ABSTRACT
This chapter will argue that allegations of the formation of a youth underclass in Britain in the late twentieth century (Murray 1990) should be regarded as at best conceptually muddled and at worst as politically mischievous and ideologically dangerous. On both counts the use of the term ‘underclass’ contains the seeds of misconceived social policy interventions in the management of youth transitions. Whilst addressing some of the issues raised by allegations of the development of a youth ‘underclass’, this chapter is based upon a conceptualisation of youth around the interrelationship of three main transitions or career lines. The chapter further seeks to apply this theoretical framework to two main groupings of young people largely ignored by mainstream youth researchers: disabled young people and young people ‘looked after’ in the public care.
