Neoliberalism, Austerity, and the Moral Economies of Young People’s Health and Well-being

This collection examines the relationships between a globalising neoliberal capitalism, a post-GFC environment of recession and austerity, and the moral economies of young people's health and well-being. Contributors explore how in the second decade of the 21st century, many young people in the OECD/EU economies and in the developing economies of Asia, Africa and Central and South America continue to be carrying a particularly heavy burden for many of the downstream effects of the 2008-09 Global Financial Crisis. The authors explore the ways in which increasing local and global inequalities often have profound consequences for large populations of young people. These consequences are not just related to marginalisation from education, training and work. They also include obstacles to their active participation in the civic life of their communities, to their transitions, to their sense of belonging. The book examines the choices that are made, or not made by governments, businesses and individuals in relation to young people's education, training, work, health and well-being, sexualities, diets and bodies, in the context of a crisis of neoliberalism and of austerity. -- From publisher's website Contents 5 List of Figures 8 List of Tables 9 Is Neo-Liberal Capitalism Eating Itself or Its Young? 10 Sell Everything! Save Yourselves! 10 Austerity and Young People’s Health and Well-Being 16 Neo-Liberal Capitalism 19 The Moral Economies of Young People’s Health and Well-Being 24 Part I: After Neo-Liberalism? Rethinking Choices, Responsibilities and Young People’s Futures 28 Part II: Young People, Austerity and the Moral Geographies of Disadvantage 31 Part III: Young People, Welfare States and Their Futures 34 References 38 Part I: After Neo-Liberalism? Re-thinking Choices, Responsibilities and Young People’s Futures 41 1: Young People’s Marginalisation: Unsettling What Agency and Structure Mean After Neo-Liberalism 42 Introduction: Young People’s Marginalisation and a Post-GFC World 42 After Neo-Liberalism? The Kilburn Manifesto and Framing the Crisis 45 Structure and Agency and an Orthodoxy in Youth Studies 49 References 56 2: ‘Wear a Necklace of h(r)ope Side by Side with Me’: Young People’s Neo-Liberal Futures and Popular Culture as Political Action 59 An Introduction: to the Risks of Neo-Liberalism 59 Katniss Everdeen’s Panem 61 The Hanging Tree 62 The Mockingjay 64 Precariousness: Imagined and Unimaginable Futures 65 How ‘Generation K’ Imagines the Future 68 Conclusion: Do - Something 70 References 72 3: Youth, Health and Morality: Body Work and Health Assemblages 75 Introduction 75 Health and Well-being as Moral Imperatives 76 Health Assemblages and Affect 79 Health as an Individual, Moralised Responsibility 81 Health, Affect and Image 85 Conclusion 88 References 90 4: Get on Your Feet, Get Happy: Happiness and the Affective Governing of Young People in the Age of Austerity 93 Introduction 93 Happiness and Governing 94 Youth Well-being and the Affective Governmentality of Happiness 100 The ‘Promise’ of Well-being 100 The Neo-Liberal ‘Good Life’ 102 Conclusion: ‘Get Happy’ and the Affective Production of Neo-­Liberal Youth Subjectivity Under Austerity 103 References 105 5: Treading Water? The Roles and Possibilities of ‘Adversity Capital’ in Preparing Young People for Precarity 108 Introduction 108 Old and New Features of Precarity 110 Policy Responses: Aspirations and Hard Realities 112 Moral Economies of Youth Transitions 113 From Risk to Resilience 114 Building Adversity Capital 116 Conclusion 119 References 122 Part II: Young People, Austerity and the Moral Geographies of Disadvantage 127 6: Young People of the ‘Austere Period’: Mechanisms and Effects of Inequality over Time in Portugal 128 Introduction 128 Recession and Austerity: Portugal and Its Historical Antecedents 131 Is ‘Precarious Well-being’ a Contradiction in Terms? 