Youth volunteering policy : the rise of governmentality

DEAN, Jonathan (2010). Youth volunteering policy : the rise of governmentality. In: Voluntary Action History Society Conference 2010, University of Kent at Canterbury, 14-16 July 2010. (Unpublished)

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Abstract

Young people are increasingly encouraged to volunteer, perhaps as a panacea to combat personal and social problems (Sheard, 1995). This paper will explore why volunteering policy has developed this instrumental tendency in recent history. It will analyse Michel Foucault’s theories of governmentality, and use these as a frame to consider the advances made in youth policy over the last half century, but with particular regard to volunteering policy in the last 15 years. Using governmentality as a tool of analysis, it will argue that volunteering policy has become a device to responsibilize younger generations; a method to improve the authority of the young over their own lives and their local areas, whilst moulding behaviour which brings about individual and collective wellbeing. It is also argued that this follows a natural progression of youth policies to tackle the ‘problem of youth’.

Item Type:	Conference or Workshop Item (Paper)
Research Institute, Centre or Group - Does NOT include content added after October 2018:	Sociology, Politics and Policy Research Group
Depositing User:	Jon Dean
Date Deposited:	05 Oct 2012 08:24
Last Modified:	18 Mar 2021 08:16
URI:	https://shura.shu.ac.uk/id/eprint/6452

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