Youth Homelessness in Late Modernity: Reflexive Identities and Moral Worth (Perspectives on Children and Young People (1))

This book explores the identities, embodied experiences, and personal relationships of young people experiencing homelessness, and analyses these in relation to the material and symbolic position that youth homelessness occupies in modern societies. Drawing on empirical research conducted in both urban and rural areas, the book situates young people’s experiences of homelessness within a theoretical framework that connects embodied identities and relationships with processes of social change. The book theorises a ‘symbolic economy of youth homelessness’ that encompasses the subjective, aesthetic, and relational dimensions of homelessness. This theory shows the personal, interpersonal and affective suffering that is caused by the relations of power and privilege that produce contemporary youth homelessness. The book is unique in the way in which it places youth homelessness within the wider contexts of inequality, and social change. Whilst contemporary discussions of youth homelessness understand the topic as a discrete ‘social problem’, this book demonstrates the position that youth homelessness occupies within wider social processes, inequalities, and theoretical debates, addressing theories of social change in late modernity and their relationship to the cultural construction of youth. These theoretical debates are made concrete by means of an exploration of an important form of contemporary inequality: youth homelessness. Acknowledgments 6 Contents 7 1 Introduction: Understanding Youth Homelessness 10 Youth Homelessness as an Object of Research 13 Public Representations 15 Situating the Book 17 Dimensions of Subjectivity 18 Identity 18 Embodiment 19 Intersubjectivity 20 The Research Projects 20 Overview of the Chapters 21 References 24 2 Youth Homelessness, Reflexivity and Inequality in Late Modernity 26 Theorising Young People in Late Modernity 27 Individualisation 27 Neoliberalism 30 Reflexivity 32 Reflexivity and Inequality 33 Youth Homelessness in Context 36 Youth Inequalities and Family Support 36 Home 39 Youth Homelessness as a Structural Location 41 Conclusion 43 References 44 3 Young Homeless Subjectivities: A Symbolic Economy 48 Material Inequalities, Symbolic Power Relations and Abject Subjects 49 A Symbolic Economy 52 Youth 52 Home/Homeless 54 The Symbolic Economy of Youth Homelessness 54 Lived Subjectivity and the Symbolic Economy of Youth Homelessness 55 Assembling the Subject 56 Reflexivity and the Symbolic Economy of Youth Homelessness 58 Agency? 59 Identity, Embodiment, Intersubjectivity 60 Identity 60 Embodiment 60 Intersubjectivity 63 Conclusion 65 References 66 4 Identity: Becoming a Homeless Youth 68 Homeless? 69 Homelessness as a Biographical Event 72 Denigration 78 Conclusion 82 References 83 5 Identity: Subverting Homelessness and Making a Home 85 Pleasures and Subversions 85 Constructing Homed Identities 89 Discipline, Self-possession and Authenticity 89 Making Home as Becoming Adult 95 Conclusion 98 References 99 6 Bodies: Being and Feeling Homeless 100 Homeless Bodies: Unwelcome, Objectified and Displaced 101 The Feeling Body: Homelessness and Sensuous Embodiment 104 Aesthetics, Cleanliness, and Sensuous Experience of Moral Worthlessness 106 Reflexive Embodiment and Homelessness 111 Consumption, Reflexive Embodiment and Making Home 114 Conclusion 117 References 118 7 Relationships: Constructing the Other, Constructing the Self 120 Couchsurfing: Responsibility Amidst Dependence 121 Belonging and Recognition: Making Family 125 Reflexive Intersubjectivity and the Crafting of a Moral Self 127 Becoming Homed 132 Creating a Home 132 Homeless/Homed: Belonging, Self-governance and Moral Worth 133 Conclusion 137 References 138 8 Conclusion: The Symbolic Economy of Youth Homelessness and the Purpose of Homelessness Research 139 Social Change and the New Landscape of Youth Inequality 140 Tracing the Symbolic Economy of Youth Homelessness 141 Re-writing Reflexivity---The Significance of Youth Homelessness 144 The Problem of Agency 146 The Purpose of Youth Homelessness Research 149 Conclusion 154 References 155 9 Afterword: The Practice of Ethical Research Interviews with Homeless Youth 157 Interrogating Benefits and Harms 158 Interviews as Intersubjective Encounters 160 Implications: The Meaning of Ethical Research 165 References 166 Bibliography 167 Author Index 175 Subject Index 176 "This book explores the identities, embodied experiences, and personal relationships of young people experiencing homelessness, and analyses these in relation to the material and symbolic position that youth homelessness occupies in modern societies. Drawing on empirical research conducted in both urban and rural areas, the book situates young people's experiences of homelessness within a theoretical framework that connects embodied identities and relationships with processes of social change. The book theorizes a 'symbolic economy of youth homelessness' that encompasses the subjective, aesthetic, and relational dimensions of homelessness. This theory shows the personal, interpersonal and affective suffering that is caused by the relations of power and privilege that produce contemporary youth homelessness. The book is unique in the way in which it places youth homelessness within the wider contexts of inequality, and social change. Whilst contemporary discussions of youth homelessness understand the topic as a discrete 'social problem', this book demonstrates the position that youth homelessness occupies within wider social processes, inequalities, and theoretical debates, addressing theories of social change in late modernity and their relationship to the cultural construction of youth. These theoretical debates are made concrete by means of an exploration of an important form of contemporary inequality: youth homelessness." -- Back cover Front Matter....Pages i-ix Introduction: Understanding Youth Homelessness....Pages 1-16 Youth Homelessness, Reflexivity and Inequality in Late Modernity....Pages 17-38 Young Homeless Subjectivities: A Symbolic Economy....Pages 39-58 Identity: Becoming a Homeless Youth....Pages 59-75 Identity: Subverting Homelessness and Making a Home....Pages 77-91 Bodies: Being and Feeling Homeless....Pages 93-112 Relationships: Constructing the Other, Constructing the Self....Pages 113-131 Conclusion: The Symbolic Economy of Youth Homelessness and the Purpose of Homelessness Research....Pages 133-150 Afterword: The Practice of Ethical Research Interviews with Homeless Youth....Pages 151-160 Back Matter....Pages 161-172