Young people in coastal resorts: a critical exploration of class, place, governance and safety.



Tickle, Sarah
Young people in coastal resorts: a critical exploration of class, place, governance and safety. PhD thesis, University of Liverpool.

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Abstract

This thesis analyses the ways in which young people conceptualise crime, policing, safety and security in their own localities. It draws upon primary empirical research to elicit the experiences and perceptions of young people in two coastal resorts. The methods employed in this research give voice to young people and aim to provide a greater understanding of their lives. An ethnographic study was conducted in two coastal resorts, one in England and one in Wales, and access to young people was facilitated through centre-based youth organisations and outreach work in the communities over a period of twelve months (six months in each locality). The research participants were aged between 10 and 17 years old. In total, 100 qualitative interviews were conducted: 23 semi-structured interviews with young people in the youth organisations and 77 unstructured qualitative interviews with young people ‘on the street’. Additional qualitative data were also generated with young people in the youth organisations through a range of methods including: participant observation; various group work exercises; photographic methods; group discussions and other visual techniques. Additional data of 12 semi-structured interviews were generated with professionals in the field of crime prevention and youth work. The thesis offers a significant contribution to knowledge about the experiences and perceptions of young people in two coastal resorts. The thesis illustrates how socio-economic characteristics of ‘place’ and ‘social class’ profoundly structure and shape young people’s experiences and perceptions. The impact of social class on access and restrictions in public space, leisure pursuits, the formation of youth identities, attachment to place, fear of crime, and young people’s securities and insecurities are all examined. The context for the research, two very different coastal resorts in socio-economic terms, revealed significant differences in how young people are policed in coastal resorts; how youth policy impacts upon their everyday experiences; and how social class is a determining factor that shapes their lives. It also raised a number of questions regarding young people’s safety in local public space. With respect to this, the research explored the main issues of concern for young people within and outside of crime prevention discourses and, in doing so, compared and contrasted the ways in which questions of youth, crime, youth governance, youth victimisation and related issues are expressed and represented in official policy discourses with that of young people’s experiences and perceptions.

Item Type: Thesis (PhD)
Additional Information: Date: 2014-09-29 (completed)
Subjects: ?? H1 ??
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Depositing User: Symplectic Admin
Date Deposited: 06 Aug 2015 12:43
Last Modified: 17 Dec 2022 01:33
DOI: 10.17638/02007980
URI: https://livrepository.liverpool.ac.uk/id/eprint/2007980