Familiar Patterns and Transformations

Abstract

When working in youth practice and policy it is important to understand day-to-day activity in the context of a larger picture. However, thinking too much about the big picture, the inter-connectedness of social problems, and the structural nature of the causes, can lead to a reluctance to get out of bed in the morning, or at least to the onset of professional paralysis. Exclusion, inclusion, class, gender, opportunities, constraints, inequalities in life chances… The patterns are too familiar and can feel absolutely entrenched. One of the recurring questions for those of us who work with young people and communities is about whether change is possible.