Robert Strathdee - Social Exclusion and the Remaking of Social Networks

First published 2005 by Ashgate Publishing

Published 2016 by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN
711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017, USA

Copyright 2005 Robert Strathdee

Robert Strathdee has asserted his right under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988, to be identified as the author of this work.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in anyform or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented,including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system,without permission in writing from the publishers.

Notice:
Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe.

British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
Strathdee, Robert
Social exclusion and the remaking of social networks.
(Voices in development management)
1. Youth - Employment 2.Youth - Employment - Government
policy 3.Youth - Social networks
I. Title
331.34137

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Strathdee, Robert.
Social exclusion and the remaking of social networks / Robert Strathdee.
p. cm. (Voices in development management)
Includes bibliographical references and index.

1. Youth with social disabilities-Government policy. 2. Unemployed youth. 3.
YouthSocial networks. 4. Vocational education. 5. Labor market. 6. Social capital (Sociology) I. Title. II. Series: University of North London voices in development
management.

HV1421.S77 2004
362.7083--dc22

2004062397

ISBN 9780754638155 (hbk)

The central argument within this book concerns the declining value of familial and kin-based social networks that lead to employment. In the past, young people could make effective transitions into employment through the utilisation of resources made available through personal social networks. However, for a variety of reasons, which are detailed within this book, the value of these resources has declined. The erosion in the value of social networks is problematic because it reduces the significance of cultural codes and other kin-based resources that facilitate transitions into work. This book addresses the strategies implemented by the state that act to replace these resources and better regulate transition into work.

Although I have been developing this argument for a number of years, the original idea, forming the basis of this book, comes from Professor Hugh Lauder (University of Bath). It was Hugh who first pointed out to me the relationship between social networks, employment and the vocational education and training system. I developed Hughs idea more fully in my PhD thesis on vocational education and training in New Zealand, which I completed in 1999 and in subsequent journal articles. During this period, David Hughes (formerly of the University of Canterbury) also helped me frame my ideas and assisted me in presenting them in a useful form. However, it was an interview with a senior government official who commented that his department was purchasing access to social networks that first alerted me to the commodification of networks (Strathdee and Hughes, 2000). This book builds upon that idea and my earlier work by broadly addressing the strategies used by the state to remake networks within New Zealand and England.

There are many other people to whom I am indebted. In particular, I would like to thank Val Rose, the commissioning editor of the Voices in Development Management series at Ashgate, for support of the book and Ashgates offer to publish it as part of the Voices in Development Management Series. Along the way, I also received help and advice from a number of people including Margaret Grieco, John Freeman-Moir, Alan Scott, Phil Brown, Judie McNeill, Steve Jordan, and Tony Taylor. The empirical chapters of the book are based upon interviews that were conducted with tutors working in a range of programmes in New Zealand, with personal advisors working within the Connexions Service and with tutors working in the Entry to Employment Programme in England. Without their help this book would not have been possible. A special thanks is due to my partner, Charlotte Clements, who spent many hours editing and critiquing this book and to Claire Pickering who transcribed the interviews and helped edit the final manuscript. Of course, the views expressed in this book are my own and do not necessarily reflect those of the Tertiary Education Commission, the Connexions Service or Entry to Employment providers.

This book explores changes in the delivery of social welfare related services and vocational education and training (VET) to young people. The major argument is that recent changes in society, such as an increase in the proportion of young people growing up in work-poor households, have eroded the value to the state of familial and community-based social networks. As a result the state has adopted some of the functions formerly undertaken by these networks in order to facilitate transition into work. Until recently, the presence of familial and community-based social networks, which were deeply rooted in the social infrastructure, enhanced the effectiveness of the state by minimising the cost of integrating young people into the labour market. Although the precise configuration of these networks varies between eras, there exists a long history of social networks facilitating transitions into work through, for example, existing employees, speaking to the guvnor on behalf of job seekers (Young and Willmott, 1957, p. 76). Historically, familial networks have also played an important role in transmitting skills between generations (Grieco, 1996). For example a study of East London families described how fathers who worked on the docks kicked their sons arses until they did lay the ropes right (Young and Willmott, 1957, p. 76). As exemplified, networks helped build labour market attachment ensuring that young workers obtained the required skills and helped them form appropriate identities as workers.