Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

5 Treading Water? The Roles and Possibilities of ‘Adversity Capital’ in Preparing Young People for Precarity

  • Chapter
  • First Online:
Neo-Liberalism and Austerity

Abstract

The impact of the Global Financial Crisis (GFC) of 2007–8 on young people both seeking and in work was immediate and typically disproportionate to older age groups (OECD 2010). The impact of precarious work, and particularly unemployment, on young people’s mental health and well-being is widely documented—including depression, loss of hope, isolation and financial insecurity, among others (Hillman and McMillan 2005). These impacts were sometimes ironically compounded and intensified by neo-Liberal economic and political responses to the GFC (Walsh 2016). For David Harvey (2005, p.2):

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution
eBook
USD 16.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Hardcover Book
USD 119.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

References

  • Ananiadou, K., and M. Claro. 2008. 21st Century Skills and Competences for New Millennium Learners in OECD Countries. OECD Education Working Papers No. 41. Paris: OECD Publishing. [online]. Available from: http://www.oecd.org/officialdocuments/publicdisplaydocumentpdf/?cote=EDU/WKP(2009)20&doclanguage=en. Accessed 24 May 2015.

  • Andres, L., and J. Wyn. 2010. The Making Of A Generation: The Children of The 1970s In Adulthood. Toronto: University of Toronto Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Bauman, Z. 2000. Globalization: The Human Consequences. New York: Columbia University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Black, R., and L. Walsh. 2015. Educating the Risky Citizen: Young People, Vulnerability and Schooling. In Interrogating conceptions of ‘vulnerable youth’ in theory, policy and practice, eds. K. Te Riele and G. Radka. Netherlands: Sense.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bourdieu, P. 1986. The forms of capital. In Handbook of Theory and Research for the Sociology of Education, ed. J. Richardson, 241–258. New York: Greenwood.

    Google Scholar 

  • Brown, P., H. Lauder, and D. Ashton. 2011. The Global Auction: The Broken Promises of Education, Jobs, and Incomes. USA: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cappelli, P. 2012. Why Good People Can’t Get Jobs: The Skills Gap and What Companies Can Do About It. Philadelphia: Wharton Digital Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Chomsky, N. 2011. The ‘Great Moderation’ and the International Assault on Labor. In These Times, May 2. [online]. Available from: http://inthesetimes.com/article/7264/the_great_moderation_and_the_international_assault_on_labor. Accessed 24 Aug 2015.

  • Côté, J.E. 2013. Towards a new political economy of youth. Journal of Youth Studies 17(4): 527–543.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • DET (Australian Government Department of Education and Training). 2015. Teacher Education Ministerial Advisory Group: Action Now: Classroom Ready Teachers. February 2015. Australian Government Response. Canberra: Australian Government.

    Google Scholar 

  • Furlong, A. 2007. The zone of precarity and discourses of vulnerability: NEET in the UK. The Journal of Social Sciences and Humanities 381: 101–121.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gonski, D., K. Boston, K. Greiner, C. Lawrence, B. Scales, and P. Tannock. 2011. Review of Funding for Schooling. Final Report. December 2011. Canberra: Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hannon, V., A. Patton, and J. Temperley. 2011. Developing an Innovation Ecosystem for Education. Cisco White Paper December 2011. [online]. Available from: http://www.cisco.com/web/strategy/docs/education/ecosystem_for_edu.pdf. Accessed 2 June 2014.

  • Harvey, D. 2005. A Brief History of Neoliberalism. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hillman, K., and J. Mcmillan. 2005. Life Satisfaction of Young Australians: Relationships between further education, training and employment and general and career satisfaction. Victoria: Australian Council for Educational Research.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hockey, J. 2014. Joe Hockey: We are a nation of lifters, not leaners. The Australian Financial Review, May 14. [online]. Available from: http://www.afr.com/news/policy/tax/joe-hockey-we-are-a-nation-of-lifters-not-leaners-20140513-ituma. Accessed 14 Sept 2014.

  • Howker, E., and S. Malik. 2010. Jilted Generation: How Britain Has Bankrupted Its Youth. London: Icon Books.