133 Precariousness Is a Process with Long-term Effects 134 Living on the Edge 135 Held Hostage to a Senseless Mobility 136 Stuck in an Semi-autonomy 136 Precariousness as a Socially Stratified Phenomena 136 Precariousness as Multi-Effect Experience 137 No-Win Situation, No Agency 139 Waiting for Godot 139 Invisible Sacrifices 140 Conclusions 140 References 142 7: Childhood and Juvenile Obesity in Italy: Health Promotion in an Era of Austerity 144 Introduction 144 Exploring a Social Epidemiological Framework for Obesity: The Italian Case During Recent Years of Economic Crisis 146 The Challenges for Obesity and Health Promotion in Italy 151 A Renovated, Post-GFC Role for the Family and the School in Health Promotion 154 Conclusion 158 References 159 8: Negotiating the Interface: The Complexities of Exercising Road Safety ‘Responsibility and Choice’ on Melbourne’s Fringe 163 ‘Poor People Don’t Drive Cars’ 163 ‘If You’re Not Comfortable, Get Another form of Transport’ 164 ‘Melbourne Today Is Greatly Dependent on the Motor Vehicle and Inevitably Will Continue to Be’ 166 ‘The Great Australian Dream Gets Dreamier’ 171 ‘You Always Have Choices’ 174 References 177 9: Shame, Disgust and the Moral Economies of Young Women’s Sexual Health in the North of England 181 Introduction 181 The Politics of Emotion 182 The Governance of Respectable Sexuality 183 The Common: An Ethnography of an English Youth Club 184 Girls at the Common 186 Jade: An Abject Figure? 188 Conclusion: The Moral Dimensions of Shaming 191 References 193 10: We Need Child Poverty! Making Sense of Public Attitudes to Poverty in the Age of Austerity 198 Deceptively Straightforward: Making Sense of Child Poverty in an Era of Neo-Liberal Austerity 198 Stick and Stones May Break My Bones, But Names Will Really Hurt Me 200 The British Social Attitudes Survey: What Should We Think? 201 Child Poverty in the UK: The New Labour Years and Beyond 202 Austerity and Social Insecurity 203 Austerity as Neo-Liberal Opportunity 205 Who Bears the Burden of Austerity? 205 What Should We Think? 207 What Do We Think? 207 Hardening of Attitudes Towards Welfare in the Twenty-First Century 208 Understanding the Problem of Poverty 208 Tackling Child Poverty as a Progressive Project and a Bulwark Against Neo-Liberalism 210 Embracing Neo-Liberal Austerity Rhetoric? 213 Where to From Here? 213 References 216 11: Morality, Austerity and the Complexities of Sexual and Reproductive Health Services for Young People in South Africa 218 Introduction 218 Austerity and Healthcare in South Africa 219 The Legal and Policy Framework 222 Understanding Decision-Making: Talking to Nurses 224 The Impact of Austerity on Adolescent SRH Service Provision 225 Time Is Money: The Impact of Austerity on Patient Interaction 227 Austerity, Training and Its Impact on Nurses’ Decision-making in a Complex Legal Environment 229 Nurses’ Dissatisfaction with Providing Services Under Resource Constraints 230 Nurses’ Views on Decision-making and Participation in Policy Processes 231 Conclusion 233 References 234 Legislation and Policy Documents 236 Part III: Young People, Welfare States and Their Futures 237 12: Pre-assembling Our Young: Points of Movement in Post-Austerity Ireland 238 Introduction 238 Beginnings in Aotearoa New Zealand 239 Developments in the Republic of Ireland 241 The Research and Conceptual Framework 244 Techniques of Transition 247 The First Meaning of Mediation: Goal Translation 247 The Second Meaning of Mediation: Composition 248 The Third Meaning of Mediation: Black Boxing 249 The Fourth Meaning of Mediation: