This Article Full Text (PDF) References Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Alert me to new issues of the journal Add to Saved Citations Download to citation manager Request Permissions Request Reprints Add to My Marked Citations Citing Articles Citing Articles via Google Scholar Citing Articles via Scopus Google Scholar Articles by Bessant, J. Search for Related Content Social Bookmarking                         What's this?

The discovery of an Australian ''juvenile underclass'

Australian Catholic University, Melbourne

This article critically explores contemporary debates around the discovery of the 'new underclass'. Debates about poverty, employment and inequity, however, ought to raise a number of important questions. One question relates to the status of the observations made and apparent factual nature of the 'discovery' of 'the underclass' by empirical research. Another question underclass talk should raise, but rarely does, is the relationship between state power and those living in poverty, or what Foucault referred to as the 'diffusion of the agencies of governance'. This article suggests that 'the discovery' of a new 'juvenile underclass' draws on two long-standing discursive traditions which centre on 'the adolescent' and 'the poor'. Equally 'left' and 'right' deployments of the underclass theme suggest both a lack of reflexivity and a greater reliance on assumptions and interests characteristic of the left and right rather than any particular respect for what may actually be 'out there'. Theoretical reflexivity suggests that amongst other things, good social theory can think of the effects that experts who claim to know 'the underclass' have on those who are marginalised and who live in poverty .

Journal of Sociology, Vol. 31, No. 1, 32-48 (1995)
DOI: 10.1177/144078339503100103


CiteULike    Complore    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    Twitter    What's this?