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Thinking about the Future: Young People in Low-Income Families

Author

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  • Julia Brannen

    (Thomas Coram Research Unit, Social Research Institute, UCL Institute of Education, London WC1H 0AA, UK)

  • Rebecca O’Connell

    (Thomas Coram Research Unit, Social Research Institute, UCL Institute of Education, London WC1H 0AA, UK)

Abstract

This paper examines the orientations to the future of young people living in low-income families in the U.K. and Portugal following the 2008 Global Financial Crisis and the contexts in which they are socially reproduced. It is based on data from comparative research on families and food poverty, funded by the European Research Council. The study focused on parents and young people aged 11–16 living in low-income families in three European countries (the U.K., Portugal and Norway); only the U.K. and Portuguese data were analysed here. Given the study was concerned with the consequences of low income for food insecurity, we primarily sought to understand how young people manage in the present; however, the project also affords a theoretical and methodological opportunity to explore young people’s thoughts about the future as they begin to transition to adulthood. We found that, when asked about the future, young people responded in different ways: some said they did not think about the future; others mentioned their dreams, but considered them unrealisable. while others expressed hopes that were more concrete and achievable. Precarity constrained the control that young people and their families exercised over their lives. We argue that young people’s aspirations and time horizons are framed in relation to the present and the temporalities of the life course, the public discourses to which they are subjected and the limited access of their families to resources provided by the labour market and the state.

Suggested Citation

  • Julia Brannen & Rebecca O’Connell, 2022. "Thinking about the Future: Young People in Low-Income Families," Societies, MDPI, vol. 12(3), pages 1-11, May.
  • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsoctx:v:12:y:2022:i:3:p:86-:d:828425
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. O'Connell, Rebecca & Brannen, Julia, 2021. "Families and Food in Hard Times," University of Chicago Press Economics Books, University of Chicago Press, number 9781787356573, December.
    2. Roy Huijsmans & Nicola Ansell & Peggy Froerer, 2021. "Introduction: Development, Young People, and the Social Production of Aspirations," The European Journal of Development Research, Palgrave Macmillan;European Association of Development Research and Training Institutes (EADI), vol. 33(1), pages 1-15, February.
    3. Michał Dudek & Ruta Śpiewak, 2022. "Effects of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Sustainable Food Systems: Lessons Learned for Public Policies? The Case of Poland," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 12(1), pages 1-19, January.
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