ABSTRACT
In this chapter, the experiences of young people are presented, although clearly with the caveat that these are my/our representations of the discussions, observations and, where appropriate (yet less pervasively) the creative artefacts, of young people – including my children. In this chapter, I examine how young people’s friendships are critical to them for providing emotional support, social and emotional capital and ‘recognition’. The chapter also witnesses how foundational young people’s social relationships are to them, but also how fraught and provisional, the constant work required to make and forge friendships, and the dynamism, instability and fragility of friendships, some of which endure despite this need for constant affirmation and work. The need for recognition and connection with others demonstrated in the aforementioned discussions means that most (young) people, as contextual bodies/subjectivities/agencies, are being forged in connection with others. Therefore young people’s social relationships are powerful, foundational even to many young people. In addition to providing important emotional and social capital, this need for recognition also forges young people within frameworks of power and subjection, and how this aligns with enduring axes of power is reviewed in the next chapter.