    Google Scholar 

  • ILO (International Labour Organisation). 2013. Global Employment Trends for Youth 2013: A Generation at Risk. Geneva: International Labour Office.

    Google Scholar 

  • IPSOS MORI. 2014. Ipsos MORI Global Trends Survey. 14 April 2014. [online]. Available from: https://www.ipsos-mori.com/researchpublications/researcharchive/3369/People-in-western-countries-pessimistic-about-future-for-young-people.aspx#gallery[m]/0/. Accessed 30 Jan 2014.

  • IYF (International Youth Foundation). 2013. Getting Youth in the Door: Defining Soft Skills Requirements for Entry-level Service Sector Jobs. [online]. Available from: http://library.iyfnet.org/library/getting-youth-door-defining-soft-skills-requirements-entry-level-service-sector-jobs. Accessed 1 May 2015.

  • Jowit, J. 2013. Strivers v shirkers: the language of the welfare debate. The Guardian, January 9. [online]. Available from: http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2013/jan/08/strivers-shirkers-language-welfare. Accessed 14 Sept 2015.

  • Kahn, L., B. Mcneil, R. Patrick, V. Sellick, K. Thompson, and L. Walsh. 2012. Developing skills for life and work: Accelerating social and emotional learning across South Australia. London: Young Foundation.

    Google Scholar 

  • Keating, J, and L. Walsh 2009. Submission by The Foundation for Young Australians to the House of Representatives Standing Committee on Education and Training Combining School and Work: Supporting Successful Youth Transitions, Submission 26, 16 January 2009.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kelly, P. 2013. The Self As Enterprise: Foucault and the Spirit of 21st Century Capitalism. Surrey: Gower Publishing.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lamb, S., and K. Mason. 2008. How Young People Are Faring 2008. Melbourne: The Foundation for Young Australians.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mission Australia. 2012. Mission Australia Youth Survey—2012. Sydney: Mission Australia.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mourshed, M., D. Farrell, and D. Barton. 2012. Education to Employment: Designing a System that Works. US: McKinsey Center for Government.

    Google Scholar 

  • OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development). 2010. Off to a Good Start? Jobs for Youth. Paris: OECD [online]. Available from: http://www.oecd.org/els/emp/46717876.pdf. Accessed 1 May 2015.

    Google Scholar 

  • ———. 2015. OECD Skills Outlook 2015: Youth, Skills and Employability. Paris: OECD Publishing. doi:10.1787/9789264234178-en.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ortlieb, E. 2015. Just graduating from university is no longer enough to get a job. The Conversation, Feburary 12. [online]. Available from: http://theconversation.com/just-graduating-from-university-is-no-longer-enough-to-get-a-job-36906. Accessed 16 Feb 2015.

  • Partnership for 21st Century Skills. 2009. P21 Framework Definitions. Washington, DC: P21. [online]. Available from: http://www.p21.org/storage/documents/P21_Framework_Definitions.pdf. Accessed 25 May 2015.

  • Pavlidis, A. 2009. The diverse logics of risk: young people’s negotiations of the risk society. The Future of Sociology. The Australian National University, 1–4 December 2009 Canberra.

    Google Scholar 

  • Roberts, Y. 2009. Grit: The Skills for Success and How They are Grown. London: The Young Foundation.

    Google Scholar 

  • Roberts, A., and L. Wignall 2010. Briefing on Foundation Skills for the National VET Equity Advisory Council (NVEAC). [online]. Available from: http://www.nveac.natese.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0008/56348/Briefing_on_Foundation_Skills_-_Roberts_and_Wignall.pdf. Accessed 18 Aug 2014.

  • Robinson, L., and S. Lamb. 2012. How Young People Are Faring 2012. Melbourne: The Foundation for Young Australians.

    Google Scholar 

  • Robinson, L., S. Lamb, and A. Walstab. 2010. How Young People are Faring 2010. Melbourne: The Foundation for Young Australians.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rose, N. 2014. From Risk to Resilience: Responsible citizens for uncertain times. Public Lecture, 28 August 2014, Ian Potter Auditorium, Kenneth Myer Building, Royal Parade, Parkville, Australia.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sanghera, B., and E. Satybaldieva. 2009. Moral sentiments and economic practices in Kyrgyzstan: The internal embeddedness of a moral economy. Cambridge Journal of Economics 33: 921–935.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sayer, A. 2005a. Agendas for Moral Economy, paper presented at Perspectives on Moral Economy: An International Conference, 25–27 August, Lancaster, UK, [online]. Available from: http://www.lancaster.ac.uk/fass/doc_library/sociology/moraleconomyabstracts/Perspectives_on_Moral_Economy.doc. Accessed 28 Sept 2015.

