Youth exclusion
Youth exclusion is a form of
Youth exclusion is multi-dimensional in that age, race, gender, class and lifestyle all affect youth life experiences within a given culture. This intersectionality affects the degree to which an individual youth experiences exclusion. Similarly, youth exclusion is context specific. This means that youth are excluded from society in different ways depending on their cultural and spatial locations. A simple difference between the opportunities and resources provided in one neighborhood can create a divide among youth who are included and youth who are excluded from their communities. Another consideration is that youth exclusion is relational insofar as social exclusion contains two parties, the excluders and the excluded.[3] Pertaining to youth exclusion, the excluders are often older generations who believe that the economic support services and institutions that help the youth puts their own comfortable standard of living at risk. All of these demographic, cultural, spatial and relational factors contribute to the worldwide experiences of youth exclusion.
Roots of youth exclusion
Youth exclusion can be examined by dividing its causes into social and cultural factors. Structural reasons for exclusion includes Inequalities in power as seen by the inequalities generated in the normal functions of the housing and labor markets. Prolonged unemployment and low income can affect a person's ability to have access to social structures that advance a person in society by opening doors to new opportunities and creating a sense of society acceptance and inclusion.[4] Also on a structural level, youth are excluded from broader society through barriers to education and discriminatory government policies.
Cultural factors affecting youth exclusion include reactions to socially constructed categories like race and gender. These classifications can also influence an individual's choice to be excluded from society.
Poverty
Poverty is one of the largest factors that contributes to the perpetuation of youth exclusion.[5] Poverty is an isolating state that affects people's social connections and ability to contribute in culturally specific activities that build communities.[3] As the sociologist Peter Townshend explains;
"Individuals, families and groups can be said to be in poverty when…their resources are so seriously below those commanded by the average individual or family that they are, in effect, excluded from ordinary living patterns, customs and activities"[6]
Indeed, poverty can impair a person's ability to participate in politics, housing and labor markets, secondary education and pop culture related activities. These activities from which those in poverty are excluded can affect a youth's social networking opportunities and thus the future state of their inclusion or exclusion in society.
Regional youth exclusion
Given that the definition of youth exclusion varies across cultures, the concept must include an analysis of what it means to be a member of a given society, for example, "analysis of what it means to be Egyptian, Moroccan, Iranian, or Syrian, to be a Muslim, an Arab, and so on”.
Middle East and North Africa (MENA)
In the
“Organized insiders with seniority benefit from rents – higher wages, better benefits, and greater tenure – by monopolizing jobs and restricting access to particular sectors. Outsiders, such as youth and new labor market entrants, suffer from longer unemployment durations, skill atrophy, and declining health, as well as the social dimensions of exclusion from work.”[3]
Additionally, youth exclusion in MENA is exacerbated by gender, whether due to child-rearing needs and expectations, sex segregation, parental supervision, or other cultural or religious reasons. For example, compared to 63% of economically active 15- to 24-year-old males, only 22% of females from the same age group were economically active in Egypt in 2006.[10]
As a result of youth unemployment, young people have a tendency of extending their education and delaying marriage and family formation. Like Europe, MENA has seen its youth delay leaving the home, getting married, and beginning families.
