IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/cysrev/v81y2017icp139-147.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Youth workers' use of Facebook for mediated pastoralism with juvenile delinquents and youths-at-risk

Author

Listed:
  • Lim, Sun Sun

Abstract

Youth work seeks to rehabilitate juvenile delinquents for re-entry into mainstream society and to prevent youths-at-risk from falling into delinquency, thus necessitating that youth workers assiduously monitor their clients. With the avid use of social media by youths, youth workers must also adopt these communication platforms to reach out to their young clients. Drawing from interviews with youth workers, this study analyses how they use Facebook to communicate with their clients and monitor their activities. Surveillance forms a key thrust of youth workers' professional use of Facebook, enhancing their ability to oversee these youths' personal development for the purposes of mentoring and rehabilitation. Contrary to dystopian, power-centric conceptions of surveillance, the study finds that the youth workers' surveillance of their clients is undergirded by care and beneficence, better understood using Foucault's concept of pastoralism. Through mediated pastoralism via Facebook, these youth workers can derive a more extensive picture of their clients, including their emotional state and peer interactions. With this knowledge, the youth workers can then calibrate their interventions more strategically and only step in when their clients engage in behaviour that poses significant risks or danger. In so doing, the youth workers foster sustainable social capital with their clients that they can still leverage over time. Facebook communications also help the youth workers to bridge communication gaps with these youths. The study also examines how the youths resist the youth workers' oversight in various ways.