  • ———. 2005b. The Moral Significance of Class. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • ———. 2007. Moral Economy as Critique. New Political Economy 12(2): 261–270. doi:10.1080/13563460701303008.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Standing, G. 2012. The Precariat: From Denizens to Citizens? Polity 44(4): 588–608.

    Google Scholar 

  • Stanwick, J., T. Lu, T. Karmel, and B. Wibrow. 2013. How Young People are Faring 2013. Melbourne: The Foundation for Young Australians.

    Google Scholar 

  • Stein, T.G., B. Stauber, and A. Walther. 2003. Misleading Trajectories? An Evaluation of the Unintended Effects of Labour Market Integration Policies for Young Adults in Europe. Institut fuer regionale Innovation und Sozialforschung. [online]. Available from: http://cordis.europa.eu/documents/documentlibrary/70601461EN6.pdf. Accessed 18 Aug 2014.

  • Ungar, M. 2013. Introduction to the Volume. In The Social Ecology of Resilience: A Handbook of Theory and Practice, ed. M. Ungar, 1–12. New York, London: Springer.

    Google Scholar 

  • UNRIC (United Nations Regional Information Centre for Western Europe). 2012. Youth: the hardest hit by the global financial crisis. [online]. Available from: http://www.unric.org/en/youth-unemployment/27414-youth-the-hardest-hit-by-the-global-financial-crisis. Accessed 29 Jan 2015.

  • Vickers, M. 2013. Youth Transitions. In Education Change and Society, ed. R. Connell, 32–54. Melbourne: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Walsh, L. 2012. More mixed messages about youth participation. Youth Studies Australia 31(2): 3–4.

    Google Scholar 

  • ———. 2016. Educating Generation Next: Young People, Teachers and Schooling in Transition. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Walther, A., B. Stauber, A. Biggart, M.D. Bois-Reymond, A. Furlong, A. López Blasco, A. Mørch, and J.M. Pias. 2001. Misleading Trajectories—Integration Policies for Young Adults in Europe? Hechingen/Tübingen: Institute for Regional Innovation and Social Research.

    Google Scholar 

  • Woodman, D. 2012. Life out of Synch: How New Patterns of Further Education and the Rise of Precarious Employment Are Reshaping Young People’s Relationships. Sociology 46(6): 1074–1090.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wyn, J. 2009. Touching the Future: Building skills for life and work. Melbourne: Australian Council for Educational Research.

    Google Scholar 

  • ———. 2015. Youth Policy and the Problematic Nexus Between Education and Employment. In Interrogating conceptions of ‘vulnerable youth’ in theory, policy and practice, eds. K. Te Riele and G. Radka. Netherlands: Sense.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wyn, J., and H. Cuervo 2014. Pain Now, Rewards Later? Young Lives Cannot be Relived. The Conversation, June 16. [online]. Available from: https://theconversation.com/pain-now-rewards-later-young-lives-cannot-be-relived-27376. Accessed 18 Aug 2014.

  • Zhao, Y. 2009. Catching Up or Leading the Way: American Education in the Age of Globalization. Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision & Curriculum Development.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Monash University, Melbourne, VIC, Australia

    Lucas Walsh

Authors
  1. Lucas Walsh
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. School of Education, RMIT University, Bundoora, Victoria, Australia

    Peter Kelly

  2. Leeds Beckett University, Leeds, United Kingdom

    Jo Pike

Copyright information

© 2017 The Author(s)

About this chapter

Cite this chapter

Walsh, L. (2017). 5 Treading Water? The Roles and Possibilities of ‘Adversity Capital’ in Preparing Young People for Precarity. In: Kelly, P., Pike, J. (eds) Neo-Liberalism and Austerity. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-58266-9_6

Download citation

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation