conflict,
and mental and financial stress within the family. Unemployment
may mean that young women are forced to leave school early, stay at
home and provide domestic services for the rest of the family. In a bid
to secure an income, a young person may be tempted to turn to a
career in crime, for example prostitution or selling drugs. The
boredom and depression associated with unemployment may lead a
young person to substance abuse.
In an effort to regain their manhood, young males may join gangs
that fight other gangs or attack other ethnic groups who they think are
the cause of their unemployment (for example, German youths
attacking Turkish workers).
On a more positive note, young people may seek to take advantage of
vocational training or educational programmes to acquire the skills

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that are necessary to get a job, or they may start up their own
business. There is more about these strategies later in this unit.

Gender and the labour market

Next, we discuss whether the effects of unemployment are different
for young men and young women. One might expect women to be
more disadvantaged in a competitive labour market, but that may not
always be the case.
In societies such as those found in Africa and the Pacific, traditional
roles (those that prevailed before colonial domination or white
settlement) had little to do with present-day work roles. As well as
farming and fishing, men were often warriors, herdsmen and hunters
and/or engaged in rituals to maintain culture and traditions. War was
a frequent occurrence, against neighbouring tribes, for economic gain,
slaves or women. Women traditionally grew or gathered food, made
clothing, looked after children and had charge of their early
education.
Traditional women’s roles are still the base of all societies and are
easily modified to suit a modern economy. Particularly in tourist
contexts, jobs in cooking, cleaning and handicrafts may be available.

Unit 4
In many countries, such as Kenya, men do take the relatively few
higher-status jobs as hotel servants and cooks, but the vast bulk of
male work is still subsistence farming and fishing, with limited
opportunities for young men.
In the following case study, you will read an analysis of the situation
in the Caribbean region which shows the complexities.

Case Study 4.2

Gender and the labour market in Jamaica
The relationship between gender, education and the labour market is
not at all straightforward in Jamaica. When the data is broken down
along gender lines, it is seen that:
z employed females are much better qualified than unemployed
females. Indeed, the employed females were the best qualified
school-leavers and the unemployed females were the worst
qualified school-leavers.
z among male school-leavers, the unemployed males were better
qualified than the employed males.
Trevor Hamilton and Associates, Baseline Project for Uplifting Adolescents 1995: 11)

If the above data were correct then it would appear that the market
rewards females for having better education credentials while it
rewards males for having poorer credentials.
This leads us to another important issue, which seems to be a regional
phenomenon, that is that girls are out-performing boys in schools and

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significantly out-performing them at tertiary level educational

institutions (Danns et al 1997: 81). For example, at the University of
the West Indies, which is a regional university, females constitute 70
per cent of the undergraduate students. This is now reflected in the
rise of women in the upper echelons of major private and public
institutions. The most senior positions are still occupied by men, but
increasingly women are filling the positions just below them.
There is a vigorous debate as to why this is so.
The most controversial attempted explanation is that offered by
Professor Errol Miller in his two books Men at Risk and The
Marginalisation of the Black Male. Miller argues that elite males, in the
bid to maintain their power, offer more upward mobility to the
females of the subordinate group and less to the males of the same
group. In this scenario, the young males at risk are largely the
children of the uneducated young women of the subordinate groups
who have children by men who cannot afford to support them,
usually because they are more likely to be among the unemployed.
One of the interesting features of Miller’s argument is that he thinks
this is a world-wide phenomenon that is being played out first in the
Caribbean.
The second explanation offered is that by Mark Figueroa (1997). He
uses a key term ‘gender privileging’, by which he means: the
advantages, rights, exemptions or impunities enjoyed by one gender
but not the other. His main thesis is that boys have been privileged to
be outside the home where they learn to be men. For this, they have
to learn to be tough and active. This is in contrast to girls who have
been privileged in the home, where they learn to be responsible and
generally receive more care and protection. Girls and their mothers
see a good education as an investment because it assures them of
some independence when they grow up and acts as some safeguard
against early pregnancy, and because girls are more likely to look after
their mothers when they are old. Mothers do not have the same faith
in their sons.
Boys are also taught from an early age, particularly in the harsher
areas of the inner city, to reject the authority of females; they feel
they should be the superior in any relationships with women. Due to
the feminisation of the teaching profession, when boys go to school
they find women in authority. They are expected to be passive,
disciplined and spend a lot of time at home studying: all traits which
they see as being part of feminine behaviour.
Thus, as Figueroa puts it:
“Over the past few decades, socio-economic and political
changes in Jamaican society have left us with a harsher, more
urban, more violent and less caring environment. All of which
have worked along with gender privileging to make boys less
prepared to perform in school.”

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Activity 4.4
(about 15 minutes)
Are there similar trends in your society? In your learning
journal, make notes on the following questions.
1 Which group (females or males):
z perform better in school?
z perform better at tertiary level?
z is more likely to occupy senior positions in major
private and public institutions?
2 Which group is more likely to be unemployed – well-
qualified women/ poorly-qualified women/ well-qualified
men/ poorly-qualified men?
If you do not know the answers, think about how you could
find out.
Look again at the two explanations given in the case study (put

Unit 4
forward by Miller and by Figueroa) to explain the relationship
between gender, education and the labour market. Is either of
the explanations relevant to trends in your country? If so, why?
If not, why not?
Finally, what implications do the issues of gender and the
labour market in your society have for your work with young
people?

Your responses to this activity will depend on the situation in your

society. However, they should have helped you see the importance of
considering gender issues and their complex relationship with the
labour market when dealing with employment and unemployment
issues in your work.

Tackling youth unemployment

Two more positive strategies that may be adopted in order to tackle
youth unemployment are vocational training and self-employment.

Vocational training
Vocational training is often seen as a key element in any strategy to
tackle youth unemployment. However, existing data tend to show
that such schemes have little impact in the short term. It generally
takes a long time before they begin to make a significant impact on
the supply of skilled labour. A major problem is that such schemes
are often out of step with the skills needed in the economy.
Also, such programmes may reinforce the traditional gender divisions
by training young men for jobs seen as men’s jobs and young women

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for the caring or service industries; for example, mainly boys do

carpentry and mechanics, while girls do secretarial studies and home
economics.
Furthermore, vocational courses do not create jobs; they simply
allocate existing jobs to those with training. There is a strong
possibility that increasingly, young people will be faced with
‘credential inflation’, because as more people become qualified, the
value of those qualifications declines and so more qualifications are
needed for any given job.
It is important that young people are aware of where job
opportunities are, and that they do not undertake training in an area
that offers little chance of employment. It is also true to say that in
the future the vast majority of young people will not be entering the
full-time labour market until their early 20s. In some countries, young
people may never enter the full-time labour market, either with or
without an education.

Self-employment
Self-employment is often seen as the solution for young people
trapped in long-term unemployment. They often have few, if any,
formal qualifications or training. They are frequently referred to as
unemployable. The reality, particularly in the inner cities of
developing countries, is that self-employment initiatives will most
likely have to take place in the informal economy.
Young people may seek to start up their own businesses by taking
small loans. They might do this by opening a stall in a market or on
the street. But self-employment initiatives tend to lack the capital
needed to bring them up to required legal standards and there is a
reluctance to follow the rules and pay the necessary taxes. Without
access to reputable credit agencies, this can lead to debt and further
entrench them in the poverty cycle.
Yet this is where one often sees the enterprise culture in full swing; it
can be breath-taking to see the ingenuity and hard work put into such
projects by young people. For example, in Jamaica, which has had a
long tradition of ‘higgling’ since the time of slavery, many women
now head up substantial businesses, which started on the sidewalks.
Higglers in the Caribbean are usually women who travel abroad to
purchase goods that people cannot buy at home. They import them
for sale on the pavements and in the street markets.
There is a case for the state to encourage the growth of the informal
sector if it is serious about reducing the poverty brought about by the
lack of investment in the formal economy. It could be argued that the
loss in tax revenue is but a small price to pay.
Module 11 Promoting Enterprise and Economic Development will provide
you with some of the knowledge and practical skills needed to
grapple with the problem of unemployment.

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The next reading looks at the unemployment situation in a small

Pacific country. It does not focus specifically on youth
unemployment, but it highlights issues which will have an impact on
youth unemployment, not only in Vanuatu, but more generally. For
example, the problems of defining ‘unemployment’ (and
‘employment’), the difficulties of collecting data, and the wider
development issues around employment .
Three readings in this unit (Readings 4, 5, and 6) focus on the South
Pacific region. They describe experiences specific to that region, but
also raise issues which – as your work on this unit will show you –
apply more widely.
Now turn to Reading 4: ‘Unemployment in Vanuatu’, by Anita Jowitt. it
discusses the unemployment situation in Vanuatu, a small Pacific
country.
As you read, highlight or underline the points which reflect
experiences in your country.

The need for careful analysis

To end this section on young people and unemployment, we look at a

Unit 4
case study that indicates the need for careful research, consultation,
analysis and planning before undertaking new initiatives.

Case Study 4.3

Young people and employment in Papua New Guinea

Background
Because of the changes in the global economy and the resulting
increase in unemployment, Papua New Guinea had, over the 1980s,
experienced increasing problems with the absorption of young people
into the world of work.
The education system had originally been designed to cause young
people to break from their village roots so that they might become
sources of labour power for the urban and modern areas. This system
had to be hastily modified by officials so that instead the young
people were educated to return to their villages and rejoin their
communities.
The modified idea was to enable many young people to return to
village life and, hopefully, to use their educational knowledge to bring
about an improved quality of life.
This seems to have worked in some areas, which may indicate expert
local management. However, as Maev O’Collins describes below, the
general picture was rather different, in that it is clear that those
wishing to change the situation had simply not analysed the issues at
all clearly.

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Community perspectives
“Jealousy of those who have achieved economic success and the
desire to cut down the ‘tall poppies’ is a feature of community
life, which also makes it difficult for new ideas, and social as
well as economic projects to be accepted by others and to
receive support and encouragement from community leaders.
Carrier, in his consideration of the use of new knowledge in a
Manus island community (1984), points to the problems
experienced by those who return to a small community with
skills which have an economic value but which other members
of the community expect to obtain freely or as part of an
unequal exchange relationship.”
“There are other ways in which jealousy can evidence itself
with sorcery or through fear that sorcery may be used, either
against the individual or more commonly against a member of
his or her family. This may be a serious or limiting factor in the
development of small business ventures or other rural economic
projects. Until formal education is linked more to other social
values and beliefs in society, it is likely to be difficult or even
impossible for many young people to make full use of
knowledge and skills for local development.”
“Attempts to develop a more community-based approach to
primary school education have met with mixed success. Parents
often see the school as ‘the road out of the village’, particularly
as the language of instruction is a major factor isolating the
school from the community. Parents have little real
understanding of the type of education that their children are
receiving, except that it will get them jobs in town. They are
disappointed when children fail to gain places in high schools or
return home after failing to obtain wage employment, and may
blame the child for not working hard enough or the teachers for
favouring other children.”
(From: M. O’Collins, 1986.)

Activity 4.5
(about 10 minutes)
Make notes in your learning journal about what you see as the
main underlying problems for young people in the case study.
z Is there a similar problem in your community?
z What strategies might you as a youth development worker
use to combat the main problem described in the case
study?

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The case study raises the issues of understanding how a local

community works, the hopes and expectations of its members, and
their attitudes to change. It shows the need for sensitive and aware
planning of new initiatives.
We have only looked briefly here at these aspects of youth
development work. You will learn more about them in other CYP
Diploma modules, including:
z Module 4 Working with People in their Communities
z Module 5 Gender and Development
z Module 8 Project Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation
z Module 11 Promoting Enterprise and Economic Development.

Young people and crime

Negative views of young people have often led them to be labelled as

criminals or potential criminals. This unit ends with a discussion of
the issue of crime and how it affects young people.

Unit 4
There is debate and a variety of policies in different countries about
the age at which young people can be held responsible for their own
actions. The UN Convention on the Rights of the Child requires
governments to set a minimum age below which children shall be
presumed not to have the capacity to infringe the penal law (Section
40). In Australia, for example, the age is 10, but up to the age of 14
the prosecution must prove that the young person knows that his or
her conduct is wrong.
This section looks at:
z perspectives of juvenile delinquency
z types of crime, with a more detailed look at drug-related crime
z responses to delinquency.

Perspectives
Crime and other forms of anti-social behaviour have been generally
defined as juvenile delinquency and this has been the subject of
considerable research and theory development. Coventry and Polk
(1985) suggest three perspectives of juvenile delinquency:
z individual
z group
z structural.

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Individual Individual-centred theories tend to be functionalist and to focus

on poor socialisation and lack of appropriate controls. This is
the basis for treatment strategies in dealing with delinquency.
In Module 3 Principles and Practice of Youth Development
Work, you will learn about a treatment model of youth work,
which stems from this perspective. These strategies also have
some connection with the psychological theories outlined in
Unit 2 of this module.
Group Group perspectives stem from the observation that delinquent
activities often occur in groups. Interactionist theories argue
that human nature emerges from interactions with others.
Labelling theory (see earlier in this unit) argues that defining
young people as troublemakers is a factor in them becoming so.
Structural Structural perspectives include a range of theories and
traditions:
z Strain theory argues that delinquency results when young
people have aspirations which are not achievable, because
legitimate means for success are not available. For
example, if school leavers are unable to get jobs which they
have been led to expect, they might strike back at the
system, which they view as responsible for their failure.
This may also take the form of an attack on another group
(for example Indo-Fijians, Asians in Africa) whose members
may be used as scapegoats.
z Cultural deviance perspectives argue that there is a distinct
set of values which characterise a particular group and
which are different from those of the mainstream
community. This relates to the ‘under-class’ ideas outlined
in Unit 1. An example of this is in workplaces where there is
a culture of small-scale stealing (materials from building
companies, pens from offices).
z Control theory analyses the factors that increase the bonds
or commitments that tie young people to the social order.
These links to school, family, community and peers have
been described as connectedness (Resnick et al, 1993). You
may wish to revise the community section of Unit 3.
z Conflict theory views delinquent behaviour as the outcome
of structural social conflict – class conflict, age group
conflict, gender conflict, caste conflict. This is essentially a
Marxist-influenced framework. Conflict theorists are less
interested in patterns of delinquency than in an analysis of
the law and how its workings relate to the social structures
in a society.

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Types of crime
The three categories of crime discussed here – crimes against
property, crimes against people, and crimes related to drugs – are
frequently combined, but often one of them may be dominant.

Crimes against property

Crimes against property frequently include all forms of stealing
(burglary, street mugging, car theft) as well as damage to property
(vandalism). Vandalism often involves damage to public property
such as street lights, gardens and public telephones. It can also
include graffiti where young people paint slogans or signatures on
walls, public transport vehicles, or any other surface. Vandalism is
usually considered as a type of protest and can be analysed from a
conflict theory or cultural deviance perspective.

Crimes against people

While people may be assaulted or even killed in the course of
burglary, car high-jacking or other theft, some crimes against people
are committed without these motives. Young people under the
influence of alcohol frequently become violent and aggressive, and

Unit 4
some are unable to control anger even without the influence of
substances. Domestic violence, often (but not invariably) assault by a
man on a woman or children, is also a crime against the person.
Arguments that this behaviour is sometimes acceptable and a
necessary form of discipline are no longer valid.

Crimes related to drugs

While in many countries the possession and use of certain drugs is a
crime, possibly even more crime is committed in order to be able to
buy drugs. Many drugs are addictive and dealers often encourage
young people to use drugs by providing them cheaply until they are
addicted. The craving for heroin, cocaine and crack cocaine can be
unbearable. Addicts discard all values of right and wrong in order to
end their cravings.
Not all drugs are illegal and countries may differ in determining
legality. Some countries have ‘decriminalised’ soft drugs (i.e. those
that are less addictive, such as cannabis) in that the possession of
small quantities is ignored, but dealing any amount is not. Many
young people experiment with drugs without becoming addicted or
heavily involved. Drug-taking is part of their risk-taking behaviour,
and a heavy-handed response by the authorities may reinforce rather
than discourage their behaviour. Drug use will be covered in more
detail in Module 12 Youth and Health.
Here is a list of the major types of drug that may be used by young
people.

