Wendy, Peter and the Lost Boys—The Gendered Discourses of Welfare Service Practitioners and Their Young Clients

Abstract

The article examines the discourses related to gender in interviews with welfare service practitioners and their young, 18-to 29-year-old clients using 'boy discourse' as an analytical framework and J. M. Barrie's story of Peter Pan as a metaphorical framework. Those beyond the reach of the welfare services are referred to by the practitioners as 'lost young people'. Some practitioners see young men in particular as poor creatures, unable to achieve anything without a girlfriend, whose task is to get these Peter Pans 'on the right track' as Wendy does. The 'Lost Girls' are in a similar position to the 'Lost Boys' but the practitioners are more concerned about the boys. Their assumption is that girls can cope but boys need Wendys in order to succeed in life. As a result, the combined efforts of the female staff and nurturing girlfriends are seen as instrumental in steering 'failing boys' towards adulthood.

Counting and Meeting NEET Young People

“…For example, NEET young women may be invisible in this context because the discourses that the NEET concept is understood in relation to mainly concern boys; additionally, owing to traditional and socially sanctioned roles for women as homemakers and carers, NEET young women do not constitute a violation of social aesthetics in the same way that NEET young men do. However, that they are not mentioned in interviews does not necessarily mean that they do not exist (Berg and Aaltonen, 2016).…”

‘Inoculate Boys Against Toxic Masculinity’: Exploring Discourses of Men and Masculinity in #Metoo Commentaries

“…Prominent in the discussions is the subject position of the 'lost' boy 8 or man who needs guidance in engaging in a post-#MeToo world. Berg and Aaltonen (2017) contend that this notion of young boys requiring guidance can be found in social welfare approaches to supporting young men, whereby many are described as 'lost' and unable to cope without (feminine) guidance. Similar ideas can be found in mythopoetic movements, which encouraged men to seek out their natural inner warrior at overnight meetings and camps with other men (Singleton, 2004), often led by a leader or in the case of the Promise Keepers, a Christian saviour who could lead men to the right path.…”

The making of gendered ‘migrant workers’ in youth activation: The case of young Russian-speakers in Finland

“…These groups of Finnish youth have been framed in Finnish discourses as 'socially excluded', those who need to be brought back to mainstream society through work or education. The classed logic of youth activation was identified by Berg and Aaltonen (2017) in their study on the majority Finnish youth position in welfare services, which showed that few young people attending youth activation were from upper/middle-class positions, who were aiming for higher education. The classed and racialised logic of employment was reflected in the counsellors' offerings of unpaid work placements in grocery stores and retail shops as well as educational opportunities in construction, logistics, bus driving and care work.…”

“…Due to the lack of space only several ethnographic cases have been selected to illustrate my argument. However, these examples reflect the general logic of approaching young, unemployed working-class and racialised men as being at a higher risk of social exclusion, being less responsible job-seekers and in need of activation in order to get 'on the right track' (see also Berg and Aaltonen, 2017). The feeling of suspicion and distrust dominated the relations between young men and the counsellors.…”

“…Existing research shows how workfare policies in the US have been used to target Black and migrant mothers (Cooper, 2012; Reese, 2005) and Black youth through incarceration and ‘prisonfare’ (Wacquant, 2009, 2014). In Europe, labour activation is shown to target migrant women (Farris, 2017: 122; Nordberg, 2015), people with disabilities (Alanko and Outinen, 2016; see Soldatic and Meekosha, 2012, on Australia) and young people (Berg and Aaltonen, 2017; Fieldhouse et al, 2002; Haikkola et al, 2017), with research evidence of the unemployed being classified as disabled (Holmqvist, 2009). These developments suggest that formal citizenship rights do not protect groups classified as ‘inactive’ and the ‘undeserving poor’ from contingent labour since welfare itself has become a site for labour exploitation (Cooper, 2012).…”