A Theory of the Political Ecology of Youth and Crime

Abstract

In this chapter we will outline a theory of political ecology that acts as our framework for analysing and explaining young people’s encounters with crime. Understanding the ecology of young people’s lives takes us beyond individual-level factors and single theoretical approaches to a recognition of ‘the dialectical relationship between the social acts of the individual and social power (including negotiation, power, legitimacy)’ (Armstrong, 2004, p. 107). Our approach to ecology recognises the social and political processes that structure young people’s personal and social development. It aims to show how ecological structures shape the social actions of the young and how relations of power are embedded within them. These structures not only define and shape the lives and experiences of young people but also the types of responses that shape the ways social order and control is configured in the everyday lives of the young. Our approach will systematically explain this interrelationship by recognising the importance of a ‘nested’ political ecology that shapes social action. To achieve this we draw upon the model of ecology developed by Bronfenbrenner (1979). Bronfenbrenner proposed a theory of human development that rejected the simplistic model traditionally used by social psychologists, for one that locates human behaviour and development within a complex but interconnected ecology.