Youth in Australia: Policy, Administration and Politics

by Terry Irving

This book describes and analyses the development of youth policy in Australia since World War II. The authors examine the period through three different eras in terms of how society constructed youth as a problem: firstly as juvenile delinquency (to 1960); then as a generation gap (to the mid-1970s); and most recently as a wasted resource (1975-1990). These chronological parts of the book are divided into four chapters, each dealing with a different perspective: the social and demographic context and images of young people; policy development; bureaucratic structures; and the politics of youth policy.

This structure marshals a wealth of material into a very accessible teaching framework. Five central issues are covered: 1. How was the ideas of youth policy understood; 2. What administrative arrangements were made? 3. How was the youth sector organised and how did government interact with it? 4. How did the views and activities of young people affect youth policy? and 5. What role have youth workers played in youth affairs and in the making of youth policy?

398 pages, Paperback

Published January 1, 1995