Youth, Class and Everyday Struggles

Steven Threadgold is a Senior Lecturer at the University of Newcastle, Australia.

‘Struggle’ is one of those over-used words we use to evoke a political ‘feel’ to analysis. In Youth, Class and Everyday Struggles, however, Steven Threadgold takes the idea of struggle seriously, and develops a multi-layered understanding of struggle to provide an exciting and insightful analysis of the challenges young people negotiate in everyday life. Drawing together a thoughtful reading of Bourdieu through theories of affect, risk and reflexivity, Threadgold shows that struggle is fundamental to the constitution of young people’s classed and gendered existence in a world shaped by precarity. Through an examination of hipsters, 'bogans' and DIY music, the book argues not only that there are modalities and temporalities to struggle, but that struggle is creative and mundane, agentic and oppressive. It offers an original and thought-provoking contribution to the field of youth studies.Greg Noble, Professor, Institute for Culture and Society, Western Sydney University, AustraliaA smart, sensitive and sophisticated analysis of how youth figures in the ways class is produced and contested in conditions of precarity. Centring the concept of struggle, Threadgold incisively addresses the cultural politics and quotidian material realities of new and old class relations through careful attention to the everyday lives of young people. This book is an important contribution to the theorisation of social class today, and a shining example of truly generative scholarship at the intersection of youth transitions and youth cultures research.​Anita Harris, Research Professor, Alfred Deakin Institute for Citizenship and Globalisation, Faculty of Arts & Education, Deakin University, AustraliaThis is an excellent book that pushes the boundaries of theorising in youth studies to another level. By using the notion of ‘struggle’ and other Bourdieusian concepts, Steve Threadgold is able to create a more nuanced understanding of the contemporary forms of class social reproduction and youth reflexivity. As such this book is a must read for all students and scholars interested in the youth question.Alan France, Professor of Sociology, University of Auckland, New ZealandYouth, Class and Everyday Struggles is a masterfully researched and compellingly written book. Casting an expert eye over an increasingly diverse field, Threadgold has produced a much needed synthesis of key ideas relating to youth cultures and youth transitions that will be of seminal value to both experienced youth researchers and students in search of a critical introduction to youth studies. Andy Bennett, Professor, School of Humanities, Griffith University, Australia

• Part 1: Youth studies and theoretical foundationsA mix tape for Part 11. Youth, class and everyday strugglesIntroductionYouthClassBourdieu’s ‘struggles’Chapter outline2. Sociological practice: Towards a Bourdieusian understandingIntroduction: Bourdieu’s thinking toolsBourdieu’s conception of classStruggle, illusio and social gravitySocial games and strategy Habitus and fieldCapitalsTrajectoryDoxa and misrecognitionSymbolic violenceCultural arbitraryDistinctionConclusion 3. Bourdieusian prospects and theory in youth studiesIntroductionReflexivity and inequalityThe symbolic, the moral and ‘value’Affect and emotionConclusion Part 2: Classification struggles in the field of representationA mix tape for Part 24. Hipsters and bogans: Distinctive figures of classed anxietiesIntroductionHipsters and bogans in the newsSlippery categoriesWhat is a bogan? What is a hipster?Hipsters and bogans as ‘figures’Classification struggles in the field of representationConclusion5. Hipsters and bogans in the news media and comedy: Two case studiesIntroductionCase study 1Case study 2The affective economy of hipsters and bogansConclusion: Global hipsters and local bogansPart 3: DIY cultures: Struggles about creativity, identity and meaningful workA mix tape for Part 36. A DIY scene: Cultural struggles and meaning makingIntroduction‘DIY’: From punk to sociology to co-optation and beyondEveryday struggles in a DIY music scene in AustraliaConclusion7. A DIY career? Labour and creativity strugglesIntroductionClass, labour and creativityDIY cultures to DIY careersSubcultural capital and illusioChoice, struggle and making do: Strategic poverty?Conclusion8. Coda: Hipsters, bogans and class in the DIY scene 9. Conclusion IntroductionModalities of everyday struggleBourdieu, affect and reflexivityYouth, modalities of struggle and the ‘future’