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Drugs that are usually legal:

z Alcohol. Most countries have an age restriction on the purchase
of alcohol, prohibiting it to those under 18 or 21. In some
Muslim countries, it is not legal, and is considered to be haram
(forbidden) in Islam. Home-produced alcohol, especially if it is
distilled, may be illegal and dangerous. Alcohol is not harmful in
moderate quantities, but young people may engage in ‘binge
drinking’ where they consume a large amount over a period of
time (for example, over a weekend) and this can contribute to
violent behaviour and have harmful effects on health.
z Tobacco. Tobacco has little effect in the very short term, though
use over a longer period can be extremely harmful to health for
some people, leading to lung cancer and heart disease.
z Chroming. This is a term given to inhaling the fumes of
substances such as glue (which may need to be heated), petrol or
paint. A paper bag is used to concentrate the fumes. This
produces a psychoactive effect and sometimes hallucinations, and
can be very harmful to the body. It is used by young people in
poor communities, where other options are not easily afforded.
z Kava or Yaqona. This is part of the customs of Pacific peoples
and is made from the pulp of a root (sometimes sold dried) which
is watered and drunk. This forms part of traditional ceremonies
of greeting and business in village communities but more recently
has been drunk at parties, possibly as a substitute for alcohol. It
has no short-term harmful effect, though long-term use can affect
skin and nails.

Drugs that are usually illegal:

z Marijuana, also known as cannabis, may also be referred to as
‘hash’, ‘ganja’, ‘dagga’ and by other local names. The drug is
produced from the leaves of the plant, dried like tobacco or
compressed into a resin. It forms part of the normal culture of
some countries. It is fairly easy to grow and proliferates in warm
climates. It is normally smoked or occasionally eaten in scones or
biscuits. Experts suggest that it can have a harmful effect on the
brain, contributing to schizophrenia in susceptible people, though
it has little short-term harmful effect.
z Heroin and other opium derivatives. This is produced from the
seedpods of the poppy plant and forms a major international
illegal trade. Legally produced derivatives, such as morphine,
provide strong painkillers that are used in medical treatment.
Heroin is highly addictive but is often diluted, sometimes with
dangerous substances such as detergent. It is sometimes difficult
to predict the strength and overdoses may be fatal. It is normally
injected or smoked. It produces good feelings and is not
significantly harmful if it is pure and doses are controlled.

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Addiction induces cravings, which can dominate behaviour and

often lead users to involvement with crime.
z Amphetamines. Normally in the form of pills, including the
popular ‘ecstasy’, amphetamines are used by young people in
developed societies to keep awake and prolong enjoyment at
dances and discos.
z Cocaine. Cocaine is made from coca, a leaf grown mainly by
small farmers in South America. It appears as a white powder
and is often inhaled through the nose. Like heroin, it can be
mixed with harmful substances and this increases the danger of
using it.

Activity 4.6
(about 10 minutes, not counting the further research)
In your learning journal, summarise what you already know
about drug use and drug-related crime in your country. For

Unit 4
example:
z What drugs are available to young people in your country?
z Which are widely used?
z Which are seen as a serious problem?
z What are the likely penalties?
z What are the wider effects on society?
If possible do some further research. Ask young people in your
community about what they know of the use of drugs. Try to
find out about the effects of these drugs, for example by
talking to your local doctor, by consulting a medical dictionary
or by accessing information on the website, using a search
engine such as Google.

Responses to delinquency
Here, we consider different responses to delinquency and at ways of
dealing with juvenile crime. As you read, compare the responses
described with processes in your country.
We look at:
z juvenile courts
z family conferences
z imprisonment
z community based programmes

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z restorative justice
z traditional justice.

Juvenile courts
In developed countries such as the USA, Britain, Australia and
Canada, special juvenile or children’s courts emerged at the end of
the nineteenth century or beginning of the twentieth century. These
courts dealt with young people, usually to the age of 17, and were
concerned not only with those who had broken the law but also those
who were neglected or abused. Thus the courts became more
concerned with finding the best solution for young people’s problems
and less concerned with issues of guilt or innocence. They were also
concerned to separate young people from the adult justice system,
where they might come into contact with inappropriate role models.
Therefore, young people were frequently removed from family care
for very minor offences if the family was judged as neglectful. Young
women were often removed into state care if they were sexually active
or likely to become so. Reforms of the 1980s separated criminal from
family issues (care and protection) and brought the treatment of
young women closer to that of young men.

Family conferences
A family group conference is intended to be a relatively informal,
loosely structured meeting, in which the offender and her or his
extended family (and a legal advocate in some systems) are brought
together with the victim, her/his supporters, and any other relevant
parties to discuss the offending, and to negotiate appropriate
responses. Clearly, there is an overlap between these conferences and
alternative dispute resolution programs.
There is also some overlap with earlier ideas, with a major objective
being to divert young people from the formal court process and to
make the hearing less formal. However, one of the objectives of
family conferences is generally to make young people accountable for
their offences by encouraging them to take responsibility for their
actions, to make good the damage done, or to accept a penalty.
Involving victims directly in decision-making is an important aspect
of this process of accountability. Through direct confrontation with
the offender, it is argued that victims are able to express their anger
and frustration, and have their needs taken into account. It also
enables victims to participate in the process of restitution and
reparation.
Another feature of the conferences, which is stressed in each of the
settings, is the involvement of parents. It is argued that by making the
extended family central to the decision-making process, family group
conferences empower families. At the same time, the conferences are
considered a way of ensuring that families take more responsibility,

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and are held accountable for their children’s behaviour (Alder and
Wundersitz, 1994).

Imprisonment
In developed countries, custodial sentences for young people are often
served in special institutions (youth training centres, reformatories,
etc.) The objective is to separate young offenders from older
offenders. Generally, custodial sentences are only given for serious
crimes or repeated offences.

Community-based programmes
Community-based programmes are alternative sentences to
imprisonment. They include probation, where offenders must meet
regularly with a trained probation officer who will help them find
work and accommodation, and give general advice. These
programmes include forms of community service, specific
educational programmes and programmes designed to rehabilitate.

Restorative justice
Restorative justice involves offenders facing those they have harmed

Unit 4
and accepting responsibility for their actions. It has been used with
serious offenders serving prison sentences, but may also be a part of a
conferencing process, which may be an alternative to a court
appearance. The aim of conferencing is to divert offenders from the
justice system by offering them the opportunity to attend a conference
to discuss and resolve the offence, instead of being charged and
appearing in court. Conferencing is not offered where offenders wish
to contest their guilt.
The conference, which normally lasts between 1 and 2 hours, is
attended by the victims and their supporters, the offenders and their
supporters, and other relevant parties. The conference co-ordinator
focuses the discussion on condemning the act, without condemning
the character of the person who performed the act. Offenders are
asked to explain what happened, how they have felt about the crime,
and what they think should be done. The victims and others are asked
to describe the physical, financial and emotional consequences of the
crime. This discussion may lead the offenders, their families and
friends to experience the shame of the act, prompting an apology to
the victim. A plan of action is developed and signed by key
participants. The plan may include the offender paying compensation
to the victim, doing work for the victim or the community, or any
other undertaking the participants may agree upon.

Traditional justice
In many societies, indigenous populations have had their traditional
forms of dealing with crime and punishment replaced by a system of
law and courts based on metropolitan countries’ practice and
developed as part of a complex modern state. In some societies, such

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as those in New Zealand and Australia, indigenous populations have

become minorities because of migration from Europe and elsewhere
over a very long period.
In some countries, less serious offences by young people have been
dealt with by traditional practice. This has been tried on occasions in
Australia with Aboriginal young people. Readings 5 and 6 which you
will look at next, show the use of customary processes (kastom) in
Vanuatu. Minor offences (breaking-and-entering, shoplifting,
drinking) were dealt with by chiefs who were familiar with offenders
and victims. Chiefs undertook pastoral care and reconciliation, and
repatriated offenders to their home islands when other deterrents
were ineffective. Research in Vanuatu indicated that young people felt
they had been fairly treated under kastom law.
Such an approach is useful for a country such as Vanuatu, which has
little institutional capacity for dealing with juvenile offenders.
However, a number of questions have arisen. The first is the
possibility of inadvertently counteracting obligations under the UN
Convention on the Rights of the Child. A further issue is the lack of
appeal from kastom decisions. Finally, concern has been expressed
that offences such as rape might be treated trivially, as women’s rights
have not been well protected by kastom.
Now turn to Reading 5: ‘Young people in conflict with the law in the
South Pacific region’, by Tess Newton Cain, and Reading 6:
‘Disentangling juvenile justice and kastom law in Vanuatu’, by
Michael Morgan.
Both describe approaches to juvenile crime in the South Pacific region
and how the criminal justice system and traditional practices deal
with it. As you read, note aspects which are similar or different to
experiences and approaches in your country.

The next activity asks you to describe and critique responses to

delinquency in your country.

Activity 4.7
(about 15 minutes)
In your learning journal, write short responses to the following
questions.
z What is the process for dealing with juvenile offenders in
your country? (If you do not know, think about how you will
find out.)
z Do you think that it is adequate?
z If not, in what specific way(s) should it be improved?
Consider the options outlined in this section.

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The implications for youth development workers

To end this unit on young people and social issues, we ask you to
think about the implications for youth development workers. How
will the way young people are seen by society, their experiences of
unemployment (or employment) and the problems of crime affect
your work with them?
The principal implication for youth development workers is that their
work with individuals or groups of young people cannot be developed
in isolation. Young people cannot be separated from the problems
and issues confronting their communities. The problems will affect
them and because they are often powerless, this may mean that they
can only deal with these problems in a symbolic way. Nor can we
only confine our work to the individual and community level.
“The basic causes of poverty do not lie within poor
communities, and consequently planning must be at both the
community and the national level. If action is taken only within
the communities, it will be ineffective, since it would not address
the structural aspects of the current economic system, which is

Unit 4
the dominant cause of the inter-generational reproduction of
deprivation among the poorest people, excluding them from
poverty-reducing job opportunities.”
(The Economics of Child Poverty in Jamaica, UNICEF Caribbean Office, 1995)

The crisis we face in both developed and developing countries is that

the economic policies based on freeing up the processes of
globalisation and the imposition of structural adjustment, have
trapped many communities in poverty. Young people have been
disproportionately affected by these policies. Youth development
workers therefore must seek to intervene, at least at the level of the
national state, if they are to be more than merely first-aid workers.
But given that the problems stem from the workings of international
markets, then the real intervention should be at the international
level, perhaps through the Commonwealth as a political body.
This is a dangerous, complex and difficult task. Maybe it can only be
tackled at a collective level through professional associations of youth
development workers or by youth development workers using their
networking skills, joining other pressure groups and advocating on
behalf of young people.
Of course, the ideal is for youth development workers to create the
conditions for young people to act as their own advocates. If so, then
they have to be integrated into the power structures of the national
community, at least.
Whichever method we choose, we must ensure that we do not just use
young people’s voices to achieve our objectives, but that they are
genuinely integrated into the national decision-making process.
Linden Lewis reminds us that:

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Commonwealth Youth Programme Diploma in Youth Development Work

“It is at the level of the state that the broad political and social
parameters are laid down which defines some of the terms of
the social reproduction of youth.”
(Lewis and Carter, 1995: 25)

Activity 4.8
A final reflective activity.
In your learning journal, reflect on what you have learned
during this module.
Aim to write down at least:
z two ways your thinking has changed or developed since the
start of the module – for example, changes in your
understanding of young people’s experiences of growing up
in your society, and the problems they face.
z two ways you might change the way you work – for
example, to take account of what you have learned about
different social and cultural traditions or family systems.
For this activity you may want to draw on the young people’s
voices you have been collecting since the first activity in this
module (Activity 1.1 from Unit 1).

We hope this activity has helped you to bring together your learning
from the module and that it will help you prepare for the assignment.
Good luck with your assignment, which follows the module
summary.

166 Unit 4: Young people and social issues

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Unit summary

In this unit you have considered:

z how young people are seen, with both positive and negative
images of youth in society
z youth unemployment and its effects on young people
z young people and crime, including theories of juvenile
delinquency, types of crime, especially drug-related crime, and
different responses to delinquency
z the implications for youth development workers’ practice, both as
individuals and collectively.
This module on young people and society has also introduced many
ideas and issues which will be developed more fully in later modules.
To check how you have got on, look back at the learning outcomes
for this unit and see if you can now do them. When you have done
this, look through your learning journal to remind yourself of what
you have learned and the ideas you have generated.

Unit 4

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References

Alder, C. and Wundersitz, J. (eds.) (1994) Family conferencing and

juvenile justice: the way forward or misplaced optimism? Australian
Institute of Criminology, Canberra.
Althusser, L. (1971) Ideology and Ideological State Apparatuses in Lenin
and Philosophy and Other Essays, New Left Books, London.
Brake, M. (1985) Youth Cultures, Routledge, London.
Carrier, J. (1984) Education and Society in a Manus Village, Port
Moresby: Education and Research Unit, University of Papua New
Guinea.
Cohen, P. (1972) Sub-Cultural Conflict and a Working Class Community,
WPCS 2 (Spring) Centre for Contemporary Cultural Studies,
University of Birmingham, England.
Cohen, P. (1997) Rethinking the Youth Question, Education, Labour and
Cultural Studies, Macmillan, London.
Cohen, S. (1980) Folk Devils and Moral Panics, Paladin, London.
Commonwealth Youth Programme (1996) The Commonwealth Youth
Charter, Commonwealth Secretariat, London.
Cote, J and Allaher, A (1994) Generation on Hold: Coming of Age in the
Late 20th Century, Stoddart.
Coventry, G. and Polk, K. (1985) ‘Theoretical perspectives on juvenile
delinquency’, in Juvenile Delinquency in Australia, A. Borowski and J.
Murray (eds.), Methuen, Melbourne.
Curtain, R (2000) ‘Background paper: identifying the basis for a youth
employment strategy aimed at transition and developing economies’,
United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs,
Division for Social Policy and Development, New York.
Danns, G., Henry, B. I. and LaFleur , P. (1997) ‘Situational Analysis
of Youth in the Caribbean’, CYP, Commonwealth Secretariat,
London.
Figueroa, M. (1997) Gender Privileging and Socio-Economic Outcomes.
The case of Health and Education in Jamaica (unpublished), Department
of Economics, University of the West Indies, Jamaica.
Foucault, M. (1979) Discipline and Punishment, Penguin,
Harmondsworth, England.
Gramsci, A. (1982), Selections from the Prison Notebooks, Lawrence and
Wishart, London.
Hall, S., Critcher, C., Jefferson, T., Clarke, J. and Roberts, B. (1978)
Policing the Crisis, Macmillan, London.

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Trevor Hamilton and Associates (1995), Baseline Project for Uplifting

Adolescents, available from [Link]
Irving, T., Maunders, D. and Sherington, G. (1995) Youth in Australia
Policy Administration and Politics, Macmillan, Melbourne.
Lewis, L and Carter, R. (1995) Essays on youth in the Caribbean,
Institute of Social and Economic Research, University of the West
Indies, Mona.
McRobbie, A. (1994) Postmodernism and Popular Culture, Routledge,
London.
Miller, E. (1991) Men at Risk, Jamaica Publishing House, Kingston,
Jamaica.
Miller, E. (1994) The Marginalisation of the Black Male, Canoe Press,
Kingston, Jamaica.
Murdoch, G. and McCron, R. (1975) Consciousness of Class and
Consciousness of Generation, Centre for Contemporary Cultural
Studies, University of Birmingham.
O’Collins, M. (1986) ‘Urban Youth and Folk Devils: Reflections on
International Youth Year’, in Maev O’Collins (ed.), Youth and Society:

Unit 4
Perspectives from Papua New Guinea, 1986, Dept of Political and Social
Change, Research School of Pacific studies, Australia National
University, Canberra.
Pearson, G. (1983) Hooligan: A History of Respectable Fears, Macmillan,
London.
Resnick, M. Harris, L. and Blum, R.(1993) ‘The impact of care and
connectedness on adolescent health and well-being’, Journal of
Paediatric Child Health, V.29, Supplement 1.
UNFPA (2005) State of the World Population report for 2005, available
from: [Link]
UNICEF (1995) The Economics of Child Poverty in Jamaica, UNICEF
Caribbean Office.
West Indian Commission (1993) Time for Action, University of the
West Indies Press, Kingston, Jamaica.

Unit 4: Young people and social issues 169

Summary

Module summary ......................................................173

Glossary....................................................................174
Further reading .........................................................177
 Module 2: Young People and Society

Module summary

In this module Young People and Society you have learned about the
sociological theories that have influenced youth development work.
You have also examined key concepts, and analysed the issues that
young people and their families face.
In the module you have studied:
z how young people are perceived in different societies and from
different sociological perspectives
z a range of definitions of youth and adolescence
z different types of family structures, the principal roles of the
family in society and the problems they face
z the social issues facing young people and the communities in
which they live.