Suggested Citation

  • Lim, Sun Sun, 2017. "Youth workers' use of Facebook for mediated pastoralism with juvenile delinquents and youths-at-risk," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 81(C), pages 139-147.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:cysrev:v:81:y:2017:i:c:p:139-147
    DOI: 10.1016/j.childyouth.2017.08.004
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0190740917301780
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.childyouth.2017.08.004?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Urdal, Henrik & Hoelscher, Kristian, 2009. "Urban youth bulges and social disorder : an empirical study of Asian and Sub-Saharan African cities," Policy Research Working Paper Series 5110, The World Bank.
    2. Khong, Lana Yiu Lan, 2009. "Runaway youths in Singapore: Exploring demographics, motivations, and environments," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 31(1), pages 125-139, January.
    3. Boyas, Javier F. & Wind, Leslie H. & Ruiz, Erika, 2015. "Exploring patterns of employee psychosocial outcomes among child welfare workers," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 52(C), pages 174-183.
    4. Parton, Nigel, 2009. "Challenges to practice and knowledge in child welfare social work: From the 'social' to the 'informational'?," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 31(7), pages 715-721, July.
    5. Schwartz, Sarah E.O. & Rhodes, Jean E. & Liang, Belle & Sánchez, Bernadette & Spencer, Renée & Kremer, Sarah & Kanchewa, Stella, 2014. "Mentoring in the digital age: Social media use in adult–youth relationships," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 47(P3), pages 205-213.
    6. Case, A.C. & Katz, L.F., 1991. "The Company You Keep: The Effects Of Family And Neighborhood On Disadvantaged Younths," Harvard Institute of Economic Research Working Papers 1555, Harvard - Institute of Economic Research.
    7. Székely, Levente & Nagy, Ádám, 2011. "Online youth work and eYouth — A guide to the world of the digital natives," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 33(11), pages 2186-2197.
    8. Carson, Dena C., 2013. "Perceptions of prosocial and delinquent peer behavior and the effect on delinquent attitudes: A longitudinal study," Journal of Criminal Justice, Elsevier, vol. 41(3), pages 151-161.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Miller, J. Jay, 2020. "Developing self-care competency among child welfare workers: A first step," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 108(C).
    2. Feng, Yao, 2011. "Local spillovers and learning from neighbors: Evidence from durable adoptions in rural China," MPRA Paper 33924, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    3. Adnan Q. Khan & Steven F. Lehrer, 2013. "The Impact of Social Networks on Labour Market Outcomes: New Evidence from Cape Breton," Canadian Public Policy, University of Toronto Press, vol. 39(s1), pages 1-24, May.
    4. Garfield O. Blake, 2015. "Using Increases in Criminal Deportees from the US to Estimate the Effect of Crime on Economic Growth and Development in Latin America and the Caribbean," Laws, MDPI, vol. 4(4), pages 1-18, November.
    5. Machikita, Tomohiro, 2006. "Are Job Networks Localized in a Developing Economy? Search Methods for Displaced Workers in Thailand," IDE Discussion Papers 84, Institute of Developing Economies, Japan External Trade Organization(JETRO).
    6. Katherine M. O'Regan & John M. Quigley, 1996. "Teenage Employment and the Spatial Isolation of Minority and Poverty Households," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 31(3), pages 692-702.
    7. Liu, Xiaodong & Patacchini, Eleonora & Zenou, Yves & Lee, Lung-Fei, 2011. "Criminal Networks: Who is the Key Player?," Research Papers in Economics 2011:7, Stockholm University, Department of Economics.
    8. Patrick Bayer & Stephen L. Ross, 2006. "Identifying Individual and Group Effects in the Presence of Sorting: A Neighborhood Effects Application," Working papers 2006-13, University of Connecticut, Department of Economics, revised Jan 2009.
    9. Matthias Doepke & Giuseppe Sorrenti & Fabrizio Zilibotti, 2019. "The Economics of Parenting," Annual Review of Economics, Annual Reviews, vol. 11(1), pages 55-84, August.
    10. Maria De Paola & Vincenzo Scoppa, 2010. "Peer group effects on the academic performance of Italian students," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 42(17), pages 2203-2215.
    11. Narayan Sastry & Bonnie Ghosh-Dastidar & John Adams & Anne R. Pebley, 2003. "The Design of Multilevel Survey of Children, Families, and Communities: The Los Angeles Family and Neighborhood Survey," Working Papers 03-21, RAND Corporation.
    12. Guyonne Kalb & Sholeh A. Maani, 2007. "The Importance of Observing Early School Leaving and Usually Unobserved Background and Peer Characteristics in Analysing Academic Performance," Melbourne Institute Working Paper Series wp2007n05, Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research, The University of Melbourne.
    13. Fajnzylber, Pablo & Lederman, Daniel & Loayza, Norman, 2002. "What causes violent crime?," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 46(7), pages 1323-1357, July.
    14. Zai Liang & Feinuo Sun, 2020. "The lasting impact of parental migration on children's education and health outcomes: The case of China," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 43(9), pages 217-244.
    15. George Gray-Molina & Wilson Jimenez & Ernesto Perez de Rada, 2002. "Social Exclusion: Residential Segregation in Bolivian Cities," Research Department Publications 3136, Inter-American Development Bank, Research Department.
    16. Anna Piil Damm, 2009. "Ethnic Enclaves and Immigrant Labor Market Outcomes: Quasi-Experimental Evidence," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 27(2), pages 281-314, April.
    17. Gudrun Østby, 2016. "Rural–urban migration, inequality and urban social disorder: Evidence from African and Asian cities," Conflict Management and Peace Science, Peace Science Society (International), vol. 33(5), pages 491-515, November.
    18. Mari Rege & Kjetil Telle & Mark Votruba, 2012. "Social Interaction Effects in Disability Pension Participation: Evidence from Plant Downsizing," Scandinavian Journal of Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 114(4), pages 1208-1239, December.
    19. Antoni Calvó-Armengol & Yves Zenou, 2004. "Social Networks And Crime Decisions: The Role Of Social Structure In Facilitating Delinquent Behavior," International Economic Review, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania and Osaka University Institute of Social and Economic Research Association, vol. 45(3), pages 939-958, August.
    20. repec:pri:crcwel:wp98-20-teitler is not listed on IDEAS
    21. J. B. Engberg & T. Kim, "undated". "Person or Place? Parametric and semiparametric estimates of intrametropolitan earnings variation," Institute for Research on Poverty Discussion Papers 1089-96, University of Wisconsin Institute for Research on Poverty.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:cysrev:v:81:y:2017:i:c:p:139-147. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/childyouth .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.