User:Locke Perkins

Locke Perkins

I am a sophomore sociology and economics double major at Drake Univeristy. I have participated in a social justice internship and work closely with non profit groups. I am passionate about working to solve issues of gender and economic discrimination. However, for this Global Youth Studies Wikipedia Project, I have a new avenue of interest that I would like to investigate. I have always been fascinated by the "awkward" transition between youth and adulthood that occurs in American youth due to legally defined age markers of adulthood that are set without regard to cultural or biological transition markers. I think that the ideas associated with the transition to adulthood can be expanded to other cultures as well.

Proposal for Wikipedia edits on youth exclusion

I have chosen to direct my Wikipedia edits to the article on youth exclusion. The topic of transitioning from youth to adulthood is widely covered in the article on emerging adulthood. Focusing on youth exclusion, however, still presents an avenue for sharing the struggles faced by youth due to discrimination based on their cultural contexts.

I want to work on the leading paragraph of the article Youth exclusion to add sources to the definition of exclusion of the younger generation and what all this entails. I want to provide direct examples of what exclusion looks like among youth. I will also need to define how instituions and mechanisms in society support or perpetuate exclusion whether purposefully or inadvertently. Specifically I want to look at how government and educational institutions use policy and law to separate youth from adult society. In my research I will look at how institutions work in different cultures and regions to widen the articles global perspective. Currently the article focuses on issues in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA). I think it is important to demonstrate the cause and effects of youth exclusion in other areas of the world as well. Ideally I would like to add real accounts from youth across the world who feel excluded by their society. I think that the use of primary sources could add to the validity of the article while the different accounts as a whole would balance out to create a neutral point of view.

To expand the article and add structure to the body I would like to add subheadings on the effects of different institutions and mechanisms that affect youth exclusion in conjunction with sections on specific regions. I would also like to add subheadings on how different demographics affect how youth experience exclusion. Classifications of race, socio-economics, gender, level of education and alternative lifestyles impact the socialization of a young individual and shape how society reacts to them. This effects their experience in the world as a young person in their different cultural contexts. I am interested in looking at how prejudice about these demographics as well as ageism can affect the connection a youth feels to their society. To conclude the article it will be important to touch on how youth react to social exclusion. Depending on my research this may be something discussed under different cultural headings or as an independent heading about youth reaction to exclusion.

Working bibliography

Defining youth exclusion

The following articles will help expand the audience's understanding of the causes of youth exclusion some of these including economics and unemployment, political structure and social choice:

• Ambrosio, Conchita D. and Carlos Gradín. 2003. "Income Distribution and Social Exclusion of Children: Evidence from Italy and Spain in the 1990s*." Journal of Comparative Family Studies 34(3):479-XII (http://search.proquest.com/docview/232583107?accountid=10555).

This article gives three distinct definitions of social exclusion. (I removed this article from the Global South category because its definitions are from a Global North perspective and it's case study was performed in Spain and Italy. The case study is of less importance because it discusses social exclusion of children rather than youth.)

• Kieselbach, Thomas. 2003. "Long-Term Unemployment among Young People: The Risk of Social Exclusion." American Journal of Community Psychology 32(1):69-76 (http://search.proquest.com/docview/205350814?accountid=10555).

This article lays out six types of social exclusion and explains how education, family, and government structures can create or remedy social exclusion. It specifically looks at three northern and three southern European countries. One interesting insight from this article is that even the researcher excluded immigrants from their research due to language barriers. This shows that even within research on social exclusion, certain groups are being ignored.

• McDonald, Ian M. 2010. "Economic Perspectives on Social Exclusion." Australian Journal of Social Issues 45(2):213-225,153 (http://search.proquest.com/docview/814859484?accountid=10555).

McDonald lays out three key aspects of social exclusion including what social factors create happiness, what kind of human capital people have available, and what kind of choice people have in social exclusion. He shows how improved gradual taxation can lessen social inequality thus making people happier through employment opportunities and the hope of being able to meet societies standards. Overall increased happiness and opportunities will bring people out of social exclusion. He also mentions the importance of directing government programs at youth to stop exclusion before it becomes a cyclical and enduring force in a person's life.

Exclusion in the Global South

I can use the following peer reviewed journal articles to elaborate on the Global South perspective of the youth exclusion article. These three articles provide insight into how exclusion is experienced by youth in different cultural contexts:

• Hunter, Boyd and Kirrily Jordan. 2010. "Explaining Social Exclusion: Towards Social Inclusion for Indigenous Australians." Australian Journal of Social Issues 45(2):243-265,153 (http://search.proquest.com/docview/814859504?accountid=10555).

This article gives insight into the criticisms of how social exclusion is defined. It explains how cultural values of certain groups such as Indigenous Australians may not align with social norms and practices of mainstream society. While this may seem to create exclusion from an outsider perspective, to this group of people, they are merely living life in a way that is normal to them.

• Jeffrey, Graig (2010) Timepass: Youth, Class, and the Politics of Waiting in India, Stanford, Stanford University Press, 2010, 232 pages.

This article explains how Indian youth feel excluded from society due to the lack of employment in India after years spent in higher education. This feeling of uselessness has created social problems for young men especially by straining their possibilities of marriage and liming their ability to direct their human capital to the productivity of society.

• Makwemoisa, Anthonia. 2002. "Youth Existence and the Conditions of Exclusion and Underdevelopment in Nigeria." Journal of Cultural Studies 4(1):133-155 (http://search.proquest.com/docview/872163669?accountid=10555).

This article explains the connection between marginalized youth and violence, showing how structural problems in politics and family settings can create a violent response from youth. This article uses Nigerian youth as an example of how changing family structures and political isolation can create a sense of exclusion among youth. It also gives a strong definition of youth and social exclusion, which I can add to my leading paragraph and bigger picture information.

Exclusion in the Global North

These articles can help bring in a Global North perspective especially focusing on the exclusion of certain minorities like the LGTBQ community and racial minorities in urban areas:

• Concannon, Liam. 2008. "Citizenship, Sexual Identity and Social Exclusion." The International Journal of Sociology and Social Policy 28(9):326-339 (http://search.proquest.com/docview/203710959?accountid=10555).

This article does not have a very strong youth-centered context. However, issues about how normative understandings of society can affect youth transition could be brought up in the debate about citizenship and marriage of homosexuals.

• Ruck, Martin D., Henry Park, Melanie Killen and David S. Crystal. 2011. "Intergroup Contact and Evaluations of Race-Based Exclusion in Urban Minority Children and Adolescents." Journal of Youth and Adolescence 40(6):633-43 (http://search.proquest.com/docview/867421682?accountid=10555).

This article is an example of how intergroup interaction can lessen exclusion and have positive benefits for both the excluders and the excluded.