If you have successfully completed this module, you should now be

able to:
z describe the experience of growing up as a young woman or
young man, and different perceptions held by young people and

Summary
adults
z outline and critique different theories of adolescence
z analyse the position of young people in your society
z discuss the influence of family, peers and community on
individuals and groups
z discuss the range of social contexts as they relate to young people
in your region
z compare different social and cultural traditions in the way in
which they treat young people
z work in a way that is sensitive to social and cultural traditions
z identify situations in which you need to adapt your practice to
take account of different social and cultural traditions
z communicate your knowledge to young people and adults in an
accessible manner.
Your work on this module and on Module 1 will give you a firm basis
for your study of Module 3 Principles and Practice of Youth Development
Work. We wish you good luck with your studies as you move on the
next module.

Summary 173
Commonwealth Youth Programme Diploma in Youth Development Work

Glossary

conflict theory An approach to the study of society or

social phenomena that holds that
conflict between individuals and
groups in a society is inevitable.
culture The total way of life of a people in a
society.
dysfunctional Functionalists use this term to
describe a part or parts of a society
that are acting against its proper
functioning.
ego A term used by the psychoanalyst
Sigmund Freud to describe that part
of an individual’s personality that
deals with the outside world and
enables a person to distinguish reality
from wishful thinking. The ego
represents reason and common sense.
functionalism An approach to the study of society
that compares society to a biological
organism. Just as the body, for
example, has several parts which
have specific functions, so, too, does
society. The parts of a society
function to maintain the whole. A
functionalist or structural-
functionalist is one who takes this
approach.
id A term used by the psychoanalyst
Sigmund Freud to describe that part
of an individual’s personality that
powers instinctive needs and drives.
The id contains everything that is
present at birth, most of all our
instincts.
interactionism Sometimes called ‘symbolic
interactionism’, this is an approach to
the study of society that holds that in
order to understand social behaviour,
you have to interpret the meanings
social action has for the individual
actors involved.
monogamy The state of having only one husband,
wife or sexual partner at any one
time.

174 Summary
 Module 2: Young People and Society

norms The normal standards and patterns of

behaviour which the members of a
society are expected to follow. They
can be treated as the rules and
regulations governing behaviour.
patriarchal Some feminists see society as being
patriarchal: that is, dominated and
ruled by men, where men have power
and control over resources and tend
to dominate women.
peer group A group of individuals who are equal
or nearly equal in age and status. A
peer group may consist of one’s
classmates in school.
polyandry The marriage of a woman to two or
more husbands at the same time. It is
very rare.
polygamy Any form of plural marriage –
polygamy is of two types: polygyny
and polyandry.
polygyny The marriage of a man to two or more
wives at the same time.
puberty The biological stage of development
when individuals begin to develop
their secondary sexual characteristics

Summary
such as hair on their sexual organs,
and when their sexual organs develop
so that sexual reproduction is
possible.
role The expected behaviour of a person
occupying a particular position in
society. For example, a person who is
a doctor performs the role of a
doctor. He is expected to behave in
ways appropriate to his position as a
doctor.
social construct This is a definition of a social
phenomenon that is constructed by
society, based on that society’s
assumptions about the nature of
social life. For example, every society
has a definition of ‘deviant behaviour’
which is constructed as the opposite
of what is supposed to be normal
behaviour. However, what is deviant
in one society may not be at all
deviant in another society.

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socialisation All the means and processes whereby

the new members of a society are
taught the norms and values of the
society.
society A system of social relationships
between individuals and groups. On a
concrete level, it also describes a
population occupying a particular
territory, having some form of
government and sharing a common
culture.
status The social value of a position an
individual occupies in the society.
Everyone has some sort of status,
even a newborn.
super-ego A term used by the psychoanalyst
Sigmund Freud to describe that part
of an individual’s personality that
passes judgement on our thoughts and
actions.
syndrome A cluster of traits, symptoms or
characteristics.
values Beliefs that certain things are good,
desirable or worthwhile. They define
those things that are worth striving
for in society.

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Further reading

This is a list of books and articles referred to in the module and

suggestions for exploring topics further. You are encouraged read as
widely as possible during and after the course.
We suggest you discuss further reading with your tutor. What is
available to you in libraries? Are there other books of particular
interest to you or your region? Can you use alternative resources, such
as newspapers and the internet?
Althusser, L. (1971) Ideology and Ideological State Apparatuses in Lenin
and Philosophy and Other Essays, New Left Books, London.
Baudrillard, J. (1985) ‘The Ecstasy of Communication’ in Foster, H.
(ed.), Postmodern Culture, Pluto Press, London.
Berger, J. (1969) A Fortunate Man, Penguin, Harmondsworth, UK.
Brake, M. (1985) Youth Cultures, Routledge, London.
Bruce, J., Lloyd, C., Leonard, A., Engle, P. and Duffy, N. (1995)
Families in Focus: New Perspectives on Mothers, Fathers and Children, UN
Population Council, New York.
Cohen, P. (1972) ‘Sub-Cultural Conflict and a Working Class
Community’, WPCS 2 (Spring) Centre for Contemporary Cultural

Summary
Studies, University of Birmingham, England.
Cohen, P. (1997) Rethinking the Youth Question, Education, Labour and
Cultural Studies, Macmillan, London.
Cohen, S. (1980) Folk Devils and Moral Panics, Paladin, London.
Coleman, J. C. and Hendry, L. (1990) The Nature of Adolescence, 2nd
edition, Routledge, London.
Coleman, J. C. (1992) ‘The Nature of Adolescence’ in Coleman, J. C.
and Warren-Adamson, C. (eds.), Youth Policy in the 1990s. The Way
Forward, Routledge, London.
Commonwealth Secretariat (2004) Commonwealth Youth Ministers
Meeting Strategic Papers, presented at Gaborone, Botswana, 26–30 May
2003, Commonwealth Secretariat, London.
Commonwealth Youth Programme (1996) Youth Policy 2000,
Commonwealth Secretariat, London.
Commonwealth Youth Programme (1996) The Commonwealth Youth
Charter, Commonwealth Secretariat, London.
Deosaran, R. (1992) Social Psychology in the Caribbean, Longman,
Trinidad.
Dryfoos, J. G (1990) Adolescents at Risk: Prevalence and Prevention,
Oxford University Press, New York.

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Erikson, E. (1950) ‘Eight Stages of Man’ in Erikson, E. (1965)

Childhood and Society, Penguin, Harmondsworth.
Figueroa, M. (1997) ‘Gender Privileging and Socio-Economic
Outcomes. The Case of Health and Education in Jamaica’
(unpublished), Department of Economics, University of the West
Indies, Jamaica.
Foucault, M. (1979) Discipline and Punishment, Penguin,
Harmondsworth, UK.
Foucault, M. (1988) Politics, Philosophy, Culture: Interviews and other
writings, 1977–1989, ed. Kritzman, L. D., London, Routledge.
Giroux, H. (1994) ‘Doing Cultural Studies: Youth and the challenge
of pedagogy’, Harvard Educational Review, Vol. 64, No.3, pp. 278–
308.
Gramsci, A. (1982) Selections from the Prison Notebooks, Lawrence and
Wishart, London.
Grant, J. (1993) Fundamental Feminism. Contesting the Core Concepts of
Feminist Theory, Routledge, London.
Gross, R. D. (1992) Psychology. The Science of Mind and Behaviour,
Hodder and Stoughton, Sevenoaks, Kent.
Haralambos, M. and Holborn, M. (1995) Sociology Themes and
Perspectives, Collins Educational, London.
Harvey, D. (1990) The Condition of Postmodernity, Blackwell, London.
Jamaica Labour Party (1993) ‘Draft youth policy’ (unpublished),
Kingston, Jamaica.
Jessor, R. (1991a), ‘Unit 1’, Addiction Research Foundation, Toronto,
Canada.
Jessor, R. (1991b) ‘Adolescent development and behavioural health’
in Annis, H. and Davis, C. (eds.) Book of Readings Drug Use by
Adolescents: Identification, assessment, intervention, Addiction Research
Foundation, Toronto, Canada.
Laing, R. D. (1971) The Politics of the Family and Other Essays,
Tavistock, London.
Laing, R.D. (1965) The Divided Self, Penguin, Harmondsworth, UK.
Leach, E. (1967) A Runaway World, BBC Publications, London.
Lewis, L. and Carter, R. C. (1995) Essays on Youth in the Caribbean,
Institute of Social and Economic Research, University of the West
Indies, Mona Campus, Jamaica.
Lyotard, J. F. (1984) The Postmodern Condition, Manchester University
Press, England.
McAfee, K. (1991) Storm Signals. Structural Adjustment and Development
Alternatives in the Caribbean, Zed Books, London.

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MacDonald, R. (ed.) (1997) Youth, the Underclass and Social Exclusion,

Routledge, London.
Marsland, D. (1987) Education and Youth, Falmer, London.
Mead, M. (1928) Coming of Age in Samoa, Penguin, Harmondsworth,
UK.
Miller, E. (1991) Men at Risk, Jamaica Publishing House, Kingston,
Jamaica.
Miller, E. (1994), The Marginalisation of the Black Male, Canoe
Press, Kingston, Jamaica.
Ministry of Youth, Education and Culture (1994) National Youth
Policy, Ministry Paper No. 42, Kingston, Jamaica.
Mitterauer, M. (1993) A History of Youth, (trans. Dunphy), Blackwell,
Oxford.
Nettleford, R. (1993) Inward Stretch, Outward Reach: A voice from the
Caribbean, Macmillan Caribbean, London.
Offer, D. and Offer, J. B. (1975) From Teenage to Young Manhood. A
Psychological Study, Basic Books, New York.
Osoba, E. and Steele, B. (1995) An Introduction to Sociology – SY14A
Study Guide, University of the West Indies.
Parsons, T. (1959) The Family: Its Functions and Destiny, Harper and

Summary
Row, New York.
Payne, A. J. (1988) Politics in Jamaica, Heinemann, Kingston,
Jamaica.
Pearson, G. (1983) Hooligan: A History of Respectable Fears, Macmillan,
London.
Pilcher, J. (1995) Age and Generation in Modern Britain, Oxford
University Press, New York.
Rapoport, R. and Rapoport, R. N. (1980) Growing Through Life,
Harper and Rowe, London.
Rattansi, A. (1994) ‘Western Racisms, Ethnicities and Identities in a
Postmodern Frame’ in Rattansi, A. and Westwood, S. (eds.) Racism,
Modernity and Identity: On the Western Front, Polity Press, Cambridge.
Roche, J. and Tucker, S. (eds.) (1997) Youth in Society. Contemporary
Theory, Policy and Practice, Open University and Sage Publications,
London.
United Nations (1986) The Situation of Youth in the 1980s and Prospects
and Challenges for the Year 2000, Department of International
Economic and Social Affairs, New York.
Weeks, J. (1981) Sex, Politics and Society: The Regulation of Sexuality
since 1800, Longman, New York.

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West Indian Commission (1993) Time for Action, University of the

West Indies Press, Kingston, Jamaica.
Wyn, J. and White, R. (1997) Rethinking Youth, Sage Publications,
London.

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Assignments

A final reminder about the assessment requirements for this module.

Your work in this module will be assessed in the following three
ways:
1 a written report of 2000–2,500 words (worth 50 per cent of the
final mark)
2 a review of the learning journal you keep (worth 20 per cent of
the final mark)
3 a written examination set by the institution in which you are
enrolled for this Diploma (worth 30 per cent of the final mark).
As an alternative to the examination, you may be given the
opportunity to complete a second written report of 1,000 words.
Note: make sure you discuss the assessment requirements with your
tutor so that you are clear about what you are expected to do and
when, and any particular requirements in your institution.

Summary
Assignment 1

This assignment counts towards your final assessment in this module

and is worth 50 per cent of the final mark.
How are the young people in your society acting in relation to social
and economic change, including such issues as unemployment and
crime? What are the implications for your work practice?
To write this report you will need to:
z analyse how young people are seen in your society
z find out what the issues are for young people in your society
z describe how young people deal with these issues
z gather local statistics, and investigate one or more existing youth
work initiatives that relate to these issues
z analyse the implications of what you find for your work practice.

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Assignment 2

This assignment counts towards your final assessment in this module

and is worth 20 per cent of the final mark. You should discuss with
your tutor the exact requirements for your institution.
The assignment takes the form of your learning journal which
contains the notes and records from the activities included in each
unit.

Assignment 3

This assignment counts towards your final assessment in this module

and is worth 30 per cent of the final mark. You should discuss with
your tutor the exact requirement for your institution.
Assignment 3 may take the form of a written examination of up to
2 hours, worth 30 per cent of the final mark. The examination will
test your understanding, not your memory. You may be asked to
explain certain ideas and to relate them to work with young people.
If the university or college at which you are enrolled does not set an
examination, a further assignment will be required in the form of a
second written report, of 1000 words.

Second report
What is the process for dealing with young offenders in your country?
(Note: for this report you may draw on your notes for Activity 4.7.)
To research this report you should pay a visit to a court where young
people appear. If you are unable do this, read newspapers or
approach police in your area. You will need answers to the following
questions:
z What crimes are young people accused of ?
z What are the apparently typical characteristics of the young
people that appear (e.g. gender, level of education, employed or
unemployed, nature of family).
z Have they offended before?
z What sentences are given?
z Do you think these sentences are appropriate?
z Are there better ways of dealing with young offenders?
z What can a youth development worker do?

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Readings

The reading in this section will help you develop your understanding
of Module 2 Young People and Society. The reading numbers, their
titles and the unit in which they appear are listed below.

1 ‘The global economy’ by Pam Woodall

(Units 1 and 3) ..................................................................184
2 ‘The Threat of Globalisation’ by Edward S. Herman
(Units 1 and 3) ..................................................................189
3 ‘Structural Adjustment and Education’
by Lynn Ilon (Units 1 and 3)..............................................197
4 ‘Unemployment in Vanuatu’ by Anita Jowitt
(Unit 4).............................................................................207
5 ‘Young people in conflict with the law in
the South Pacific region’ by Tess Newton Cain (Unit 4) ......214
6 ‘Disentangling juvenile justice and kastom law in Vanuatu’

Readings
by Michael Morgan (Unit 4) .............................................220

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Reading 1: The global economy

by Pam Woodall (Economics editor)

Extract © The Economist, October 1st, 1994 – used with permission.

War of the worlds

Over the next 25 years, the world will see the biggest shift in
economic strength for more than a century. Today the so called
industrial economies dominate the globe, as they have for the past 150
years or so. Yet within a generation several are likely to be dwarfed by
newly emerging economic giants. History suggests, alas, that such
shifts in economic power are rarely smooth. A growing number of
people in the rich industrial world are already urging their
governments to prepare for battle against the upstarts.
The upstarts are heart warmingly many. Scores of countries in the
third world and the former Soviet block have embraced market
friendly economic reforms and opened their borders to trade and
investment. These policies promise rapid growth in more economies
than ever before. The four Asian tigers (Hong Kong, Singapore, South
Korea and Taiwan) that have pushed aggressively into western
markets in the past three decades have a combined population of only
73m; even adding in Japan, the original Asian tiger, the total is less
than 200m. Now, however, more than 3 billion people in Asia, Latin
America and Eastern Europe are joining the rich world’s 1 billion or
so in the market economy club.
This survey examines the implications for today’s rich countries of
this extraordinary prospect. It asks what the pressures on the west
may be, and how they can best be coped with. It argues, despite the
scale of the coming changes and despite the difficulties they will
cause, that there is little reason for alarm. For the rich world, almost
as much as for today’s poor countries, the next 25 years will be a time
of unprecedented opportunity.

Southern discomfort
How big will the change be? Some developing countries are bound to
stumble on the road to reform. The economic prospects of Brazil and
Russia, for example, are fragile; and the outlook for most of Africa
remains grim. But so long as most developing countries stick to their
reforms and avoid political upheavals, much of the third world stands
its best chance for decades of achieving sustained expansion. The
World Bank forecasts that over the next ten years, developing
countries (including the former Soviet block) will grow by nearly 5%
a year, compared with a rate of 2.7% in the rich industrial world. A
gap as big as that, the biggest since before the second world war, will
perceptibly alter the world economy.

