MORALITY, AUSTERITY AND WELFARE STATE FUTURES

Young people, wellbeing and inequality

One day conference and edited collection

 

16th April, 2015 (University of Leeds, UK)

Co-convenors:

Jo Pike, University of Leeds, UK

Peter Kelly, RMIT, Australia

Rationale The unfolding effects of what some are calling the Great Recession in Europe and the US, and the emergence of sovereign debt crises and significant austerity programs in many EU/OECD econo-mies represents a largely successful framing of responses to the downstream effects of the Global Financial Crisis (GFC) as being principally about State debt levels. In this discourse those that de-pend most on State provided services, payments and programmes are the ones to carry the great-est burden of government austerity measures. Hall, Massey and Rustin suggest that the ‘present economic crisis is a moment of potential rupture’ in which the ‘burden of ‘solving’ the crisis has been disproportionately offloaded onto working people, targeting vulnerable marginalised groups’ (2013, 4).  cover_morality
Among the worst affected are children, young people and students as those who ‘depend on public amenities for their social wellbeing’. Consequently, children and young people in the OECD and EU, and in the developing economies of Asia, Africa and Central and South America face the prospect of growing up with greater levels of risk and uncertainty brought about by the various responses to the GFC. In this context researchers have sought to engage with the ways in which locally produced cultures of childhood and youth are shaped by global forces, high-lighting the absence of considerations of childhood and youth from discussions related to the GFC (Morrow, 2011). This lack of attention to children and young people is also evident in the health related disciplines where the widely acknowledged view that ‘austerity kills’ (Stuckler and Basu, 2013) is a central tenet of research examining widening gaps in health inequalities, decreased in-vestment in health care systems and health promotion, and the impact of precarity and unem-ployment on mental and emotional health, food insecurity and the life choices, chances and cours-es of individuals and communities. We invite contributions from interested authors on topics that engage with some of the following questions:
– How are health and well-being challenges configured differently in different geographical locations?;- What possibilities do the shifting relationships between the state, the private sector, Third Sector Organisations (TSOs), social entrepreneurs and other relevant actors present for ad-dressing contemporary health and well-being challenges for children and young people?;

– How are the moral imperatives of health and well-being reshaped in the age of austerity ?

– How have contemporary discourses of children’s and young people’s well-being shifted in relation to the global financial crisis and debates about welfare state futures?

– How has the global financial crisis reconfigured children’s and young people’s notions of futurity, and how might this align with aspirations to promote their health and well-being?

– How do young people negotiate and engage with different attempts to shape their health behaviours?

Call for Abstracts (Expressions of Interest) If you are interested in presenting a paper at the conference AND contributing a chapter to the proposed book, please provide the following details in a word document, and email to: j.pike@leeds.ac.uk by Friday 20th February, 2015. Abstracts will be reviewed by convenors and a decision on inclusion made by the start of March 2015. Please indicate if you wish to be included in the book but do not wish to present at the conference:

– Name of author(s), Institutional affiliation and email address.

– Title of paper/chapter

– Abstract (250-300 words)