‘We can Get Everything We Want if We Try Hard’: Young People, Celebrity, Hard Work

Abstract

Drawing on 24 group interviews on celebrity with 148 students aged 14-17 across six schools, we show that 'hard work' is valued by young people in England. We argue that we should not simply celebrate this investment in hard work. While it opens up successful subjectivities to previously excluded groups, it reproduces neoliberal meritocratic discourses and class and gender distinctions.

Top girls navigating austere times: interrogating youth transitions since the ‘crisis’

“…Thus while young people are encouraged to actively manage their biography and may talk about themselves as autonomous agents (Mendick et al 2015), we are reminded that 'a 'can do' approach to life…is unlikely to be sufficient in the face of structural constraints (Thomson et al 2002, 351).…”

Aspirations and Young People’s Constructions of Their Futures: Investigating Social Mobility and Social Reproduction

“…They believed hard work and ability would be rewarded proportionately, and that they could realise their dreams (Mendick et al, 2015). But although status and wealth were important for some students, few were concerned primarily with individual advantage.…”

“…They told us it was important to them to move upwards and secure greater financial rewards than their parents. As with Mendick et al (2015) participants, Darren and Tania reflected the sentiment that hard work and desire will be enough to secure the financial rewards they are seeking. Like those participants in our study who sought upward mobility and status, they fully believe that success and failure rests entirely with the individual rather than with the sorts of bonding and bridging social capital facilitated by the middle classes who have access to particular networks and resources, and gain, for example, high-status internships, privileged academic pathways and secure employment prospects (Putnam, 1995).…”

Extraordinary acts and ordinary pleasures: Rhetorics of inequality in young people’s talk about celebrity

“…What we think is particularly interesting is how such differences were often framed within neoliberal discourses of meritocracy and individual extraordinariness, for example, in the discussion of David Beckham working 'day in, day out', and Bill Gates' wealth as a businessman. These narratives of meritocracy were not confined to talk about celebrities, with young people's discussions of their own aspirations, imagined futures and potential barriers to achieving their dreams also infused with the language of individualism, hard work and triumph over adversity (for a more detailed examination of this, see Mendick et al, 2015).…”