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The rich industrial economies’ dominance over the world economy is

already smaller than is generally recognised. If output is measured on
the basis of purchasing power parities, then the developing countries
and former Soviet block already account for 44% of world output. At
current growth rates, the industrial economies will account for less
than half of world output by the end of the decade. And if developed
and developing countries continue to grow at the pace forecast by the
World Bank for this next decade, by 2020 the rich world’s share of
global output could shrink to less than two fifths.
Applying the World Bank’s regional forecasts to individual countries
changes the world GDP league table radically too. Big economies are
not necessarily rich economies: compare India and Italy today.
Nonetheless, it is striking that, if those forecasts are right, within a
generation China will overtake America as the world’s biggest
economy; and that by 2020 as many as nine of the top 15 economies
will be from today’s third world. Britain might scrape in at only l4th
place, compared to eighth today, having been overtaken by such
countries as Taiwan and Thailand.
Crude extrapolation is, of course, bad forecasting; Asian economies’
growth rates will surely slow as they become richer and come to
resemble today’s rich economies; trend busting events may well occur.
It is, for example, extremely unlikely that Taiwan’s income per head
in 2020 would be almost double America’s, as these projections imply.
Yet history is full of episodes of economic leapfrogging, some of
which took place surprisingly fast.
The West’s anxieties about all this are as much to do with changes in
the structure of the developing economies as with mere size. The old
notion of developing countries as exporters of raw materials from
which they earned the revenue to pay for imports of manufactured

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goods from the West has long been out of place. So indeed has the
old nomenclature. In this survey third world, developing, poor and
emerging economies will be used inter changeably to refer to
developing countries, even though many may soon belong to the
developed world. Manufactured goods now account for almost 60%
of their exports, up from 5% in 1955. The third world’s share of
world exports of manufactures jumped from 5% in 1970 to 22% in
1993.
As emerging economies’ exports, boosted by the lowering of trade
barriers agreed under the GATT’s Uruguay round, continue to grow,
so will the resentment of many people in today’s rich nations. Many
politicians, businessmen and even economists in America and Europe
fear that the success of these new competitors will come at the
expense of the first world. They allege, for instance, that the rich
world’s workers will be ruthlessly undercut if its markets remain open
to goods from developing countries. Chinese and Indian workers are
willing to accept an average wage of little more than 50 cents an hour,
compared with average hourly labour costs of around $18 in
developed countries. Fierce competition from low wage countries, it is
claimed, will steal ‘our’ jobs, thanks to their ‘unfair’ advantage of

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cheap labour, poor working conditions and lax environmental

controls.
Worries about competition from low wage countries are as old as
trade itself. What is different this time is the sheer weight of new
competition; the new mobility of capital and technology; and the fact
that more third world workers are educated and so capable of
operating even complex machinery. The emergence of a pool of
cheap, educated labour in the third world with access to first world
technology, it is argued, means that workers in rich countries will be
forced to settle for third world wages and labour standards. Such
claims were paraded by American opponents of the North American
Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) remember Ross Perot’s ‘giant
sucking sound’ as jobs crossed the border from the United States to
Mexico and more recently by critics of the GATT.
Europe, especially France, is even more awash with pessimists. One
of the most vocal is Sir James Goldsmith, an Anglo French tycoon
turned politician who has frequently argued that free trade is
acceptable only between countries at similar levels of economic
development. Another is Maurice Allais, the French Nobel prize
winner for Economics in 1988, who has published a series of articles
in Le Figaro over the past year on the ‘insidious’ effects of free trade.
He claims that free trade with developing countries will lead to mass
unemployment and huge wage inequalities, as production and jobs
shift to low wage countries, thanks either to a surge in imports or to a
massive migration of firms to low wage countries. The result, he says,
will be a social explosion in Europe. And the way to avoid it, he
suggests, is to erect import controls to keep out third world
competition.

Role reversal
One irony in all these worries about the ‘threat from the third world’
is that in the 1950s and 1960s developing countries regarded trade
with the West as a threat to their own industrial development.
Western socialists similarly argued that the third world was being
exploited by multinational companies. Now the third world is
perceived as villain, not victim. The fact that people in rich countries
now fret about developing countries’ success, not their poverty, is
itself a remarkable tribute to those countries’ economic reforms.
For faster growth in the third world ought to be welcomed by
everyone. Not only will it relieve poverty in developing countries, it
will also provide outside traders with marvellous new business
opportunities. True, rich country producers will face a vast number of
new competitors; but as these competitors become richer, they will
also provide the West with a vast number of new customers.
Developing countries are likely to account for around two thirds of
the increase in world imports over the next 25 years.
Fears that the third world will steal output and jobs are based on the
mistaken belief that any increase in one country’s output must be at

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the expense of another’s. A second’s thought should show that this is

a fallacy. Increased exports give developing countries more money to
spend on imports. Most developing countries spend all the foreign
exchange they can lay their hands on, to buy imports of capital
equipment and branded consumer goods mainly from developed
economies. An increase in output in a poor country is more likely to
increase than to reduce output in rich countries.
Trade is never a zero sum game. A bond dealer, for example, is quite
happy to pay a low wage laundry worker rather than wash his own
clothes; he can earn more money trading bonds than being elbow-
deep in soap suds. Specialisation increases the living standards of
both parties to the transaction. The case for free trade with China is
no different. If China makes shoes more cheaply, then it makes sense
for America to buy them with the money it earns selling sophisticated
consumer goods to the Chinese. American consumers will benefit
from cheaper shoes.
A common objection to this is: what if, because of its low wages and
access to first world technology, China can make almost everything
more cheaply than America; does that not mean America could end
up importing everything from China, putting all its jobs at risk? No.
Because of the skill composition of its labour force, China will enjoy
a bigger cost advantage in low skill labour intensive industries than in
others. In the economic jargon, this is its ‘comparative advantage’, a
concept put forward by David Ricardo in the early l9th century. It is a
basic principle of economics that all countries are better off if they
specialise in industries in which they possess a comparative
advantage. America and other rich economies must, by definition,
always have a comparative advantage too.
Overall, the rich industrial economies will gain from the enrichment

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of poor countries. Faster growth in emerging economies is already
providing a powerful stimulus to growth in the rich world. That is
convenient, for it comes just when it seemed likely (mainly for
demographic reasons) that rich countries would be entering a period
of slower growth. Indeed, thanks to the boom in the third world, the
world economy could in the second half of the 1990s experience its
fastest growth since before the 1973 oil price shock. Global growth
might nudge 4% a year.
That does not mean that everybody will be a winner. Today’s rich
economies face some painful adjustments in the years ahead. This
survey will focus on four particular concerns: the likely decline in the
jobs and real wages of low skilled manufacturing workers; the risk
that heavy investment demands of developing countries will drive up
interest rates; the risk that a worldwide boom will push up the price
of oil and other commodities igniting inflation; and the pressure on
the environment arising from high speed growth in energy thirsty
third world economies.
Within countries there will be losers, even if these are outweighed by
the winners. Low skilled workers, in particular, are right to be

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worried. There is a risk, as Mr Allais has argued, that widening

inequalities between winners and losers could create social and
political tensions. And this is likely to put pressure on governments to
protect industries and jobs that come under attack. It would be a
bitter irony indeed if the success of market economics in the third
world proved to be the biggest threat to its survival in the rich
industrial world.

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Reading 2: The Threat of Globalization

By Edward S. Herman*
New Politics vol. 7, no. 2 (new series), whole no. 26, Winter 1999

Globalization is both an active process of corporate expansion across

borders and a structure of cross-border facilities and economic
linkages that has been steadily growing and changing as the process
gathers steam. Like its conceptual partner “free trade,” globalization
is also an ideology, whose function is to reduce any resistance to the
process by making it seem both highly beneficent and unstoppable.
And as with free trade, while globalization may sometimes yield
economic benefits, both the process and economic-political regime it
is helping bring about threaten progressive ends, and should be
recognized as such and fought at every level. Admittedly this is a
formidable task, as the economic and political power of its
beneficiaries, and its momentum, are great and contesting it seems an
almost utopian undertaking. But globalization has its vulnerabilities,
and attacking it intellectually, at the local level of plant
abandonments and relocations, as well as at the national political
level can help build understanding and support for a larger
oppositional movement.

Globalization as ideology
Globalization is just one of an array of concepts and arguing points
that have been mobilized to advance the corporate agenda. Others
have been deregulation and getting government off our backs,

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balancing the budget, cutting back entitlements (non-corporate), and
free trade.
Like free trade, globalization has an aura of virtue. Just as “freedom”
must be good, so globalization hints at internationalism and solidarity
between countries, as opposed to nationalism and protectionism,
which have negative connotations. The possibility that cross-border
trade and investment might be economically damaging to the weaker
party, or that they might erode democratic controls in both the
stronger and weaker countries, is excluded from consideration by
mainstream economists and pundits.1 It is also unthinkable in the
mainstream that the contest between free trade and globalization, on
the one hand, and “protectionism,” on the other, might be reworded
as a struggle between “protection” – of transnational corporate
(TNC) rights –versus the “freedom” of democratic governments to
regulate in the interests of domestic non-corporate constituencies.
As an ideology, globalization connotes not only freedom and
internationalism, but, as it helps realize the benefits of free trade, and
thus comparative advantage and the division of labor, it also
supposedly enhances efficiency and productivity. Because of these

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virtues, and the alleged inability of governments to halt “progress,”

globalization is widely perceived as beyond human control, which
further weakens resistance.

The economic failure of globalization

As the globalization process has been engineered by corporate elites,
and serves their interests, they have successfully conveyed the
impression that globalization is not only inevitable but has been a
great success. This is fallacious. Even ignoring for the moment its
distributional effects, globalization has been marked by substantial
declines in rates of output, productivity, and investment growth.
Under the new regime of enhanced financial mobility and power,
with greater volatility of financial markets and increased risk, real
interest rates have risen substantially. The average rate of the G-7
countries (U.S., Britain, France, Italy, Germany, Canada and Japan)
has gone from 0.4 percent, 1971–82, to 4.6 percent, 1983–94.2 This
has discouraged long term investment in new plant and equipment
and stimulated spending on the re-equipment of old facilities along
with a large volume of essentially financial transactions – mergers,
buybacks of stock, financial manoeuvres, and speculative activities.
This may help explain why overall productivity growth 3 in the
countries that are members of the OECD fell from 3.3%, 1960–73 to
0.8%, 1973–95, or by some 75 percent. Gross fixed investment fell
from 6.1%, 1959–1970, to roughly 3.1% thereafter, or by half. OECD
country annual rates of growth of real GDP fell from 4.8%, 1959–
1970 to 2.8%, 1971–94, or by 42 percent.
But the elites have done well despite the slackened productivity
growth. Because globalization has helped keep wages down, while
increasing real interest rates, the upper 5 percent of households have
been able to skim off a large fraction of the reduced productivity
gains, thereby permitting elite incomes and stock market values to rise
rapidly. But it was a different story for the global majority. Income
inequality rose markedly both within and between countries. In the
United States, despite a 35 percent increase in productivity between
1973 and 1995, the median real wage rate was lower in the latter year.
Inequality rose to levels of 70 years earlier, and underemployment,
job insecurity, benefit loss, and worker speedup under “lean”
production systems all increased.4 Insecurity is functional. As Alan
Greenspan complacently explained to Congress in 1997, wage rates
were stagnant in this country because worker insecurity was high.5
That this high insecurity level reduced the well-being of the affected
workers did not bother Greenspan, or Congress and the mainstream
media.
The gap in incomes between the 20 percent of the world’s population
in the richest and poorest countries has grown from 30 to 1 in 1960 to
82 to 1 in 1995, and Third World conditions have in many respects
worsened. Per capita incomes have fallen in more than 70 countries
over the past 20 years; some 3 billion people – half the world’s
population, live on under two dollars a day; and 800 million suffer

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from malnutrition.6 In the Third World unemployment and

underemployment are rampant, massive poverty exists side-by-side
with growing elite affluence, and 75 million people a year or more
seeking asylum or employment in the North, as Third World
governments allow virtually unrestricted capital flight and have no
option but to attract foreign investment.7
The new global order has also been characterized by increased
financial volatility, and from the Third World debt crisis of the early
1980s to the Mexican breakdown of 1994–95 to the current Asian
debacle, financial crises have become more and more threatening.
With increasing privatization and deregulation, the discrepancy
between the power of unregulated financial forces and that of
governments and regulatory bodies increases and the potential for a
global breakdown steadily enlarges.
Only an elite perspective permits this record to be regarded as an
economic success.

Globalization as an attack on democracy

The globalization of recent decades was never a democratic choice by
the peoples of the world – the process has been business driven, by
business strategies and tactics, for business ends. Governments have
helped, by incremental policy actions, and by larger actions that were
often taken in secret, without national debate and discussion of
where the entire process was taking the community. In the case of
some major actions advancing the globalization process, like passing
the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) or joining the
European Monetary Union (EMU), publics have been subjected to
massive propaganda campaigns by the interested business-media
elites. In the United States, public opinion polls showed the general

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public against NAFTA even after incessant propaganda, but the mass
media supported it8, and it was passed. In Europe as well, polls have
shown persistent majorities opposed to the introduction of the Euro,
but a powerful elite supports it, so that it moves forward.
This undemocratic process, carried out within a democratic facade, is
consistent with the distribution of benefits and costs of globalization,
and the fact that globalization has been a tool serving elite interests.
Globalization has also steadily weakened democracy, partly as a
result of unplanned effects, but also because the containment of labor
costs and scaling down of the welfare state has required the business
minority to establish firm control of the state and remove its capacity
to respond to the demands of the majority. The mix of deliberate and
unplanned elements in globalization’s antidemocratic thrust can be
seen in each aspect of the attack process.
The assault on labor. One of the main objectives of TNC movement
abroad has been to tap cheaper labor sources. Labor is often cheapest,
and least prone to cause employer problems, in authoritarian states
that curb unions and enter into virtual joint venture arrangements
with foreign capital, as in Suharto’s Indonesia and PRI’s Mexico.

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Capital moves to such friendly investment climes in an arbitrage

process, shifting resources from the more expensive to the less costly
locale, in a process that penalizes and thereby weakens democracy.
The actual shift of capital abroad, and the use of the external option
to drive hard bargains at home, has weakened labor. Labor has also
been weakened by deliberate government policies of tight money and
restrictive budget policies to contain inflation, at the expense of high
unemployment. These policies, and the incessant focus on labor
market “flexibility” as the solution to the unemployment problem,
reflect a corporate and antilabor policy agenda, fully institutionalized.
There have even been more open and direct attacks on organized
labor – both Reagan and Thatcher engaged in union busting, and the
latter was quite explicit in her aim to weaken labor as a political
force.9 Democracy, according to pluralistic theory, is said to rest on
the existence of intermediate groups, like labor organizations, that
can bargain and work on behalf of an otherwise atomized
population. The deliberate weakening of such groups is thus an
attack on democracy.
The ideological campaign. In the United States, Britain, Canada, and
other countries, the business community has also mounted a
sustained ideological campaign to make their preferred policies part
of common understanding. These campaigns have proceeded in
parallel with globalization and have been remarkably similar,
reflecting the global flow of ideology and overlapping sources of
funding. The favoured neo-liberal ideology pushes the idea that the
market can do it all, that government is a burden and threat, and that
deregulation and privatization are inherently good and inevitable. It
presses an extreme individualism and the value of “personal
responsibility,” which is highly advantageous to corporate power,
leaving bargaining between large firms and isolated individuals.
Collective and community values, the threat of externalities and
ecological damage from unconstrained business growth, free market
instability – all are shunted aside in this ideological system. This
ideological campaign has been highly successful, because vast sums
of business money fed to intellectuals and think-tanks, and business
domination of the mass media, has allowed their views to prevail.
Heritage Foundation leader Edwin Feulner has described the strategy
of his corporate-funded and globally linked think-tank as analogous
to Procter & Gamble’s in selling soap – saturate the market with
messages that overwhelm any that are less well funded.10 But this is a
corruption of democracy; it is a bought market of ideas, not a free
market of ideas.
Capturing or immobilizing governments. The business community
has also mounted a powerful effort to dominate governments – either
by capture or by limiting their ability to serve ordinary citizens.
Globalization has contributed to this effort, partly by the arbitraging
process mentioned earlier, which favors authoritarian rule. Apart
from this, by enlarging business profits and weakening labor it has
shifted the balance of power further toward business, so that political

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parties have been even more decisively influenced by business money

in elections. In the United States, it is notorious that Mr. Clinton has
sought and received enormous sums from business and serves their
interests almost exclusively, with only token efforts on behalf of the
major non-business constituencies of the Democratic Party. The
globalizing corporate media have added their growing strength to the
advance of neo-liberal ideology and opposition to any vestiges of
social democracy, making social democratic policies difficult to
implement. The Murdoch effect on British elections, and the current
Murdoch-Blair connection illustrates the point.11
Another well-known and important antidemocratic force is the power
of global financial markets to limit political options. Social
democratic policies make for an unfavourable investment climate.
Businesses will therefore respond to politicians and acts serving
ordinary citizens with threatened or actual exit. Financial market
effects on exchange and interest rates can be extremely rapid and
damaging to the economy. Spokespersons for the new global
economy actually brag about the ability of capital to penalize
“unsound” policies, and the fact that money capital now rules.12
These business efforts, aided and validated by the IMF and by media
support, regularly cause social democrats to retreat to policies
acceptable to the rulers. Thus, in country after country social
democratic parties have accepted neo-liberalism, despite the contrary
preferences of great majorities of their voting constituencies.13 But
this means that nominal democracy is no longer able to serve
ordinary citizens, making elections meaningless and democracy
empty of substance. This helps explain why half or more of eligible
U.S. voters no longer participate in national elections.
Supra-national limits on democracy – the New (TNC) Protectionism.

