Contemporary Australian Youth Research: Focus on Gender

Abstract

This paper examines the circumstances of young Australian women and men according to some key themes commonly identified by governments as target areas for social policy, namely: economic self-support and security; citizenship; and maintenance of good health and well-being. Whilst not exhaustive, these themes have come to shape contemporary Australian youth research and policy agendas in recent times. In this paper I outline each of the themes in relation to research on young people’s experiences. I conclude with the suggestion that current research indicates that young Australians live in times of contradiction and ambivalence. I caution that the difficulties and challenges faced by many who are disadvantaged in the new economy must not be set aside by the assumption that with new opportunities for flexibility, expanding consumer lifestyles and access to sophisticated communications, media and technologies, ‘things are better now’ for youth. At the same time, I also draw attention to the agency of young people who are often perceived as passive victims of these changes. In doing so, I aim to illuminate an important trend in Australian youth studies that interrogates the dominant representations of young people’s experiences as symbols of either hope or despair.