adolescence 2 - the other adolescent Pavis and Cunningham - male youth and street culture Flashcards
Why was this study done?
because there was growing concern about youth, especially young men and how they spend their leisure time
ie. drinking, smoking, illicit drugs, alcohol, hanging out, nuisance
what is moral panic?
- refers to blowing a situation out of proportion and creating an anxiety around it
- creating the elevated idea of danger and risk
- there is a shift away from seeing those behaviors as isolates, they are contextualized to see how many people believe this
“the media attention and piecemeal policy reflect the moral panic that surrounds these young people and their behavior”
What does much of the literature focus on?
high-risk behaviours vs. a more contextualized understanding of the complexities of this specific youth culture and the place of their health-relevant behaviours within the matrix of their activites and associated meanings
something different
- they wanted to understand the meanings and motivations of the people on the streets
- allows them to gain insight into the diverse shifting, and value-laden contexts in which touths health related behaviours occurs
- they demonstrate important links between their street culture and their health
ie. includes tole of immediate and broader socio-economic and psychological factors
How did they conduct this study?
methodology
methodology
- part of a larger mix of methods (qualitative and quantitative)
- surveys and interviews
- looked at participant observation
- researcher tried to be a part of the local context
why did they narrow the focus to leisure time
it is where they were most likely to smoke, drink, and experiment with drugs
Methods:
ethnography and participant observation
ethnography
- means a description of people or an ethnic group - the descriptions written of people are called ethnography
- fieldwork is also referred to as ethnography
participant observation
- researcher joins the group and spends a significant amount of time observing their interactions and participating in as many domains of social life as possible
- first hand observational data
- semi-constructed interviews with youth and community workers
- 70 hrs of field work
- 7pm - 3am
- usually fri-sat
Cold approaching
- during the initial phase the fieldworker spent his time walking around and observing and recording where the you people normally gathered
- made himself seen
the intrigue factor
- because he was unfamiliar to the people who hung around that area, they were curious
- they approached him
- different ways the participants perceived the researcher, would they give him the time of day
Why is the intrigue factor effective
accessing participants like this is effective because it is
- naturalistic
- secures trust
why did he have to be careful during the intrigue phase
- was always careful to explain his intentions
- most astonished they were interested in their lives
- as project progressed, contact, trust and quality of interaction grew
dilemmas about field work
- there are never clear-cut ways to gain access to the field site and relevant population
- the role of intimidation, allegations, feeling uncomfortable, sticking out
- ethical concerns
ethical concerns of field work
- need to be revised visited and addressed daily
Developing rapport
- more than being nice, it is also about being aware of how you are being perceived and how you are being compared to other foreigners and researchers (ie. mythic qualities of white women up north or india)
additional components of a good rapport
- aligning yourself with well-respected community member
- not appearing to be withdrawn or snobby
- being careful about gift distribution patterns (sharing cigarettes)
- being curious but not too nosy
- finding ways to ensure that you are not a threat to anyone or a particular group of people in the research setting
- make sure you dont come off as a social worker - most street kids do not get along with them
Findings: Place
- Seaview
- 7000 people
- majority white
Leisure and excitement
- seaview is shit, boring and dull
- they didnt know what would directly improve their lives and liesure time
- but they derived significant excitement from their leisure time - adult free space
Researchers could understand how their lives were boring and exciting
- often stood around doing nothing
- convo repetitive and predictable
- unpredictable, something could happen at any time
- prospects of violence
- drinking smoking drugs
- humour
Alcohol
- very common
- beer, vodka - in pop
- closely related to their desire to have fun , excitement and laugh
- did it in order to aid social interaction within friendship groups
- more confident and boisterous
- aggressive behaviour, violence and disorderly conduct
drug-use
- pot was main drug
- weed was interwoven into the young men`s desire to create excitement and elevate social status within culture
- highlight importance in understanding the multiple roles played by behaviours/substances that are too often labelled as danger, deviant and unhealthy
Smoking cigarettes
2 important and distinct aspects of youths’ use of cigarettes
- as a prop to engage in conversation or interaction
- the sharing of cigarettes bound them together in a cohesive social identity (literally shared them), and was linked with lack of money
Product of their street activity
their involvement with these activities and their street scene (which is a product of their marginalization) engengered even further isolation from the rest of the community
Implications for health promotion
- young mens potential health-dammaging behaviours were integral to their street-based youth culture
- to ignore this in favour of the traditional “health belief” model or indv/”high-risk” based approaches is dangerous
- youth based practices and ideologies being devalued
