Comfort radicalism and NEETs: a conservative praxis

Young people who are not in education, employment or training (NEET) are construed by policy makers as a pressing problem about which something should be done. Such young people's lack of employment is thought to pose difficulties for wider society in relation to social cohesion and inclusion and it is feared that they will become a 'lost generation'. This paper(1) draws upon English research, seeking to historicise the debate whilst acknowledging that these issues have a much wider purchase. The notion of NEETs rests alongside longstanding concerns of the English state and middle classes, addressing unruly male working class youth as well as the moral turpitude of working class girls. Waged labour and domesticity are seen as a means to integrate such groups into society thereby generating social cohesion. The paper places the debate within it socio-economic context and draws on theorisations of cognitive capitalism, Italian workerism, as well as emerging theories of antiwork to analyse these. It concludes by arguing that ‘radical’ approaches to NEETs that point towards inequities embedded in the social structure and call for social democratic solutions veer towards a form of comfort radicalism. Such approaches leave in place the dominance of capitalist relations as well as productivist orientations that celebrate waged labour

Education and Career Choices of Fifth Form Pupils, 1977-1979

Abstract copyright UK Data Service and data collection copyright owner.The purpose of this study was to obtain a better understanding of the changing influences on the educational and career decisions of young people at the minimum school-leaving age. At the centre of the work was an adminstered questionnaire to about 3,000 fifth form pupils aimed mainly at assessing the extent to which perceptions of future career opportunities are directly or indirectly present in their minds when they decide whether or not to stay on in school. A number of small-scale follow-up surveys were undertaken and several different studies made, testing various sociological and economic hypotheses, using the empirical data collected in the surveys.Main Topics:Variables Information on educational and career intentions and attitudes to school and work; perceptions of the labour market and expected life-time earnings for respondents themselves and in a range of occupations; standard demographic, social, educational and economic background material; a verbal reasoning test (AH4 Part I); examination results at 'O' level/CSE; and information on respondents' situation one year after the main survey

Approaches to Studying, 1979-1980

Abstract copyright UK Data Service and data collection copyright owner.The purpose of this study was to survey second-year undergraduates in U.K. polytechnics and universities as part of the SSRC programme of studies in Post-Compulsory Education at Lancaster University. The survey was designed to investigate, in relation to previous research at Lancaster and elsewhere: (a) major dimensions in students approaches to studying; (b) major dimensions of their course and departmental perceptions; (c) differences in approaches and perceptions in different disciplines and departments; (d) links between approaches and course perceptions; (e) links between academic progress and approaches to studying.Main Topics:Variables Students completed a 64-item approaches to studying inventory and a 40-item course perceptions questionnaire. Analysis of these data was carried out by grouping together items into subscales resulting from earlier item analysis. Students also gave background information about themselves, including school examination grades and a self-rating of academic performance