Youth voices in post-English riots Tottenham: the role of reflexivity in negotiating negative representations

Numerous negative representations of youth emerged in the aftermath of the 2011 English riots. This paper intends to fill a gap in the literature on the ‘riot-affected’ areas by looking at how youths from Tottenham (the North London constituency where a peaceful demonstration escalated into the English riots of 2011) deal with stereotypical and homogeneous portrayals put forward by the British mainstream news media and many Government Ministers. In drawing on an alternative conceptualisation of reflexivity that spells out how reflexive orientations relate to lived experiences, the paper aims to open up novel pathways for understanding youth reflexivity in the context of being regularly subjected to negative representations. This is achieved by tying reflexive activity more closely to Alfred Schütz’s notion of ‘stock of knowledge.’ The study applies qualitative methods to empirically address how a group of eighteen 15- to 25-year-olds from Tottenham reflexively negotiate the harmful consequences of stigmatised identities. The most striking conclusion to emerge from the data is that Tottenham’s young people embody a diverse range of youth identities and reflexive attitudes; a conclusion that flies in the face of the way in which much of the media depicted youths after the riots

Book review : Sarah Pickard: Politics, protest and young people

Book review of: Pickard, S. (2019), Politics, protest and young people: political participation and dissent in 21st century Britain. London: Palgrave Macmillan. 501 pages

The reflexive voices of young people in Tottenham: youth-identity formation, reflexivity and negative representations

While a wide body of literature has emerged on Tottenham’s youths since the England riots of 2011, the perceptions of the young people themselves have not been subjected to the same level of attention and scrutiny. My thesis intends to fill this gap by looking at the subjective experiences of youths in the north London constituency of Tottenham (the area where a peaceful demonstration escalated into the England riots). In particular, it investigates young people’s reflexive attitudes towards their identities and how they deal with stereotypical and homogeneous youth representations. By putting forward an alternative conceptualisation of reflexivity that spells out how reflexive orientations relate to lived experiences and past engagement in the social world, my study aims to open up novel pathways for understanding youth-identity formation and stereotyping processes. The study applies qualitative methods, including a version of interpretative phenomenological analysis, to analyse identity-forming processes and how young people reflexively deal with the harmful consequences of stigmatised identities. Research participants (N = 16; 16–25 years of age) are drawn from various youth organisations operating in the Tottenham wards. In shedding light on the discrepancy between how young people see themselves and how others—e.g., the media and politicians—view them, the study repudiates the common misconception that Tottenham’s youths are a homogeneous entity; rather, it concludes that these young people embody a complex ensemble of heterogeneous identities, outlooks and reflexive capacities

Opportunity Haringey: Haringey employment gap research report. Summary Report.

Haringey Council is developing ‘Opportunity Haringey’ – an inclusive economic framework. The aim is to shape and drive forward the Council’s ambitions for a local economy that moves from reacting and responding to the challenges of the pandemic to a pro-active partnership approach that unlocks the creativity of residents and businesses to harness Haringey’s strengths to secure economic prosperity for all that is fairer and greener. Opportunity Haringey is being developed by undertaking economic analysis and engaging and listening to businesses, residents and a range of local and strategic partners in order to understand the range of needs, demands and aspirations across the many diverse communities in the borough. The Haringey Employment Gap research project, a key part of Opportunity Haringey, was carried out during 2023 by London Metropolitan University in partnership with Haringey Council. The project is part of London Met Lab Empowering London initiative, which aims to engage the University with its community partners. The aim of the project is to identify those groups in Haringey who experience the highest levels of unemployment and to highlight the barriers they face in accessing jobs. It is well known that Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic residents, people with disabilities, young people and lone parents experience higher levels of unemployment and this research project seeks to identify which particular groups are most affected and what the main barriers are in accessing work. The research project looks at how well existing employment advisory services in Haringey support Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic residents, residents with disabilities, lone parents and young people to get into work. This Summary Report sets out the key findings and recommendations from the Haringey Employment Gap research project. It should be noted that while there are key differences in terms of the barriers to accessing work experienced by the different target groups in this research, such as race discrimination and discrimination against people with disabilities, there are also many common barriers that are experienced across all the target groups. Some of the key common barriers include low expectations and confidence to attain meaningful employment, poor experiences of employment support services, particularly of the Job Centres and for many women with children, especially single parents, unaffordable chilcare

Haringey employment gap research project: summary and full report

The Council is developing ‘Opportunity Haringey’ - an inclusive economic framework. The aim is to shape and drive forward the Council’s ambitions for a local economy that moves from reacting and responding to the challenges of the pandemic to a pro-active partnership approach that unlocks the creativity of residents and businesses to harness Haringey’s strengths to secure economic prosperity for all that is fairer and greener. Opportunity Haringey is being developed by undertaking economic analysis and engaging and listening to businesses, residents and a range of local and strategic partners in order to understand the range of needs, demands and aspirations across the many diverse communities in the borough. The Haringey Employment Gap research project, a key part of Opportunity Haringey, was carried out during 2023 by London Metropolitan University in partnership with the London Borough of Haringey. The project is part of London Met Lab Empowering London initiative, which aims to engage the University with its community partners. The aim of the project is to identify those groups in Haringey who suffer the highest levels of unemployment and to highlight the barriers they face in accessing jobs. It is well known that Black, Asian and minority ethnic residents, people with disabilities, young people and lone parents experience higher levels of unemployment and this research project seeks to identify which particular groups are most affected and what the main barriers are in accessing work. The research project looks at how well existing employment advisory services in Haringey support Black, Asian and minority ethnic residents, residents with disabilities, lone parents and young people to get into work. This Summary Report sets out the key findings and recommendations from the Haringey Employment Gap research project. It should be noted that while there are key differences in terms of the barriers to accessing work experienced by the different target groups in this research, such as race discrimination and discrimination against people with disabilities, there are also many common barriers that are experienced across all the target groups. Some of the key common barriers include low expectations and confidence to attain meaningful employment, poor experiences of employment support services, particularly of the Job Centres and for many women with children, especially single parents, unaffordable childcare. It should also be noted that many of the key findings and recommendations echo those of the recent No Wrong Door report by City Hall and The Young Foundation (2023) and The Commission on the Future of Employment Support interim report (2023) reports, particularly on how important it is to join up skills and employment support to deliver an accessible offer for job seekers

Assumption without representation: the unacknowledged abstraction from communities and social goods

We have not clearly acknowledged the abstraction from unpriceable “social goods” (derived from communities) which, different from private and public goods, simply disappear if it is attempted to market them. Separability from markets and economics has not been argued, much less established. Acknowledging communities would reinforce rather than undermine them, and thus facilitate the production of social goods. But it would also help economics by facilitating our understanding of – and response to – financial crises as well as environmental destruction and many social problems, and by reducing the alienation from economics often felt by students and the public