Gangs, Marginalised Youth and Social Capital

Author: Ross Deuchar

ISBN: 9781858564449

Price: £19.99

Quantity:

192 pages
ISBN: 978 1 85856 444 9
234 x 156mm
September 2009


Adolescents are routinely demonised by politicians and the media.Ross Deuchar's compelling research into the views of some of the toughest - youths who are growing up in socially deprived urban areas of Glasgow in Scotland - reveals the true facts. They talked to him about their lives, gang culture and territorialiity and he passes on their words and analyses what he learned from them.

These 16-18 year olds, some of them asylum seekers or from ethnic minority backgrounds, have become disenfranchised by educational failure, unemployment and poverty, but there are also young people who have overcome great challenges. Deuchar shows that many resist or move quickly out of gangs, especially when there are attractive alternatives to engage them and offer them opportunities to build social capital in legitimate fields such as sport and civic participation.

Here is a book written for everyone who works with young people from disadvantaged groups, whether in schools or youth organisations. It is especially relevant to academic researchers with an interest in social capital and also to community educationalists and youth leaders, secondary teachers and students who are studying towards qualifications in community education and youth work. The book will also be essential reading for those concerned with community welfare: politicians, the police, community sports development officers and youth coaches.

Authors details

Dr Ross Deuchar is a Senior Lecturer at the University of Strathclyde, specialising in applied education and social research. He is a graduate of Glasgow and Strathclyde Universities, is a qualified schoolteacher and has considerable experience of working with children and young people in schools and in community-based youth organisations. He began his career in industry before entering the teaching profession and then moving into teacher education and educational research in 2000. His research and teaching interests now focus on issues of youth identity, citizenship and social and urban disadvantage. In particular, his recent work has focused on the democratic participation of children in schools and on the sociology of gangs, sectarianism and marginalised young people. He is often called upon by the broadcast media as a commentator and regularly writes for popular media outlets on these issues.

Dr Deuchar is widely known for his writings on youth identity, citizenship and gang culture, with a particular focus on social disadvantage and inequality in the West of Scotland. He was the Principal Investigator on the British Academy-funded project 'Social capital issues and sectarianism' (2008), and is the author of the forthcoming book, Gangs: Marginalised Youth and Social Capital (2009, published by Trentham). He is also the author of Citizenship: Enterprise and Learning: harmonsing competing educational agendas (Trentham, 2007) and has written many articles in academic journals with a particular focus on citizenship and on gangs, sectarianism and youth justice. He is currently researching the reasons why young people seek out youth gang membership or are affected by issues of territoriality and/or public perceptions about gang culture, and has an interest in the impact of electronically monitored Restriction of Liberty Orders (RLOs) on young offenders with a history of gang-related violence.

Reviews

An accessible and interesting read for a practitioner audience (and) also of use for academics interested in gangs and social capital - Youth Justice


For students involved in education, community learning and development and social work in particular, this work would provide valuable insight into the processes which influence both positive and negative behaviour within an urban context. - Scottish Educational Review

a timely and important book. Its stated aim - to challenge the commonly-held view that young people are offensive, troublesome and threatening - is to an extent achieved. What a reader is left with is a sense of Deuchar’s curiosity about a frequently stigmatized group and abiding sense that something not only can be done but should be done - Runnymede Bulletin

If you are looking for a book that focuses on solutions to the "gang problem" and how to re-engage marginalised, disenfranchised young people, then this book will be of value. -Times Higher Education Supplement


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