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Not satisfied with this level of political control, the business
community has pushed for international agreements, and policy
actions by the IMF and World Bank, that further encroach on the
ability of democratic polities to act on behalf of their constituencies.
These agreements and the demands of the international financial
institutions invariably call for precisely the policies desired by the
TNC community. The EMU conditions give primacy to budget
constraints and inflation control, in accord with the neo-liberal and
corporate agenda. GATT, the WTO, and the NAFTA agreement also
give top priority to corporate investor and intellectual property rights,
to which all other considerations must give way. In the early 1980s,
the IMF and World Bank took advantage of the Third World debt
crisis and used their leverage with numerous distressed Third World
borrowers to force their acceptance of Structural Adjustment
Programs. These forced the borrowing countries to agree to give first
priority to external debt repayment, private as well as government; it
compelled them to adapt austerity programs of tight money and
budget cutbacks focusing heavily on social expenditures affecting the
poor and ordinary citizens; it forced a stress on exports, which help
generate foreign exchange to allow debt repayment and that more

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closely integrate the borrower’s economy into the global system; and
it stressed privatization, allegedly in the interest of efficiency, but
serving both to help balance the budget without tax increases and to
provide openings for TNC investment in the troubled economy. The
IMF is doing the same in Asia today.
A second characteristic of the new agreements and IMF-World Bank
actions is their denial of democratic rights to non-corporate citizens
and elected governments. These are subordinated to the rights of
corporate investors, the superior class of global citizens with priority
over all others and beneficiaries of the New TNC Protectionism. In
the NAFTA agreement, governments are denied in advance the right
to take on new functions; any not asserted now are left to the private
sector and to the superior class of citizens. In these agreements, also,
and even more aggressively in the Multilateral Agreement on
Investment now under consideration, the global TNCs have no
responsibilities and none can be imposed on them. They can fire
people, abandon communities, fatally damage the environment, push
local companies out of business, and purvey cultural trash at their full
discretion. They can or will be able to sue governments, and
disagreements are to be settled by unelected panels outside the control
of democratic governments.
A third characteristic of the new agreements and IMF-World Bank
actions is that they rest not only on neo-liberal theory but on a false
reading of recent experience and economic history. As noted earlier,
globalization so far has been a productivity failure, a social disaster,
and a threat to stability. The claim of its proponents that free trade is
the route to economic growth is also confuted by longer historic
experience: no country, past or present, has taken off into sustained
economic growth and moved from economic backwardness to
modernity without large-scale government protection and
subsidization of infant industries and other modes of insulation from
domination by powerful outsiders. This includes Great Britain, the
United States, Japan, Germany, South Korea and Taiwan, all highly
protectionist in the earlier take-off phases of their growth process.14
The governments and institutions bargaining on behalf of the TNCs
today, through the IMF, World Bank, WTO and NAFTA, have been
able to remove these modes of protection from less developed
countries. This threatens them with extensive takeovers from abroad,
thoroughgoing integration into foreign economic systems as “branch
plant economies,” preservation in a state of dependence and
underdevelopment, and most particularly, an inability to protect their
majorities from the ravages of neo-liberal top-down development
priorities.

Concluding Note
In sum, we are in the midst of an anti-democratic counterrevolution,
in which globalization and its imperatives are being used to weaken
popular and elected authority in favour of a system of domination by
super-citizens, the TNCs. This process sows the seeds of its own

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destruction, as it serves a small global minority, damages the majority,

breeds financial instability, and exacerbates the environmental crisis.
Its destructive tendencies are likely to produce an explosion if the
process is not contained and democracy is not rehabilitated.
Halting this antidemocratic juggernaut will be difficult, not only
because of the power of its beneficiaries, but also because it operates
within the framework of nominally democratic structures and
musters plausible arguments. But these arguments are self-serving and
wrong, and should be vigorously contested. An agenda should be
advanced that serves ordinary citizens rather than the TNCs and
financial institutions. Negatively, this agenda will include strenuous
opposition to all supranational arrangements that take power out of
the hands of democratic governments to serve some alleged economic
need. Positively, the agenda requires support for the imposition of
serious limits and responsibilities on TNCs, including capital controls
and other deterrents to financial speculation. Pursuit of this agenda is
going to require a combination of understanding and effective
organization of the large majority who are the victims of
globalization.

Notes
1 Many leftists also strenuously deny that globalization is having a
damaging effect on the power of the state. This denial seems to be
based mainly on fears that a pessimistic analysis will render
workers apathetic and destroy the socialist project. The deniers
stress that the state still works well in serving the transnational
corporate community; they ignore the possibility that such
efficient service is quite compatible with globalization weakening
the power of the state to do things that TNCs and the financial

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community oppose. For statements of the denial school, see Ellen
Wood, ‘‘Globalization’ or ‘Globaloney’?,’ Monthly Review, Feb.
1997; William Tabb, ‘Globalization is An Issue, the Power of
Capital is The Issue,’ Monthly Review, June 1997; Linda Weiss,
The Myth of the Powerless State (Cornell, 1998). For a rebuttal, see
Richard DuBoff and Edward Herman, ‘A Critique of Tabb on
Globalization’, Monthly Review, Nov. 1997.
2 The data in this paragraph is taken from David Felix, ‘Asia and
the Crisis of Financial Globalization’, in Dean Baker et al.,
Globalization and Economic Policy (Cambridge University Press,
1998).
3 More precisely, total factor productivity growth, which is the
weighted average of growth in labour and capital productivity.
4 See Kim Moody, Workers In A Lean World (Verso, 1997), esp.
chap. 5.
5 In his testimony on monetary policy before congress on July 22,
1997, Greenspan noted that the proportion of workers in large

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companies fearful of layoffs rose from 25% to 46% between 1991

and 1996.
6 Ignacio Ramonet, ‘“The Politics of Hunger,” Le Monde
Diplomatique’, Nov. 1998; UN Development Program, Human
Development Report 1998 (New York, Sept. 1998).
7 On the underrated problem of uncontrolled capital flight in Latin
America, see David Felix, ‘Debt Crisis Adjustment in Latin
America: Have the Hardships Been Necessary?’ Washington
University, St. Louis, Working Paper 170, Sept. 1992.
8 Edward Herman, “Mexican Meltdown,” Z Magazine, Sept. 1995.
9 See Margaret Thatcher, The Downing Street Years (Harper/Collins,
1993), p. 676 and passim.
10 Alex Carey, Taking the Risk Out of Democracy (University of New
South Wales, 1995), pp. 106–7.
11 Rupert Murdoch, who controls a third of the print media
circulation in Britain, was widely credited with the Tory election
triumph over Labour in 1990, by virtue of his papers’ frenzied
attacks on the latter. Tony Blair, the new head of the Labour
party, travelled to Australia to visit with Murdoch, persuaded him
to reconsider his support, and succeeded in getting Murdoch’s
papers to support Labour in the l997 election campaign. Blair
unilaterally repudiated the Labour pledge to seek a
decentralization of the media, and his policies have received
accolades from the right: Margaret Thatcher’s favourite think-
tank, the Adam Smith Institute, described Blair’s as a
“remarkably promising start.” (Daily Mail, Dec. 10, 1997).
Canadian business columnist Peter Cook refers to Blair as “the
man who made the country safe for Thatcherism” (Globe and
Mail, May 15, 1998).
12 Walter Wriston, former CEO of Citicorp, has repeatedly stressed
that 200,000 financial market monitors in trading rooms control
national monetary and fiscal policies “through a kind of global
plebiscite.” ‘Decline of the Central Bankers’, New York Times,
Sept. 20, 1992.
13 William Robinson, Promoting Polyarchy: Globalization, US
Intervention and Hegemony, Cambridge, England: Cambridge
University Press, 1996; Jochen Hippler, ed., The Democratisation
of Disempowerment, London: Pluto, 1995; Edward Herman, ‘The
End of Democracy?’, Z Magazine, Sept. 1993.
14 Alice Amsden, Asia’s Next Giant (Oxford, 1989); Robert Wade,
Governing the Market (Princeton, 1990).
*Edward S. Herman, Professor Emeritus of Finance, Wharton School,
University of Pennsylvania, is the author of a number of books, including
Manufacturing Consent (1988, with Noam Chomsky), Triumph of the
Market (1996), and The Global Media (1997, with Robert McChesney).

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Reading 3: Structural adjustment and education:

adapting to a growing global market

Extracted from the International Journal of Educational Development. Vol.14, No. 2,

pp. 95–108, 1994. Elsevier Science Ltd. Pergamon, by Lynn Ilon of the State
University of New York at Buffalo.

Abstract
Structural adjustment effects on education have largely been viewed
as policies imposed by the International Monetary Fund and the
World Bank. This view overlooks the larger process of structural
adjustment in a rapidly growing global economy. This article seeks to
locate the structural adjustment implications for education within a
global framework. Education’s systemic dependence and system
influence are identified. Specific educational effects of structural
adjustment are discussed, addressing both short-term implications
and long-term responses. Educational policy implications and
research trends are addressed in the light of the evolving world
system of education.

Introduction
For most scholars of education and development, structural
adjustment brings to mind World Bank and IMF loans to poor
countries and the conditionalities that accompany them. The package
of changes that go with such loans often means fundamental changes
in the educational programs for the country-budget cuts, increased

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user fees, structural changes in educational institutions. While this
notion of structural adjustment is not inaccurate, it is limited.
Structural adjustment occurs in all countries, permeates much more
than public finance and structures and becomes increasingly
important as a global economy evolves. The reasons why structural
adjustment occurs lie largely outside the walls of multilateral
development agencies, and the educational changes they engender are
more widespread than budgetary constraints in poor countries.
The implications of this distinction are not trivial for education. If
structural adjustment is simply a bad policy promulgated by
misinformed bureaucrats or high-powered experts promoting a global
agenda of domination, then the appropriate education response is to
identify these forces and attempt to change or neutralize them. If,
however, structural adjustment is a process that grows out of a large
global system of economic exchange, albeit advantaging groups
differentially, then the appropriate education response must be
systemic as well. Educational policy must, at once, maximize its
possibilities within this system and use its unique place within the
system to modify it. In either case, the problems wrought by

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structural adjustment must be addressed. The real issue is how this

can effectively be accomplished.
Education policy makers are not traditionally schooled in the
knowledge bases that empower them to deal with this new logic –
those of international economics and system analysis. Yet the
evidence that a global system of economics is establishing a new set
of rules and that public policy is, often de facto, being set by such
rules is growing. Vast changes are occurring in the educational policy
field and these changes can often be traced to the forces of global
structural adjustment. This issue of the International Journal of
Educational Development is devoted to exposing some of these
forces. This piece will explore the linkage between structural
adjustment, globalization of the world economy and global trends in
education.

Structural adjustment in a global context

Structural adjustment is, in fact, not a policy – it is a process. The
structure being adjusted is the structure of the economy. Many factors
make up this structure – fiscal policies, capital flows, balance of trade,
immigration and migration, public spending, exchange rates, and
interest rates are among the most obvious. Changes in these
parameters comprise a strategy which favors alignment with
international trade forces. These policies center around four primary
structural shifts: liberalization, deregulation, privatization and
stabilization. Together they comprise critical elements of the
‘structure’ of the economy which affects its external relationship. As
external trade and capital flows take on increasing significance for
most of the world’s economies, the need to adjust the structure of the
economy to these forces becomes increasingly hard to resist.
Adjustment refers to changes in the economic structure. What makes
it adjustment in the ‘structural adjustment’ sense is that the process is
one whereby the national economy is adjusting to a global market.
Just as a merchant cannot stay in business when the price (marketing,
display, employment) of her business veers too far from the balance
established by competitive forces, so a country cannot afford to veer
too far from an equilibrium established by the global capital and trade
markets. The choice not to participate in such a global market
appears less viable as time passes. The experiments by Tanzania and
Nicaragua to emphasize self-sufficiency over participation in the
growing global economy stand as reminders that global participation,
at some minimal level, is no longer an option. The days when
countries could survive on a largely internal market appear to have
disappeared. To the extent that national economic factors are out of
sync with those established by the international market, structural
adjustment will inevitably occur.
The response to structural adjustment pressures, although global in
nature, are country specific in their impact. They are neither equitable
nor inclusive. In large economies, international factors are heavily

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influenced by the national economy. Internationally established

factors are rarely substantially out-of-line with national parameters.
Given the dominance of these economies, it is prudent to employ
policies of regulated but automatic adjustments. This allows
internally derived changes to be passed on to the larger global
economy, diluting, to some extent, any negative effects and reaping
the benefits that positive changes mean for participation and
dominance in the global economy. Economies such as the U.S., the
European Economic Community and Japan, allow, in large part,
primary economic structures to be market determined – exchange
rates, prices of imports and exports, terms of trade. These factors are
monitored and may have limits established but are, in large part,
subject to the vicissitudes of the global market.
For smaller economies, the choice of policy controlled or global
market determined parameters is not so clear-cut (Summers and
Pritchett, 1993). As participants in the larger global economy, they,
essentially, have little input. Internal imbalances cannot be ‘passed’ to
the larger world as the global economy clearly sets the parameters.
Domestic inflation, for example, cannot be moderated by raising
export prices, for the global market will simply turn to other suppliers
(and may never return). The decision to open internal markets to
global forces means loss of ability to protect internal markets
(employment, production and service markets, for example). Yet
world trade cannot be foregone forever and the structural adjustment
required to bring internal domestic markets in line with global factors
is inevitable.
The differential impact of structural adjustment on various countries
makes for different responses to adjustment. For larger countries
where adjustments are less disruptive and trade relationships are

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largely beneficial, structural adjustment is usually pursued through
self-regulating mechanisms, often moving toward market-determined
parameters. For smaller countries where choices are harder, structural
adjustment may be market-determined, but is often policy-determined
by way of conditionalities for lending. In the field of development
education, the focus on structural adjustment has been largely on this
‘adjustment lending’ and, indeed, the term ‘structural adjustment’ is
often confused with the specific case of ‘adjustment lending’.
‘Structural adjustment lending’ most often occurs in smaller
economies although other distinctions are possible. Summers and
Pritchett observe:
“Perusing the list of (World Bank imposed) adjusting and non
adjusting countries, it is obvious that non adjusting countries are
those that did not need official external support to adjust (e.g.
Botswana, Malaysia) and those that needed to adjust but did not
(e.g. Myanmar. Peru)”
(Summers and Pritchett, 1993).

The issue, increasingly, is not one of whether a country will choose to

structurally adjust but when and how.

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If structural adjustment is something all countries face, is indicative

of a growing trend, and, like the larger process of globalization,
impacts on various people differentially, the questions surrounding
structural adjustment and education become process focused rather
than evaluative:
z How does structural adjustment affect education?
z What educational policies will result from the new dynamic of
education and structural adjustment?
z How can education be used to change or mitigate the effects of
structural adjustment?
Whether one is an observer of American education, education in the
Middle East or education in Botswana, the most obvious change
wrought by structural adjustment is a decrease in funds available for
education as a component of the social sector. Public monies,
generally, are decreasing and the amounts needed to maintain real
per-pupil expenditures are not available. But, in fact, public budgetary
adjustments are only the most obvious of the changes brought about
by the forces behind structural adjustment. Whether policy-imposed
by adjustment lending or market-imposed by shifts in the global
market, structural adjustment has far-reaching consequences for
education and the peoples, institutions and governments it serves.