Consequences of youth exclusion in
India
Lack of employment in
Nigeria
The Federal Government of Nigeria explains the youth generation as a group "who is passing through mental and physical developmental process in preparation to face the challenges of adulthood".[8] This definition encompasses a wide range of young people in Nigeria who have had to cope with the struggle of political uncertainty. In addition to government unrest, Nigerian youth have faced barriers to education. When these youth are excluded and barred from future success through unstable political and educational environments, they use violence to protest against society and facilitate a movement for social inclusion. Oftentimes this violence is directed at the government. Research done on Nigerian youth shows that;
"The collapse of social services and the high level commercialization of education have barred many young people from formal education. Thus, the unemployed youths without university education and the numerous graduates who lack prospects for employment have been able to develop a volatile strategy of identity transformation both at the level of consciousness and their attempt to find a space in the new political dispensation. Violence has been a common feature of this coping mechanism"[8]
In Nigeria political and social exclusion occurs when people in positions of power withhold resources or knowledge from the society, directly hurting the youth population which is the most economically insecure and lacking in networks that could help facilitate a successful transition to adulthood. Violence thus becomes a tool for social change.[8]
Canada
Exclusion among youth in Canada has led to problems of increased homelessness and instability among the youth population. Stephen Gaetz demonstrates a unique situation arising among Canadian youth in which they face stigmatization by their society;
"For young people who become homeless, social exclusion is experienced across several domains: in terms of access to shelter and housing, employment, and a healthy lifestyle, for instance. It is also manifest in their restricted access to (and movement with within) urban spaces and their limited social capital".[13]
Lacking access to certain social organizations and networks has not only excluded youth, but has created a stigma in which society views homeless youth in Canada as criminals. This criminalization is greater among youth because it is known that young people are facing transitions in which riskier behavior may be involved. Government officials are debating policy issues especially in law enforcement in order to prevent this criminalization and perpetuation of exclusion among youth.[13]
Costs of exclusion to society
The costs of youth exclusion can be measured in terms of its multi-dimensional nature. This includes how the intersection of race, gender, class and social location affect youth's ability to access employment, education or other social networks that are imperative to their transition to adulthood. Exclusion can preserve negative
Remedies for youth exclusion
Sociologist
Other ways to decrease youth exclusion include increased intergroup contact between the differing social positions of the excluders and the excluded. Research aimed to decrease youth exclusion has included interventions such as implementing classroom rules (e.g. “you can’t say you can’t play”) to encourage social inclusivity among kids (Harrist & Bradley, 2003). Benefits of inclusion have indeed been measured by sociologists. One such experiment researched elementary aged children to record their personal views on prejudice and social exclusion. The researchers found, "In the present investigation, in accord with prior research (e.g., Crystal et al. 2008; Killen et al. 2007b), ethnic minority students reporting high levels of intergroup contact were more likely to rate race-based exclusion as wrong than were students with low levels of intergroup contact".[7] Integration of peer groups helps lessen xenophobic reactions to others and fosters inclusion among all members of a society. This realization is helpful to educators who want to create inclusive environments so that youth will feel secure in their learning environments.[7]
See also
- Ageism
- Social exclusion
- Street children
- Youth
- Youth mainstreaming
- Youth participation
- Youth politics
- Youth rights
- Youth voice
References
- ^ Ambrosio, Conchita D. and Carlos Gradín. 2003. "Income Distribution and Social Exclusion of Children: Evidence from Italy and Spain in the 1990s*." Journal of Comparative Family Studies 34(3):479-XII
- ^ a b c d McDonald, Ian M. 2010. "Economic Perspectives on Social Exclusion." Australian Journal of Social Issues 45(2):213-225,153
- ^ SSRN 1087432.
- ^ a b Hunter, Boyd and Kirrily Jordan. 2010. "Explaining Social Exclusion: Towards Social Inclusion for Indigenous Australians." Australian Journal of Social Issues 45(2):243-265,153
- .
- ISBN 978-1-86134-374-1
- ^ PMID 21052799.
- ^ .
- ^ Navtej Dhillon & Tarik Yousef, “Inclusion: Meeting the 100 Million Youth Challenge,” Middle East Youth Initiative, 2007
- ^ Ragui Assaad & Ghada Barsoum, “Youth Exclusion in Egypt: In Search of Second Chances,” Middle East Youth Initiative Working Paper (September 2007)
- ^ Diane Singerman, “The Economic Imperative of Marriage: Emerging Practices and Identities among Youth in the Middle East,” Middle East Youth Initiative Working Paper (September 2007)
- ^ ISBN 978-0-8047-7073-6
- ^ .
- ^ Mathieson, Jane; Popay, Jennie; Enoch, Etheline; Escorel, Sarah; Hernandez, Mario; Johnston, Heidi; Ristel, Laetitia (September 2008). "Social Exclusion Meaning, measurement and experience and links to health inequalities: A review of literature" (PDF). Commission on Social Determinants of Health: 18. Retrieved 29 October 2014.