ABSTRACT
The family continues to play a pivotal role in socialization. However, the debate over ‘family values’ has raised concern over its effectiveness in socializing children, and paved the way for a more interventionist approach on the part of the state. Parenting in particular has been perceived as a problem requiring remedial action, through more advice or regulation by the state. But whether the state can play an effective role in advising or regulating parents is itself open to question. The perception of young people as a ‘social problem’ encourages a managerial approach, most obvious perhaps in New Labour's New Deal, which imposes benefit penalties on young people refusing offers of training or work. The erosion of social rights of young people and a shift from state to family support has occurred despite evidence that they often face more difficult and fragmented transitions to adulthood. Much of the debate on socialization has instead concerned family forms, attributing deficiencies in socialization mainly to family disruption and in particular the absence of fathers. However, the search for simple ‘explanations’ and ‘solutions’ to social problems has not included close scrutiny of evidence on complex social processes involved in family transitions.