Governments
The stability of any government depends, in large part, on its
perceived legitimacy. When the governed see their government as an
entity disembodied from their wishes and interests, the longevity of
that government is at risk. As the global economy grows in
importance, governments must learn not just how to ‘handle’ their
interactions with the large world, but how to ‘manage’ them.
Adjusting the structure of the economy to facilitate international
commerce is an increasing pressure. Even if the government is not
contemplating a loan from the IMF or World Bank, it may be under
intense pressure to employ adjustment policies as a means of
pursuing economic growth – or a means of mitigating economic
decline.
The forces of structural adjustment necessarily facilitate external
investment in the country. The opportunities for employment in
international businesses opens for the few who have had the best
education. These few jobs will mean pay levels not generally available
in local industries and a chance for advancement or travel outside
one’s country. For many, however, the employment opportunities are
a mixed blessing. International competition for jobs means that the
wages of the common workers must be kept to a minimum. Equally,
worker safety and health considerations as well as benefits, all of
which cost the employer money, must be kept minimal. Any attempt
by the government to introduce safety, health or benefits for workers
will be fought not only by the industries, but, ironically, eventually by

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the working class. These people will face the possibility that increased
benefits mean that the business must relocate to stay competitive.
Opening a national economy to international investment and trade
means having to balance government programs which target social
needs with private market forces which result in increased flow of
capital and resources in and out of the country. Raising taxes on
industries may raise tax revenues needed for public services, but it
may also discourage investment by companies in the country and
encourage existing businesses to relocate. Putting additional resources
into education may mean a higher average level of education for the
populace, but it also implies higher taxes. If taxes come out of the
pockets of employees, the base wage level rises (the lowest wage level
that can be paid and still get people to work). Industry is again
discouraged.
The close linkages between education, government legitimacy and
social welfare are delinking. When education led to employment by
local enterprises that produced in and for the nation, productivity
gains from education could be counted as net gains for the society.
When the productivity gains of education accrue to external
enterprises and to private individuals, both the rationale and the
impetus for government to fund education erodes. This is not to say
that education, broadly conceived, could not and should not benefit
social welfare, only that the linkages between investment and benefits
will tend to move education into the private sphere and away from the
public.
In response to this delinking, governments are under pressure from
two forces. From the poorer segments of society there is pressure to
provide access to quality education that leads to high paying, high
mobility jobs. Satisfying this demand becomes increasingly difficult

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given pressures to decrease public spending so the realities of
shrinking educational investment bring governments into increasing
conflict with poorer groups. The second force is to limit government
expenditures on education. Not only do higher taxes mean a less
conducive environment for attracting and keeping external
investments, but the wealthier segments of society are becoming less
willing to fund public education as its quality deteriorates and their
children are moved toward private schools. Given that wealthier
citizens combined with private economic interests have more political
influence than do the poor, governments are likely to give in to the
forces wrought by structural adjustment and to disinvest in education.

Community
The notion of ‘community’ also changes as a result of structural
adjustment. As stated above, liberalization, deregulation,
privatization and stabilization all move a country toward global
integration. This global integration means that national boundaries
and governments have less meaning and control. Although policies
and citizenship are still derived from the government, the meaning of

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both are diluted as countries adjust their economies to that of the

larger world.
‘Building nations’ was once thought to be a primary goal of
education. The process of nation building meant educating citizens
such that they could actively participate in their government, so that
they would form a national identity, so that their welfare would be
jointly linked and so that their notion of society included a national
focus. Yet, as national boundaries give way to the pressures of the
global economy, notions of citizenship also give way. Whereas once
one’s citizenship largely defined one’s job prospects, for the elite
citizenship is no more than a minor annoyance for employment. For
those who are globally employable, nearly any country will open its
doors – temporarily or permanently.
As discussed above in the ‘government’ section, even national policies
are now linked internationally. In fact, the very notion that
governments must respond to the pressures of structural adjustment
speaks to the fact that national policies are increasingly determined by
international forces. A government may decide on a different
structure of budget for education but the forces which caused this
rethinking are likely to be global in nature.
As structural adjustment breaks down the definitions and functions of
the nation-state so too does it cause us to rethink ‘community’. In
many countries, the community is integrally linked to the school. In
the U.S. for example most schools derive substantial funds from local
property taxes. When one’s community included the people one
would work with, raise children together and grow old with, similar
values for schooling could be assumed. The community school,
whether in suburban U.S. or in rural Tanzania, was a symbol of a
community whose welfare was tied together. But, as adjustments
occur to bring nations more in line with global forces, ‘community’
slowly gives way. This is true more for the elite (and thus, influential)
families than for the poor. More and more families find that their
children go to schools outside their communities (private schools.
magnet schools, or highly-ranked public schools), that their work is
not bound to their community (perhaps their employer is in an
entirely different community) and future is not tied to the community
(perhaps a spouse, for example, lives elsewhere).
If these people were asked to define the people whose sphere of
influence impacts on them the most, they would most likely be
defined on a social scale rather than a geographic one. The relative
health, stability and happiness of one’s work colleagues, one’s social
network (perhaps globally defined) and one’s linkages to spheres of
power and influence, while traditionally important, no longer
necessarily lie within a geographic community. The wealthier and
more educated one is, the less likely a geographic linkage is to
predominate over a class linkage.
This has profound implications for education. Formal education was
nearly always defined in terms of one’s geographic community.

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Linking one’s welfare with those who live close by meant that there
was a reason to see that resources got to most people in the
‘community’. When the structure of one’s life changes such that
community now means a world of resources, friends and colleagues
perhaps globally scattered, investing in one’s community seems to
have less value. Services can be obtained anywhere through rapid
transportation and communication.
The poor are equally tied although these linkages are much less
apparent and bring little power. As the poor have little access to
modern transportation and communication facilities and mobility is a
problem, ‘community’ still means a geographic space, but the shared
resources will shrink. Government funds for welfare and safety net
programs will decrease as a result of structural adjustment. Also, as
discussed above, community access to moderate paying jobs will
decline and the community’s own resources will shrink. The
phenomenon, ironically, ties the poor together globally. Their
problems, concerns and responses are global in nature. The decline in
public educational quality impacts on the poor in similar ways by
marginalizing them further, by creating increasing dependencies,
decreasing chances for advancement. By increasing responses to
poverty without hope – drug use, spread of disease, environmental
degradation, increasing unrest.
This realignment of communities means that education must address
itself to differential needs of a newly defined ‘community’. As
national gives way to global, so needs become more differentiated and
heterogeneous. A national system of schooling is likely to give way to
local systems for the poor and global systems for the wealthy.

Schools

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Changes wrought by structural adjustment and felt at the national
and community levels permeate directly to the school. The same
forces that engender a movement toward privatization of schooling
will cause large-scale public systems to stratify – offering differential
types and qualities of education. The same forces that cause
governments to think globally will cause curricula to accommodate
global demands. And the forces that cause reductions in public
expenditures will mean a fundamental shift in how schools spend
resources.
Communities largely defined by consisting of professional classes are
mobile and geographically dispersed. It is likely that these
communities will be increasingly served by dispersed schools. Schools
may be located within commuting distance but parents will find
themselves getting their children to and from such schools. Private
schools which require daily, weekly or sporadic commutes will be
utilized by such parents. Many elite parents already send their
children to boarding schools abroad – even elite parents living in
otherwise poor countries. Globally, the poor will continue to be
served by public schools of decreasing quality. Public funds which

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once served the widest range of student clientele will decrease as

governments come under increasing pressure to spend less and as
parents who can afford to do so, send their children to private
schools. The nature of public schooling will be to serve poorer
students who are more homogeneous in terms of family resources.
As the notion that public schools serve a broadly defined national
population of students gives way to the reality that students come
from discrete backgrounds and face differential opportunities and
problems, a structuring of school curriculum and learning strategies
aimed at specific populations will occur. The ideology that all faced
largely ‘equal’ opportunities through schooling will inevitably give
way to a teaching of strategies aimed at survival within different
communities and circumstances.
The global forces that impose structural adjustment will also affect
the curriculum. For the few that will be educationally equipped for
employment at a global level, school curricula will become similar
worldwide. Emphasis on globally demanded skills will mean a
curriculum emphasizing information gathering, manipulation,
management and creation. Basic requirements will include
information sciences, logic, computer usage and theory. The middle
class, while still large, will slowly give way. Professions will be divided
between those that are globally competitive but where mastery and
competence are highly valued, and jobs where global competition
means that people with limited and low-level skills are competing on
a world market of others with similar backgrounds. In order to attract
businesses which need these types of workers, nations will still have
to provide a minimum level of public education, but that education
need not go much further than literacy, numeracy and the discipline
and tolerance that comes with being in a structured environment.
Ironically, curricula for the poor will also take on a global flavour as
job skills become similar and basic needs and problems become
globalized.
Reductions in government budgets for public schooling will mean
pressure on school budgets. Teacher salaries are a major expenditure
item (sometimes as much as 98 percent of a budget). For systems that
had adequate resources directed toward learning and support
materials and equipment, budget decreases will usually mean a
reduction in these supplies. Teachers will put pressure on systems to
maintain their wages (or to have them decrease at slower rates) and it
will be easiest to respond to these pressures by cutting materials and
supplies rather than salaries. For larger systems, new teachers may not
be hired, causing class sizes to rise. For systems where the purchasing
power of teacher salaries does decrease, teachers will become
disenfranchised from the larger meaning of teaching and they will
spend more of their time and effort in attempting to retain wages,
resources and benefits.

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Individuals
Individuals pursue education when benefits outweigh costs. Both
costs and benefits are affected by structural adjustment. As the world
becomes linked, countries, communities and individuals compete for
the jobs that are available. As more countries link into the global
economy (through structural adjustment) and as more people become
educated and able to work within a structured formal environment,
the competition for business and jobs becomes more fierce and more
widespread. At the same time, for the individual, the opportunities
may become more varied. Increasingly, the job market for highly
educated individuals is becoming global. Where benefits are
concerned, the value of education will depend, increasingly, on one’s
access to stratified educational opportunities.
These employment options impact on decisions in education in
fundamental ways. For the wealthier segments of the population,
private investment in education carries the possibility of tremendous
pay-offs. In order to optimize a child’s chances at employment in
internationally competitive firms, parents are increasingly willing to
put private funds into education. When employment possibilities
were internally (nationally) defined, local public education sorted
people along SES grounds and students from wealthier families had
the best chance of getting the good jobs. But, when competition is
worldwide, a different type of education is needed – and the pay-offs
are potentially higher. If private schooling is needed, it will be
pursued. Along with this, however, will come increasing
disenfranchisement with using public monies to fund public schools.
Parents are unlikely to want to support a public system when they
utilize a private system.
The situation is very much different for the poorer families. Even

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when parents are employed, they are unable to ‘sell’ their skills to
industries which must keep wages at their lowest levels – often just
above or at the poverty level. These parents, along with their
unemployed neighbours, have little choice but to send their children
to public schools – schools with decreasing revenues. The quality of
education for these schools is deteriorating, but so are the benefits.
When employment opportunities are limited and the wages for
existing jobs are set at an internationally competitive low scale, there
is little incentive to stay in school past some basic level. Returns to
education are low and access to the type of education that could have
high pay-offs is limited because of high private costs.

The short-term policy response to structural

adjustment
Clearly, educational systems must adjust to the new global
environment. The environment is so radically different from the
environment dictated by local needs and responses that the
appropriate response is a complete restructuring of the policy changes
that attend such structural changes. The damage to be had by not

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responding to these new forces is enormous. During the transitional

phase, however, educational systems can respond to changed
circumstances so as to minimize negative effects and acquire time for
more fundamental changes.

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Reading 4: Unemployment in Vanuatu

Anita Jowitt, University of the South Pacific, Vanuatu

The problem of unemployment is increasingly becoming an issue of

concern for Vanuatu. As the cash economy becomes more central to
people’s lives, so too are more people wishing to engage in paid
labour instead of, or in addition to, engaging in traditional subsistence
agriculture. It has been difficult to comment on this issue because of
the paucity of reliable and comprehensive data on the labour market.
In recent years, however, there have been several surveys or censuses
that have collected data on employment. Of particular note are the
2000 Labour Market Survey (LMS), the 1999 Vanuatu National
Population and Housing Census (‘the census’), and the 1998
Household Income and Expenditure Survey (HIES) (NSO 1999a,
1999b, 2000). In 2001 the National Office of Statistics will also be
releasing the 2000 informal sector survey report. This article draws on
recent census and labour market survey reports in order to give an
overview of labour and the growing problem of unemployment in
Vanuatu.
It should be noted that, while these reports are the best sources on the
Vanuatu labour force, their data are not entirely reliable. The census
draws the labour force only from the pool of people aged 15–64 and,
given the number of people who leave school before the age of 15,
there is likely to be some participation in the labour force by those
younger than 15. Further, the census categorisation of economically
active and not economically active is problematic, as is the definition
of unemployment. ‘Unemployed’ in the 1999 census means actively

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looking for work as a primary activity. If someone was engaged in
subsistence farming and also looking for work, they would not fall
into this category, which results in under-representation of
unemployment in the census data. Because of the irregular or
seasonal nature of some wage labour in Vanuatu, census data
gathered in the period of a single week are unlikely to be entirely
accurate.
The LMS records only data from a small sector of the labour market.
The questionnaire also only asks employers to record employment on
a single day, so is unlikely to accurately record irregular or seasonal
workers in businesses that have a fluctuating labour supply. The HIES
does not clearly define what is meant by employment but appears to
be based on subjective assessments of employment status that do not
coincide with definitions in other data sources and may not be
consistent from respondent to respondent. Because of this
methodological point, the HIES data are controversial.
Despite these weaknesses in the data sources, they still reveal trends
and are useful for providing a general overview of the labour market
and unemployment in Vanuatu. As unemployment as a concept is

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linked to the cash economy and paid labour, this article provides only
a brief discussion of the total labour force, including subsistence
labour, before turning to examine wage labour in more detail. It
concludes with some comments on how it may be possible to
generate more opportunities for employment in Vanuatu.

The labour force and subsistence agriculture

Vanuatu census reports define the labour force as being people
between the ages of 15 and 64 who are working for money, engaged
in subsistence farming, helping in family businesses, doing voluntary
community work, or actively seeking work. Using this definition, the
1999 census placed the labour force at 76,370, up from 66,597 in the
1989 census and 51,109 in the 1979 census.
This labour force is usually thought of as falling into three sectors: the
subsistence sector; the formal sector, which comprises paid labour in
the public service and in medium-to-large private sector enterprises;
and the informal sector, which includes activities such as taxi driving,
market gardening, handicrafts manufacture and other cottage
industry, paid domestic labour, and employment within small private
sector enterprises. Population censuses show that the vast majority of
the labour force aged 15–64 is involved in subsistence agriculture,
with the 1999 census placing 67 per cent in the category of
subsistence farmers. It should be noted that about a quarter of these
farmers maintain a garden for both subsistence and sale and thereby
participate in the cash economy through the informal sector.

Wage labour in the formal and informal sectors

While the census, the LMS and the HIES have added to the statistics
on paid employment in Vanuatu, they still do not allow for easy
analysis, as each has produced different figures on the same topic, as
Table 1 shows. Indeed, the data within the census and the HIES vary
internally.
The variation between the LMS and the other data sources can be
explained by differences in the surveys’ sample frames. The LMS was
a census of all businesses that are registered for the purposes of value
added tax (VAT), as well as government, education and finance
industry units that are not liable to pay VAT. Only businesses that
earn 4 million vatu or more need to register, so the labour market
survey excluded smaller enterprises and businesses that have failed to
register for VAT. The smaller enterprises were, however, included in
the data collection of the other two surveys.
The last reported survey on activity within smaller enterprises, in
1995, estimated that there were 8,820 workers engaged in work for
smaller enterprises. These enterprises included trade, restaurants, kava
selling, and taxis, buses and other public transport activities, but did
not include paid agricultural work. Of these workers 5,404 were
estimated to be paid employees. The remaining workers were either
unpaid family members who engaged in at least two hours of work

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per day in the enterprise, or owner/operators. These figures, as well

as excluding paid agricultural work, exclude people employed in
small-scale manufacturing enterprises. It would appear, then, that
employment within such enterprises largely accounts for the
difference between the data from the LMS and the 1999 census
figures as reported in the LMS.
Table 1: Paid employment by occupation
1999 1999 1999 LMS 2000 HIES HIES
census: census: census: 1998: 1998:
number number total number total
employed employed number employed number
aged 15– aged working working
64(a) 15+(b) for pay (c) for pay as
main
activity
Legislators, senior 678 842 1,315 1,768
officials, managers
Professionals, 3,944 4,961 3,532 7,705
technicians,
associated
professionals
Clerks 1,674 1,739 1,753 2,885
Service and sales 3,495 4,186 2,583 4,082
workers
Skilled agriculture, 1,255 1,881 460 2,848
forestry, fisheries
workers
Craft and related 2,979 3,486 1,495 2,667
trades workers

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Plant and machine 1,485 1,770 865 2,140
operators and
assemblers
Elementary 2,893 3,486 2,269 4,912
occupations
Total 18,403 22,351 19,448 14,272 29,007 48,007
(a) As reported in census tables
(b) As reported in LMS
(c) As reported in census summary

Questions still remain, however. First, the 1999 census data give three
different reports as to the number of people engaged in paid labour.
In the census summary, the number is 19,448, whereas the data tables
indicate 18,403 people, and the LMS total is different again. There
are no clear explanations for these variations. Given these
discrepancies, the data in the census can only be treated as an
approximate indicator of the number of people engaged in paid
labour as their primary activity.
Second, there is the discrepancy between the 1999 census and the
HIES figures. One difference is that the HIES does not have any age

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limitation, so it is gathering data on a wider pool of people. Another

difference is that the 1999 census examined people’s current work
status and the economic activity that they had undertaken in the
previous seven days. It does not appear that the HIES took such a
restrictive view. In this survey, household income and expenditure
diaries were kept for a period of a month, and it seems that the
questionnaires that were distributed took a more expansive, and
possibly more subjective, view of people’s average monthly economic
activity.
In terms of the HIES finding that the main daily activity of 48,007
people was a paid job, a possible explanation is that respondents
judged their main daily activity in terms of source of money, as
opposed to main daily activity in terms of hours spent. This
explanation is tenable, given that the survey was emphasising the
importance of household incomes and identifying the different
sources of these incomes, and given the survey’s finding that salaries
and wages make up 54 per cent of the national household income. In
comparison, the production of fruits and vegetables, the next most
significant income-generating activity, accounts for about 19 per cent
of national household income.
These data, when read with the LMS and census data, suggest that
while there are about 22,000 people who are engaged in wage labour
on a regular, more or less full-time basis, there is a large pool of
people who engage in part-time or irregular paid labour but who self-
identify as employed. While they may be registered as engaged in
subsistence agriculture for the purposes of the census, they are also
engaged in paid work when possible.
With such tenuous data, it is impossible to draw firm conclusions, but
a possible one is that there are a significant number of
underemployed people in Vanuatu and/or a significant amount of
hidden unemployment that is not identified within the existing data.

