Andy Furlong

This paper critically engages with a pervasive myth about welfare in the UK which is commonly spread by politicians, think tanks and the media. This is the myth that there are areas of the country which are so affected by entrenched cultures of ‘welfare dependency’ that the majority of residents are unemployed. In undertaking research that sought to investigate a different idea - that there are families where no-one has worked over several generations - we simultaneously gathered evidence about the likelihood that there are localities where virtually no-one is in employment. The rationale for Channel 4's Benefits Street was exactly this; that whole streets and neighbourhoods are of out of work and living on welfare benefits. We draw on research evidence gathered in Middlesbrough and Glasgow to investigate this idea. Thus, the aim of our paper is simple and empirical: is the central idea of ‘Benefits Street’ true? Are there streets and neighbourhoods in the UK where virtually no-one works?

The idea of ‘intergenerational cultures of worklessness’ has become influential in UK politics and policy, and been used to explain contemporary worklessness and to justify welfare reforms. Workless parents are said to pass on to their children attitudes and behaviours which inculcate ‘welfare dependency’. In its strongest version, politicians and welfare practitioners talk confidently of ‘three generations of families where no-one has ever worked’; even though no study, bar this one, has investigated whether such families actually exist. Solid evidence for intergenerational cultures of worklessness is elusive so this study tested the idea via interviews with twenty families in Glasgow and Middlesbrough that had been long-term workless. Theories of intergenerational cultures of worklessness feel like ‘zombie arguments’ – resistant to evidence and social scientific efforts to kill them off. Regardless, the findings of this critical case study are offered as a fresh batch of ammunition with which to try to do so.

In most advanced countries, young people are now expected to remain in education until the age of 18 and, in a context of poor opportunities for those who leave at an early stage, there are concerns about those who are being left behind. In this paper we use comparable survey data to focus on the destinations of young people in two contrasting societies, England and Wales and Japan. We compare the destinations of 19/20-year-olds in the two countries, with a strong focus on those who leave education at an early stage, and go on to explore the extent to which young people's socio-economic backgrounds and their orientations to education explain their post-school experiences. We argue that, in both societies, those who enter the labour market before the age of 20 face severe difficulties irrespective of their social background.

This article explores the changing relationship between the ‘transitions’ and ‘cultural’ perspectives in youth studies. Changes in the relationship between the two approaches are currently being driven by shifting theoretical paradigms that place a greater weight on reflexive life management, thereby making it more difficult to maintain a theoretical distinction between structural and cultural analysis. Indeed, we argue that relationships between the two approaches are showing signs of convergence, partly as a consequence of the emergence of new ways of managing life contexts which frequently involve the blending of contexts, the search for new meanings and a changing sense of self in time. We trace the trends in the relationship between the ‘transitions’ and ‘cultural’ perspectives against the backdrop of changing opportunity structures. Focusing on contemporary contexts, we explore some of the ways in which recent socio-economic changes challenge traditional ways of interpreting subjectivities. We conclude by exploring the ways in which the sociology of youth can move forward using a social generation approach.

This paper draws on the 2009/2010 British Election Survey to explore the political engagement of young people in Britain in the context of social change. Focusing on political involvement, attitudes and priorities, we examine contrasting generational perspectives in the context of an election centred on a range of issues that had the potential to stimulate the interest of younger voters. While clear generational differences in engagement exist, there are also age-related similarities in attitudes towards involvement. In terms of political priorities, differences suggest a conflict of interests in which generations construct political agendas in ways that reflect an interest in securing personal advantage of their own segment of the electorate at the expense of others. Further, there is a structural problem relating to young people's political participation stemming partly from a lack of effective representation and partly linked to a failure to appreciate the ways in which socio-economic changes have impacted on the lives of the younger generation.