166-250 Sociology of Youth and Youth Policy

Note

Available as 166-350 at 3rd year level

Credit Points

Coordinator

Prerequisites

Normally, 25 points for first-year Sociology

Semester

Contact

Subject Description

This subject introduces major sociological approaches to youth, and explores ways youth experience interacts with the state through examining youth policy. The subject locates the youth experience in changing forms of socialisation, with reference to school, family, gender and sexual identities. It examines ways youth is constructed as a category of policy, with reference to contemporary issues such as youth homelessness, health and legal issues. It focuses on young people's responses, exploring ways young people can be understood as social actors.

Prescribed Texts

• J. Wyn & R White, Rethinking Youth. Sydney: Allen & Unwin, 1997.
• A. McRobbie, Feminism and Youth Culture. Basingstoke: Macmillan, 1991.
• C. Griffin, Representations of Youth. Cambridge: Polity, 1993.
• S. Blackman, Youth: Positions and Oppositions: Style, Sexuality and Schooling. Aldershot: Avebury, 1995.
• D. Moore, Lads in Action: Social Process in an Urban Youth Subculture. Aldershot: Arena, 1994.
• P. Dwyer, Opting Out: Early School Leavers and the Degeneration of Youth Policy. Hobart: National Clearing House for Youth Studies.