The growth of the labour force and of wage

labour
It must be remembered that Vanuatu’s population is increasing very
rapidly, with around 43 per cent of the current population under the
age of 15. About 3,500 young people nationally are joining the labour
force each year. If the labour market does not expand, both
unemployment and underemployment are going to grow very fast.
However, there have been few signs of expansion of demand for
labour within the formal sector since independence. There is an
increasing imbalance, therefore, between the number of regular paid
jobs and population. As there is no current indication that either
trend is likely to change in the near future, it would appear that the
problem is rapidly going to grow worse unless action is taken to
address this issue.

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Future directions: generating employment

The first point to remember in considering how to generate jobs is
that employment does not only include wage or salaried labour in the
formal private or public sector. Opportunities for developing informal
sector activities through micro-enterprises must also be considered.
However, engagement in subsistence agriculture should not be treated
as an employment opportunity.
The subsistence sector is the base of Vanuatu, on which people are
reliant. However, as education and exposure are changing aspirations,
employment policy that relies on subsistence agriculture to ‘employ’
youth who are entering the labour force is both unrealistic and
dangerous. While the subsistence sector can expand (although land-
use pressure limits this) and absorb more of the labour force, it is
becoming increasingly unlikely that people will be happy to remain in
this sector, particularly in urban areas where there is greater exposure
to Westernised lifestyles. Employment policies, then, should focus on
creating opportunities to engage in legitimate cash-earning
enterprises, whether as an employee or self employed. It should also
be remembered that in order to minimise the possibility of
underemployment, there must be opportunities for more than just
piecemeal work.
The current focus of the government’s economic policy is the concept
of private sector led development. This has been closely tied to the
goal of attracting direct foreign investment (DFI). In relation to
employment, it is hoped that an influx of DFI will create demand for
labour within the formal sector. In order to do this, a competitive
incentive structure needs to be established. Policies affecting the costs
of land, capital, telecommunications, power and labour need to be
considered, as do policies relating to the creation and maintenance of

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infrastructure and the strengthening of the legal system so that it can
protect investors’ rights and property. Most importantly, investor
confidence relies upon sound (uncorrupt) macroeconomic
management and political stability.
Whatever the merits of generating demand for labour through the
attraction of DFI, because of the fundamental nature and wide-
reaching scope of the policy initiatives required, developing the
informal sector through local micro-enterprises seems to be a more
readily achievable path to generating employment. The generation of
labour through development of the local informal sector has other
attractions as well. It is supply-led in the sense that it takes the
existing supply of labour and resources and gradually transforms it
into cash-earning employment. It is less likely to lead to a situation of
cost-push inflation. It ensures that profits from enterprise remain with
ni-Vanuatu, rather than being taken by foreign investors. Such an
approach also requires the development of skills among ni-Vanuatu,
whereas there is the danger that foreign investors may largely require
unskilled labour and therefore will have no incentive to develop
people’s skills through workplace training.

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To this end, training and support in operating small business

enterprises needs to be provided. The responsible provision of credit
is also important. As well as providing seed capital, credit providers
can play an important role in assisting enterprises in developing and
managing business plans. Although the Vanuatu Women’s
Development or Vanwods scheme has provided some access to credit
and business assistance, it is restricted to women and has fairly low
membership. Similarly, credit unions are limited in their ability to
provide credit for the establishment of micro-enterprises. These
initiatives need to be supported and expanded in order to ensure that
access to money to support such enterprises is available.
Most important, though, is ensuring that a market for goods and
services exists and/or is accessible and regularly supplied. Currently,
there is a large imbalance of trade. Local enterprise, in part, could
supply the local market that is currently being supplied by imports.
Export cooperatives, in which individual small enterprises produce
goods that are then exported by a central body, allow small
enterprises to reach international markets. Such an approach to
export is being used in Samoa with considerable success, and the
usefulness of the model for Vanuatu should be explored. Such a
model is particularly useful because both urban and rural people can
participate in such cooperatives (depending on the nature of the
export good), thereby ensuring that urban areas do not become the
sole focus or location of cash-earning enterprises.

Conclusion
From recent statistical data, it appears that unemployment is going to
grow rapidly in Vanuatu in the near future. This poses a significant
development problem, not least because the social unrest and law and
order problems experienced in neighbouring Melanesian countries
have been linked, in part, to unemployment. Policies for generating
employment that do not solely focus on developing demand within
the formal sector, but also consider how to generate opportunities
within the informal sector, must become an immediate priority if
Vanuatu is to succeed in its development goals.

References
NSO National Statistics Office 1991, Vanuatu national population
census May 1989: Main report, Vanuatu National Statistics Office, Port
Vila.
—— 1996, Small Business and Informal Sector Surveys 1995, Vanuatu
National Statistics Office, Port Vila.
—— 1999a, 1999 Vanuatu national population and housing census: Main
report, Vanuatu National Statistics Office, Port Vila.
—— 1999b, Vanuatu Household Income and Expenditure Survey
Tabulation Report, Vanuatu National Statistics Office, Port Vila.

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—— 2000, Vanuatu 2000 labour market survey report, Vanuatu National

Statistics Office, Port Vila.

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Reading 5: Young people in conflict with the law

in the South Pacific region

Tess Newton Cain

Formerly Lecturer in Law, University of the South Pacific, Vanuatu

Issues of crime and community safety are of continuing and possibly

increasing importance in the South Pacific island states. Within the
more general concern about perceived increases in crime, there are
particular concerns associated with the involvement of young people
in crime and with the ability and appropriateness of the formal
criminal justice system to deal effectively with the ‘problem’ of
juvenile crime.

The significance of the CRC

The UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) is one of the
most widely accepted UN treaties. As of 22 August 2001, it had been
ratified to some degree or another by 191 countries.1 It has been
widely accepted by the small island states of the South Pacific region.
The first jurisdictions to sign were Vanuatu, Federated States of
Micronesia, and Tokelau (by virtue of New Zealand’s ratification) in
1993. The most recent signatories were Cook Islands in 1997.
The CRC establishes the ‘best interests of the child’ as a principle to
guide states in all dealings with children and young people.
Ratification creates obligations on ratifying parties to amend national
laws and policies so that they comply with the standards contained in
the convention. The convention is wide-ranging but some of its
articles are of particular significance where young people come into
conflict with the criminal law:
3 State Parties shall seek to promote the establishment of laws,
procedures, authorities and institutions specifically applicable to
children alleged as, accused of, or recognized as having infringed
the penal law, and, in particular:
(a) The establishment of a minimum age below which children
shall be presumed not to have the capacity to infringe the
penal law;
(b) Whenever appropriate and desirable, measures for dealing
with such children without resorting to judicial proceedings,
providing human rights and legal safeguards are fully
respected.
4. A variety of dispositions, such as care, guidance and supervision
orders; counselling; probation; foster care; educational and
vocational training programmes and other alternatives to
institutional care shall be available to ensure that children are
dealt with in a manner appropriate to their wellbeing and

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proportionate both to their circumstances and the offence. (Art.

40(3) and (4))
This provides an appropriate benchmark against which to examine
both the legal provisions and other systems and processes that purport
to deal with young people who come into conflict with the criminal
law in the South Pacific region.

Legal provisions relating to juvenile crime

The statutory law of the countries in the South Pacific island region
usually makes very little provision specifically for how young persons
who come into conflict with the law should be dealt with by the
criminal justice system. Fiji is something of an exception in this
regard, as it does have a piece of legislation that is particularly
concerned with dealing with juvenile criminal offenders: the Juveniles
Act .2
The law of Vanuatu is much more typical of the region and is
examined here as a basis for considering the state of the law more
generally. In the Penal Code, the age of legal capacity is set at 10 and
there is a rebuttable presumption of incapacity in relation to children
aged 10–14. This twofold formulation as to the age of legal incapacity
is common throughout the region, although the actual age ranges
vary slightly between jurisdictions. It is also the case that certain
offences, most notably rape, cannot be committed by (male) persons
under a certain age as a result of the presumption that such persons
are incapable of completing the actus reus of the offence. Recently, in
Fiji, it has been suggested that this ‘restriction’ should be lifted; the
Fiji Law Reform Commission has recommended abolishing the
presumption that a male person under the age of 12 cannot be
capable of having carnal knowledge (FLRC 1999:para 1.4; see also

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Jowitt and Newton Cain 2001).
In Vanuatu, the Penal Code states that convicted persons who are
under the age of 16 should not be imprisoned unless there is no other
form of punishment available to the court; that is, imprisonment
should only be utilised as a measure of last resort. It also states that
where a person under 16 is imprisoned, such person shall serve their
sentence in a special establishment or, if none exists, shall be kept
separate from older offenders. There is no special detention facility in
Vanuatu for young offenders and the resources available within the
correctional services are so limited that it would be very difficult for
this stipulation to be complied with. This position is common
throughout the region, although in Fiji there is a facility specifically
for juvenile offenders who have been sentenced to a period of
imprisonment by the courts.
The Criminal Procedure Code of Vanuatu makes no reference to any
special procedures relating to when young people come into contact
with the criminal justice system, whether as offenders or in some
other capacity. This means that how young people are treated at such

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times is left up to the discretion of the courts or other actors in the

system, rather than being circumscribed by the law.
The paucity of the legal provisions mentioned here is reflected
elsewhere in terms of policy and practice. In Vanuatu, for example,
police officers do not receive any specific training in dealing with
young people who are or are alleged to be involved in criminal
activity. Also, there are no social workers or other professionals
available to support young people who come into conflict with the
law, as is the case elsewhere. The situation is very similar in other
parts of the region and also in relation to other ‘vulnerable’ groups
(such as those with learning disabilities or those who are hearing-
impaired) who are equally poorly serviced.
The resources of the developing South Pacific countries are
insufficient to meet the demands that the ‘mainstream’ criminal
justice system places on them, without attempting to make special
provision for ‘minority’ groups such as young people. Therefore, it
may be necessary to look to the ‘informal justice sector’ for assistance
or even as the basis for policy and practice in relation to young people
in conflict with the law. This is not to make some value judgement as
to one system being better or worse than the other. Whichever sector
it is, there must be due consideration given to the issue of justice –
young people must be treated justly and must be seen to be treated
justly.

Alternative approaches
Some approaches to justice are not sited within the mainstream
criminal justice systems of the region, but they may provide some
alternative or additional resources for dealing with young people in
conflict with the law. This is not to say that changes to law and/or
rules of procedure are not appropriate or significant in this area.
Rather, it is a recognition of the difficulties associated with reforming
law and procedure. It is also an acknowledgement that, even where
legislative or procedural changes are effected, these are not necessarily
the most significant changes in terms of practical effects on a day-to-
day basis.
Elsewhere in the world, restorative justice practices have been widely
advocated and adopted as particularly appropriate for dealing with
young people who come into conflict with the law. In New Zealand, a
system of family conferencing has been in existence for some years in
relation to juvenile offenders and is now being extended to take in
adult offenders as well, in certain circumstances. Advocates of
restorative justice techniques point to the adoption of ‘traditional’
dispute resolution methods (such as the use of formal apologies,
reparation, compensation and mediation) as a key strength of this
approach to dealing with criminal justice issues. It is considered
particularly appropriate in relation to young people because it goes a
long way to keeping them out of prison or other detention facilities,
often considered to be more harmful than curative both to the

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individuals incarcerated and the communities from whence they

come. This has been recognised in relation to Indigenous
communities in Australia:
“Indigenous communities see prison as part of the cycle of
violence – stripping communities of their young men and
returning them more damaged than when they left. They want
interventions that stop violence but leave families intact and
promote family and community ‘healing’.”
(Blagg; 2001:16)

It is not always clear where the imperative for a movement towards

(or back) to the use of restorative justice techniques in the Pacific
Island region has come from. There is a general perception that crime
is increasing as a result of a combination of urban drift, a movement
towards market economies and a lack of employment in urban areas.3
And there is a particular concern about young people committing
crime and behaving in other anti-social ways.
In Vanuatu recently, the Juvenile Justice Project (JJP) examined the
possibility of using customary law and practice as the basis for
dealing with young people in conflict with the law, in preference to
‘state’ law and its agencies, namely the police and the courts. The
impetus for this research was one of the findings of a previous Young
People’s Project:
“The importance of kastom in resolving problems and settling
disputes was mentioned many times by young people in the
research. Young people frequently mentioned that they would
prefer to pass through traditional channels to resolve their
problems with family or with the law when they are involved in
some kind of trouble. One reason for this is that when they pass

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through kastom channels they are not left with a police record
that will ruin their chances for future employment. Another
reason young people gave for favoring the kastom or island court
system is that they don’t always understand the white man’s
court system and they find that the police are often brutal in
their dealings with them. In kastom the chiefs try to ‘straighten’
young people by bringing them back to the notion of respect,
instead of just punishing them.”
(Mitchell 1998:21)

In the 2000–01 period, the JJP undertook preliminary research to

examine further the best way to deal with young people who come
into conflict with law and authority within the particular context of
Vanuatu society. The material that was collected was presented at a
national summit in March 2001. There are several problems
associated with this material that highlight some of the challenges
that are presented by projects to develop alternative systems for
dealing with young people in conflict with the law, particularly where
they seek to draw on ‘custom’ or ‘tradition’.

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A significant issue is that the research (and the ensuing

recommendations made by the summit) do not make clear what
was/is envisaged by the term ‘juvenile justice’. This in turn leads to a
lack of distinction between young people who are involved in crime
and young people who are involved in behaviour which is not
approved of by other people in the community (parents, teachers,
chiefs, church leaders). This latter behaviour may be disruptive,
immoral and possibly anti-social but it is not necessarily criminal.
When examining alternatives to the ‘formal’ criminal justice process,
it is important to ensure that this does not lead to young people
becoming subject to a regime that is more coercive or repressive than
if they were dealt with by the police and the courts. In particular, care
needs to be taken to avoid breaches of the constitutional rights of
young people (such as their freedom of movement) that cannot be
lawfully substantiated.
From the results of a questionnaire circulated by the JJP to chiefs on
a number of islands in Vanuatu, two points can be noted. The first is
that 79.4 per cent of the respondents indicated that their custom
courts had dealt with cases involving young people (either as
‘offender’ or ‘victim’) during ‘this year’. However, no further
information was provided as to the number of cases involved or the
sorts of offences that came before these courts. Second, 15.3 per cent
stated that they thought that the police and chiefs should cooperate to
make both systems – customary and state law – work together. It is
likely that this sort of partnership is a possible way forward.
The role of the community and community elders in establishing and
maintaining community security and safety continues to be
recognised and reiterated. The role of the community in the
particular issue of ‘juvenile justice’ is hard to overstate. Caution must
be exercised, however, so that, in the spirit of the CRC, any actions or
interventions are indeed in the ‘best interests’ of the young people
concerned.

