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From Being to Becoming: The Importance of Tackling Youth Poverty in Transitions To Adulthood

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 October 2008

Alan France
Alan France*
Affiliation:
Centre for Research in Social Policy, Loughborough University E-mail: A.P.France@lboro.ac.uk
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Abstract

The central emphasis of New Labour's anti-poverty strategy has been on tackling child poverty. While such an approach is both important and valuable youth poverty has been given limited attention. Low and unstable incomes are a major cause of poverty amongst young people and risks are greatly increased as they try to live independently and move out of the family home. In the discussion that follows, I argue that New Labour's continued commitment to the social exclusion agenda has marginalised both the problem of youth poverty and the necessary solutions. Social exclusion policy is more concerned with responsiblising families and young people and disciplining them to work regardless of its value. Little attention is given to addressing the problems of youth incomes or providing adequate housing support for those most vulnerable to poverty.

Type
Themed Section on The Poverty of Policy? Gaps in Anti-Poverty Policy for Children and Young People
Information
Social Policy and Society , Volume 7 , Issue 4 , October 2008 , pp. 495 - 505
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2008

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