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Senior Lecturer in Social Policy, The Open University

I have taught and researched at the Open University in Sociology of Education and in Social Policy and Criminology, and contributed to the production of about 20 modules across these discipline areas.

My principal research interest is in policy development and the governance of young people at the interface between social policy and youth justice policies. The focus of this work is on young people who are defined as non-participants at the margins of compulsory participation in education and entry into the labour market, mandatory training or unemployment. My work explores these points of policy intersection theoretically and empirically at a number of levels. Prominent amongst these are the construction of young people as a disengaged and economically inactive population, their positioning within welfare systems in conditions of endemic failures of demand for their labour, the increasing criminalisation of some modes of non-participation, and the emergence of transnational policy responses to the now universal problem of youth unemployment and marginalisation. This work draws on a range of disciplines, including sociology, political economy, and labour market analyses as well as social policy and criminology.

Forthcoming Book:

"Young People, Welfare and Crime: Governing Non-participation"
Published by The Policy Press, University of Bristol
Publication Date: 24th February 2016
Details available via the following link:

http://www.policypress.co.uk/display.asp?K=9781447307013

Experience

  • –present
    Senior Lecturer in Social Policy, The Open University