Young People, Class Inequality and Youth Work

Abstract

While the policy documents and collective rhetoric of youth work often make some allusion to anti-racist or anti-sexist practice, less is said at present regarding the subordination of young people as a consequence of their class. This has not always been the case. Any historical survey of youth work shows that many workers and sponsors were acutely conscious of social class. Their reasons and motives for this varied, some being concerned about the welfare of the working-class young, seeing them as victims, while others sought to use youth work as a means of combating the rise of the working class as a social and political force (Blanch, 1979; Dyhouse, 1981; Springhall, 1977).