Notes
1 See [Link] (accessed 27 August
2001).
2 Papua New Guinea also has specific legislation relating to
juvenile criminal offenders but it will not be considered here.
3 See Jowitt in this Development Bulletin issue for a consideration
of the Vanuatu situation.

References
Blagg, H. 2001, ‘Restorative visions in Aboriginal Australia’, Criminal
Justice Matters, 44 (Summer), 15–16.
Fiji Law Reform Commission (FLRC) 1999, The sexual offences report
1999: Reform of Chapter XVII of the Penal Code, Government Printer,
Suva.

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Jowitt, A. and T. Newton Cain 2001, ‘Law reform in Fiji Islands: A

commentary on the proposed reforms relating to rape and to
HIV/AIDS’, Occasional Paper no. 10, School of Law, University of the
South Pacific, Suva.
Mitchell, J. 1998, Young people speak: A report on the Vanuatu Young
People’s Project, Vanuatu Cultural Centre, Port Vila.

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Reading 6: Disentangling juvenile justice and

kastom law in Vanuatu: issues arising from the
Governing for the Future workshop

Michael Morgan, Research School of Pacific and Asian Studies,

Australian National University

As Vanuatu undergoes structural reform under the ambit of the

Comprehensive Reform Programme, sponsored by the Asian
Development Bank (ADB), the pressing need to address issues
relating to juvenile offenders has focused attention on the ambiguous
role of customary practices and leadership in contemporary Vanuatu.
The plight of juvenile offenders has highlighted the practical
inadequacies of Vanuatu’s legal system and brought into question the
legitimacy of the state courts, the police and the government.
The public discourse has concentrated on giving greater powers to
customary leaders, who in certain cases might be a better practical
option for defaulting youngsters. Ironically, young people have voiced
cogent reservations regarding the ability of chiefs to deliver justice
better and ensure peaceful social relations. Tension is evident between
nostalgic notions of kastom (customary practices, tradition) and the
practical considerations of disparity between the priorities of
customary leaders and those of young people, especially young
women.

Customary law and youth preferences

Research carried out by the Vanuatu Young People’s Project (Mitchell
1998) and the Juvenile Justice Project of the Vanuatu Cultural Centre
(2000) suggested that young ni-Vanuatu prefer to face customary
courts overseen by chiefs from their own community. Young people,
especially young men, are most commonly arrested on minor charges,
such as breaking-and-entering, shoplifting or drinking (Super
2000:26). The research documented their concern ‘regarding the
treatment they had received from police and the penalising rather
than reconciliatory outcomes of the Western court system’.
Moreover, it indicated that they were reluctant to utilise state law
offices, had generally poor relations with the police and felt that state
courts did not serve their interests.
The preliminary findings of the Juvenile Justice Project showed that
most of those interviewed felt that young people should be dealt with
through kastom law, although in what manner was not specified. They
were echoed in comments made by the Chief Justice of the Supreme
Court that he would rather see young offenders placed under the care
of a local chief than imprisoned (Super 2000:39).

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The Juvenile Justice Project had investigated the main principles of

kastom law in the islands of Tanna, Malakula, Ambrym and Ambae,
how these practices were deployed in dealing with crimes committed
by young people, and what areas of commonality existed between
these practices and Western law. The research was consistent with the
growing interest in restorative justice – a process aimed at achieving
more effective resolutions to crime and conflict through
reconciliation, probation and mediation – in Vanuatu and more
broadly throughout the Pacific region, including Australia (see
Braithwaite and Strang 2000, Dinnen 1998).
One of the main objectives of the National Summit on Juvenile
Justice (in March 2001) was to come up with a system whereby ‘ideas
on governance from chiefs and the state law can be integrated in order to
expose certain characteristics and ideas that would be useful to deal with
juveniles who have breached the law’.

Background to the workshop

Certain key stakeholders viewed the summit as counterproductive to
the various projects of advocating for and empowering young people.
Several NGO representatives voiced their concern that
recommendations focusing on the role of chiefs in the justice system
might inadvertently counteract Vanuatu’s obligations as a signatory to
the Convention on the Rights of the Child and undermine the social
justice initiatives currently being undertaken to empower young
people. The most contentious recommendation stated: ‘Only the chief
should decide which cases are referred to the state courts’ (Vanuatu Cultural
Centre 2001:2–3).
At the Governing for the Future workshop in April 2001, 20 young
people (including eight women) made forceful and articulate

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presentations (Morgan 2001). The majority emphasised experience,
rather than universalist theories of governance, and focused on where
and when young people’s interests had been properly served, where
they had not, and what options were available in light of that failure.
While the workshop was not specifically designed around issues of
juvenile justice, the fact that it was convened only a month after the
National Summit meant that participants used the forum to question
aspects of kastom law and the judicial system.
The workshop was unprecedented and especially timely, given that
chiefs had dominated the Summit and the voice of youth had hardly
been heard. Young people are generally not privileged participants in
public forums in Vanuatu, much less those relating to governance.
Although 60 per cent of Vanuatu’s population is under 25 and the
mean age is 17.5 (NSO 2000:17–18), young people are consistently
marginalised. National leaders rarely consult them, even on youth-
specific issues. While local and international NGOs have placed
increased importance on young people as a programming area, the
Vanuatu Government has been slower to address issues affecting
youth.

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Capacity to deal with juvenile offenders

Vanuatu currently has little institutional capacity to deal with juvenile
offenders. With the exception of an agreement between the courts,
the Public Prosecutors’ Office and the Municipality of Port Vila and
some provisions in island courts, there is little capacity for
community service sentences to be handed down. Even these
provisions are not formulated with juvenile offenders in mind and are
unduly harsh in catering for young people (Super 2000:34).
This limitation is symptomatic of wider problems within the legal
system. There is a shortage of lawyers, especially in rural areas, and
of the six island courts convened by chiefs none is working as
planned (Super 2000:30–1). Little formal monitoring takes place
regarding conflicts with the law generally. AusAID and the ADB have
both targeted the legal sector for complementary strengthening
projects. The ADB has prioritised awareness-heightening for public
sector officials, adherence to international standards on money
laundering and international fiscal policy, capacity-building and
training, and assistance to improve the quality of the legal system and
to establish a public law information centre (Port Vila Presse 2 June
2001:1). Former Ombudsman Marie-Noelle Ferrieux Patterson, who
is now the secretary of the Vanuatu National Council of Women,
blamed the ‘lack of financial and human resources support . . .
including the public prosecutor, public solicitor and the courts’ for
rising crime rates (Trading Post 22 February 2001:1). She also stated
that the police are ineffective in major investigations.
The police force and the paramilitary Vanuatu Mobile Force have
come under increased scrutiny because of recent charges of
institutionalised brutality. Young People’s Project Research stated that
it is an ongoing concern for young people (Mitchell 1998; see Super
2000:27). The Ombudsman Hannington Alatoa has noted that 60 per
cent of claims filed in his office are against police (Super 2000:37).
On the two occasions the police and the mobile force have mounted
punitive raids after civil disturbances, charges of ‘intentional assault’
have been brought against officers.
Legal reform in general is a key priority, but juvenile justice in
particular is a less visible issue for governments in the overall project
of institutional reform.

Legal literacy
Under the existing judicial system, young people are isolated by poor
legal literacy. Most young people are cognisant of ‘the basic law’ and
know that criminal prosecution limits their employment prospects.
Yet few young people have a solid understanding of their basic rights
and most are unaware that a relationship of confidentiality exists
between lawyer and client or do not trust that relationship (Morgan
2001). Many young people therefore do not provide relevant
information to their legal counsel.

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In other parts of the Pacific, state courts are defined as ‘superfluous

and sometimes unwelcome’ because trial occurs after customary
reconciliation has been enacted (Newton Cain 2001:59). In the case
of Vanuatu, workshop participants noted that juvenile offenders
prefer kastom court because they feel less intimidated. The chief is
often known to the offender and having gone through an informal
kastom court does not jeopardise future employment prospects.
Workshop participants affirmed many of the research findings on
which the summit had been premised. Like most ni-Vanuatu, they
appreciated the value of kastom and considered an ongoing role for
kastom law appropriate. Kastom is considered stronger in rural areas
because the influences of urbanisation and Westernisation are less
pronounced there. Although reliable statistics are unavailable, rural
areas appear to have lower crime rates than urban ones.

Relevance of customary law

The relevance of kastom in urban areas was questioned, however.
Community dispersal in urban areas diluted the influence of chiefs.
While kastom was the basis of identity for most ni-Vanuatu and
therefore something to be cherished, many of its elements were
contrary to contemporary notions of human rights. Tolerance of
violence towards women and children, opposition to women in
decision-making roles, arranged marriages and chiefs’ control of
young people’s mobility are all elements of kastom that are no longer
acceptable.
Several forms of crime, including murder, aggravated assault, sexual
assault, and crimes against non-indigenous residents, were considered
to be not within the competence of kastom courts to consider. Chiefs
were most able to address minor crimes arising in their own

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communities, where they were familiar with the offenders and victims
(Morgan 2001). This complements the initial premise of the Juvenile
Justice Project: that to deal more effectively with young offenders
under the current legal system, chiefs should undertake pastoral care
or implement kastom reconciliation, thereby sparing juveniles costly
and shameful court cases and potential imprisonment.
A recent UNICEF report (Super 2000:39–40) noted with concern
that, in practice, there is often no right of appeal in kastom courts, and
raised serious questions regarding the processes and practices of
punishment. For example, despite freedom of movement being
enshrined as a fundamental right of all ni-Vanuatu, chiefs claim the
right to repatriate young offenders forcibly to their home islands in
serious cases or where other deterrents have failed. This practice also
raises questions for second-and third-generation Vila residents, who
may not have a clearly defined home island, who may lack vernacular
expertise and who may never have lived in the islands. Increasing
numbers of urban young people are from mixed marriages, between
ni-Vanuatu from different regions or between ni-Vanuatu and other
Pacific Islanders, Asians or Europeans.

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Punishment meted out by chiefs is often for transgressions against

undocumented moral assertions, formulated without widespread
consultation. In customary courts, little distinction is made between
civil and criminal ‘wrongs’ (Newton Cain 2001:67). While initiatives
to improve the capacity of the legal system to handle young offenders
are broadly supported, ‘informal systems are not necessarily better
than formal ones unless human rights are properly safeguarded and
there are adequate monitoring mechanisms in place’ (Super 2000:40).
According to Juvenile Justice Project research, most young people
interviewed felt that young women were fairly treated by kastom law.
Yet it noted that significant differences existed between the
experiences of young men and young women, and a great deal more
investigation of the issue needed to be undertaken, particularly for
13–18-year-old women. ‘In some Pacific islands societies rape is not
considered serious enough to merit referral to the police’ and is
considered something that should be dealt with by the community,
without reference to the relevant legislation (Newton Cain 2001:63).
It was felt that chiefs trivialise the interests of individual wronged
women and give priority to community cohesion and reconciliation.
Reconciliation, in this instance, entails the subversion of the human
rights of the women involved. Chiefs have proved incapable of
protecting young women when men consistently ‘make trouble’
towards them. There are valid concerns, therefore, that women’s
rights are curtailed by kastom arbitration.
There is a growing body of research in the Southwest Pacific
documenting the failure of both state law and customary law to
dispense peace and justice in cases of rape and serious sexual assault
(Jolly 2000; see also Garap 2000, Mason 2000). Women’s interests are
best served under formal law because it offers recourse in the event
that a victim is dissatisfied with an outcome, the legal system’s
practical inadequacies notwithstanding.

Policy issues
The policy implications of these issues are transparent. The problems
of dealing with juvenile offenders under the current system denote the
institutional limitations of the legal system, a point supported by the
fact that funding agencies have adopted legal sector strengthening as a
key priority. The preponderance of young people facing court in the
first instance, moreover, reflects the systemic limitations of national
and provincial governments and the private sector in providing
opportunities for young people.
Creeping urbanisation is recognised as a major factor. Crime has risen
in urban areas because of increasing population and economic
pressures. Young people throughout Vanuatu are trapped by the lack
of opportunities. Family and community networks in urban areas are
unable continually to absorb or support high numbers of under-
skilled, unemployed island immigrants. National leaders are
becoming more aware of the potential ramifications.

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Young people are unable to access relevant information on a variety

of key issues, including restorative justice and the law. More training
opportunities for ni-Vanuatu and more effective dissemination of
information regarding existing opportunities are needed. Despite their
ability to organise in creative and effective ways, demonstrated
particularly in the Vanuatu Young People’s Project, young people feel
disenfranchised by national leaders and under-serviced by state
institutions. The growing number of young under-skilled ni-Vanuatu
will place increasing pressures on a government already straining to
provide basic services.
Perceived state weakness, the perception of politicians as
opportunistic and self-serving and politics generally as foreign and
unduly divisive have intensified claims that the particular brand of
democracy extant in Vanuatu does not work because it is culturally
alien. In its most extreme form, this argument suggests that Vanuatu
should abandon democracy and the Constitution and allow chiefs to
govern in ‘the kastom way’. In light of concerns about kastom law,
these sentiments are both potentially divisive and contrary to many of
Vanuatu’s human rights obligations.
Tension is mounting between notions of reinvigorated kastom to
compensate for perceived state weakness and awareness that this may
curtail the human rights of individual ni-Vanuatu. The
recommendation of the National Summit that only chiefs should
decide which cases are referred to the state courts amounts to a
significant priority change from the initiative that produced the
summit, which had as its premise the desire to make the legal system
more effective in dealing with young offenders, especially young men.
Considering the weaknesses in the existing legal system, the
involvement of chiefs in restorative justice initiatives is both timely

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and warranted, but their future role must be questioned more
thoroughly.
The major inference to be made in light of these issues is the need for
ongoing research and advocacy for and by young people. Many
community leaders have resisted the right of women to speak on
certain issues, as they do young people’s attempts. Self-advocacy is
the first step to empowerment, but it is not the only one. The danger,
that calls for appropriate and effective means of dealing with young
offenders will be subsumed within a broader discourse of government
reform or yoked to specific interests not directly related to issues of
juvenile justice, remains salient.

Note
The Governing for the Future: Young People and Vanuatu’s
Governance Agenda Workshop was held at the University of the
South Pacific Emalus Campus in Port Vila, 23–24 April 2001. It was
organised jointly by the Vanuatu Cultural Centre, the Vanuatu Young
People’s Project and the State, Society and Governance in Melanesia
Project of the Australian National University, with funding from

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AusAID. The National Summit on Juvenile Justice, funded by the

UK Department for International Development (DFID) and
UNICEF, was the penultimate activity of the Juvenile Justice Project
of the Vanuatu Cultural Centre, the final act being the drafting of a
national report (forthcoming).

References
Braithwaite, J. and H. Strang (eds) 2000 Restorative justice: Philosophy to
practice, Ashgate, Aldershot.
Dinnen, S. 1998, ‘Criminal justice reform in Papua New Guinea’, in
P. Larmour (ed.), Governance and reform in the South Pacific, Pacific
Policy Paper 23, National Centre for Development Studies,
Australian National University, Canberra, 253–72.
Garap, S. 2000, ‘Struggles of women and girls – Simbu Province,
Papua New Guinea’, in S. Dinnen and A. Ley (eds), Reflections on
violence in Melanesia, Hawkins Press/Asia Pacific Press, Sydney and
Canberra, 159–71.
Jolly, M. 2000, ‘Some thoughts on restorative justice and gender in
the Pacific’, Dialogue (ASSA), 20(3), 29–33.
Mason, M. 2000, ‘Domestic violence in Vanuatu’, in S. Dinnen and
A. Ley, Reflections on violence in Melanesia, 119–38.
Mitchell, J. 1998, ‘Harem vois blong yangfala long Vila taon’, Vanuatu
Young People’s Project Research Report.
Morgan, M. 2001, Governing for the future: Young people and Vanuatu’s
governance agenda, workshop report, online: [Link]
melanesia/PDF/[Link].
National Parliament 1980, Constitution, Vanuatu.
National Statistics Office (NSO) 2000, The 1999 Vanuatu National
Population and Housing Census, NSO, Vanuatu.
Newton Cain, T. 2001, Convergence or clash? The recognition of customary
law and practice in sentencing decisions of the courts of the Pacific island
region, online: <[Link]
/2001(1)/ 03_NewtonCain.pdf.
Super, G. 2000, A needs assessment of juvenile justice issues in Fiji and
Vanuatu, UNICEF, Suva.
Vanuatu Cultural Centre 1998, ‘Juvenile justice: alternatives for
young offenders in Vanuatu’, project proposal.
—— 2000, Unpublished research of the Juvenile Justice Project,
personal copies.
—— 2001, Draft recommendations of the National Summit on
Juvenile Justice.

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