Delegation 250 Reassembling Assessment Practices 251 References 253 13: Austerity and the ‘Workfare State’: The Remaking and Reconfiguration of Citizenship for the Young Unemployed in the Great Recession 257 Introduction 257 Economic Crisis and Austerity 259 The Growth of the ‘Workfare State’ 262 Welfare-to-Work Programmes, and Young People’s Health and Well-being 268 Conclusion 270 References 272 14: Bush Kinder: Thinking Differently About Privileged Spaces Through/With/In Children’s Geographies 275 Opening the Conversation 275 Bush Kinder: A Space of Self and Social Transformation 278 Disturbing Unequal Power Relations: Transforming Self in the Social 281 Bush Kinder: A Space of/for (the) Privilege(d)? 283 Children Complexly Engaging with/in/Through Geographies 286 not Concluding Thoughts. Continuing Thinking Differently 289 References 290 15: From Health to Hard Times: Fairness and Entitlement in Free School Meals After Neo-Liberalism 293 Introduction 293 School Meals Policy Rationale 296 A Moral Economy of Fairness? 300 Conclusion 306 References 307 16: ‘Generation in Waiting’ or ‘Precarious Generation’? Conceptual Reflections on the Biographical Trajectories of Unemployed Graduates Activists in Morocco 310 Introduction 310 Waithood, Marriage and Youth Unemployment 312 The Moroccan Unemployed Graduates Movement and Its Historical Context 316 Exploring the Lives of Unemployed Graduate Activists 320 Educational Trajectories, Financial Situation and Family Dependency 320 Marriage Prospects and Broken Relationships 322 Perspectives on the Moroccan ‘Arab Spring’ 323 Conclusion 324 References 327 Index 330 Front Matter....Pages i-xi Is Neo-Liberal Capitalism Eating Itself or Its Young?....Pages 1-31 Front Matter....Pages 33-33 1 Young People’s Marginalisation: Unsettling What Agency and Structure Mean After Neo-Liberalism....Pages 35-51 2 ‘Wear a Necklace of h(r)ope Side by Side with Me’: Young People’s Neo-Liberal Futures and Popular Culture as Political Action....Pages 53-68 3 Youth, Health and Morality: Body Work and Health Assemblages....Pages 69-86 4 Get on Your Feet, Get Happy: Happiness and the Affective Governing of Young People in the Age of Austerity....Pages 87-101 5 Treading Water? The Roles and Possibilities of ‘Adversity Capital’ in Preparing Young People for Precarity....Pages 103-121 Front Matter....Pages 123-123 6 Young People of the ‘Austere Period’: Mechanisms and Effects of Inequality over Time in Portugal....Pages 125-140 7 Childhood and Juvenile Obesity in Italy: Health Promotion in an Era of Austerity....Pages 141-159 8 Negotiating the Interface: The Complexities of Exercising Road Safety ‘Responsibility and Choice’ on Melbourne’s Fringe....Pages 161-178 9 Shame, Disgust and the Moral Economies of Young Women’s Sexual Health in the North of England....Pages 179-195 10 We Need Child Poverty! Making Sense of Public Attitudes to Poverty in the Age of Austerity....Pages 197-216 11 Morality, Austerity and the Complexities of Sexual and Reproductive Health Services for Young People in South Africa....Pages 217-235 Front Matter....Pages 237-237 12 Pre-assembling Our Young: Points of Movement in Post-Austerity Ireland....Pages 239-257 13 Austerity and the ‘Workfare State’: The Remaking and Reconfiguration of Citizenship for the Young Unemployed in the Great Recession....Pages 259-276 14 Bush Kinder: Thinking Differently About Privileged Spaces Through/With/In Children’s Geographies....Pages 277-294 15 From Health to Hard Times: Fairness and Entitlement in Free School Meals After Neo-Liberalism ....Pages 295-311 16 ‘Generation in Waiting’ or ‘Precarious Generation’? Conceptual Reflections on the Biographical Trajectories of Unemployed Graduates Activists in Morocco....Pages 313-332 Back Matter....Pages 333-342