Re-assessing street kids: A critique of subculture theory

Abstract

Focusing on the notion of “street kids,” the paper suggests that youth be viewed in an alternative way to the subculture theory associated with the Center for Contemporary Cultural Studies in Birmingham (CCCS). It is argued that not only is subculture theory an unsuitable mechanism for understanding homeless youth but also, and more importantly, is itself fundamentally problematic. It is suggested that the work of Michel Foucault necessitates a reevaluation of the domain assumptions underlying subculture theory and offers in its place a model that relocates street kids, and youth itself, as artifacts of a network of governmental strategies.

Conclusion

It is the contention of this paper that “street kids” are not engaged in a struggle against the power of the State. Rather, they are constructed as artifacts at the intersection of a wide range of governmental strategies. As Foucault points out, power does not repress, it produces “domains of objects and rituals of truth.” These rituals of truth are likely to provide a more fertile ground for understanding the contemporary policing of youth, than the repeated recourse to the romantic and redundant “rituals of resistance” described by the CCCS.

To reiterate: it is most important that researchers into youth not only recognize the continuing pervasive influence of subculture theory in their own work, but also recognise that these ideas have been largely abandoned within the wider arena of sociological debate. Simply ignoring these developments, based upon the belief that they are a) irrelevant to practitioners, b) faddish, c) counter-intuitive, and/or d) theoretically heretical, is to continue with work which is, at best, unaware of its own origins or, at worst, outdated and anachronistic.