Growing up with risk
Edited by Betsy Thom, Rosemary Sales and Jenny Pearce
Published
May 16, 2007Page count
296 pagesISBN
978-1861347312Dimensions
234 x 156 mmImprint
Policy PressPublished
May 16, 2007Page count
296 pagesISBN
978-1861347329Dimensions
234 x 156 mmImprint
Policy Press
Growing up with risk
"Growing up with risk" provides a critical analysis of ways in which risk assessment and management - now a pervasive element of contemporary policy and professional practice - are defined and applied in policy, theory and practice in relation to children and young people.
Drawing on conceptual frameworks from across the social sciences, the book examines contrasting perspectives on risk that occur in different policy domains and professional and lay discourses, discussing the dilemmas of response that arise from these sometimes contested viewpoints - from playground safety to risks associated with youthful substance use. The contributors address issues of gender, ethnicity and socio-economic status which impact on definitions and responses to risk, and consider related concepts, such as 'risk-resilience', care-control' and 'dependence-autonomy'.
Written in an accessible manner, each chapter provides a specific policy case study to illustrate the cross-cutting themes and issues that will make it a key text for researchers and students. It also offers policy makers and practitioners a valuable insight into the complexities of balancing responsibility for protecting the young with the benefits of risk taking and the need to allow young people to experiment.
"This interesting and exciting book makes an original contribution to the developing field of risk theory, taking a wide ranging look at the issue of risk as it relates to the process of growing up in our increasingly cautious culture. 'Growing up with risk' is not to be missed by anyone interested in risk and young people." Marilyn Gregory, Department of Sociological Studies, University of Sheffield
"In a debate all too often characterised by either nostalgic moral panics about a simpler past, or abstract theory that takes too little account of the lived and variable experience of young people, this book provides a welcome balance of theoretical insight and empirical specificity. It is, then, a timely collection, bringing a wealth of scholarship to bear on questions which will be of interest to academics and policy makers, and to anyone with a concern about how public policy intersects with culture on the issue of growing up." Judith Green, Reader in Sociology of Health, London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine
Betsy Thom is Reader in Drug and Alcohol Studies at Middlesex University. Rosemary Sales is Professor of Social Policy, specialising in refugee and migration studies, Middlesex University. Jenny Pearce is Professor of Young People and Public Policy, University of Bedfordshire
Introduction ~ Betsy Thom, Rosemary Sales and Jenny Pearce; Mothering, deprivation and the formation of child psychoanalysis in Britain ~ Julia Borossa; Young people's perceptions of 'risk' ~ Jenni Ward and Mariana Bayley; Risk and the demise of children's play ~ David Ball; Children's perception of risk on the road ~ Kenneth Lupton and Mariana Bayley; New technology and the legal implications for child protection ~ Alan S. Reid; Parenting and risk ~ Rachel Hek; Meeting the needs of children whose parents have a serious drug problem ~ Neil McKeganey and Marina Barnard; Lives at risk: multiculturalism, young women and 'honour' killings ~ Veena Meetoo and Heidi Safia Mirza; Risk embodied? Growing up disabled ~ Lesley Jordan and Rosemary Sales; Young women, sexual behaviour and sexual decision making ~ Lesley Hoggart; Risk and resilience: a focus on sexually exploited young people ~ Jenny Pearce; In need of protection? Young refugees and risk ~ Rosemary Sales; Alcohol: protecting the young, protecting society ~ Betsy Thom; The prevention of youth crime: a risky business? ~ David Porteous.
