A new political economy of youth reprised: rejoinder to France and Threadgold

ABSTRACT

In a previous issue of this journal, France and Threadgold [2015. “Youth and Political Economy: Towards a Bourdieusian Approach.” Journal of Youth Studies doi:10.1080/13676261.2015.1098779] claim that they ‘strongly believe that a political economy perspective remains vital for understanding macro-structural power’ (8), yet they reject key aspects of the version I recommended in an earlier issue of this journal [Côté. J. E. 2014a.“Towards a New Political Economy of Youth.” Journal of Youth Studies 17 (4): 527–543]. They also present a Bourdieusian framework, asserting that it provides a better understanding of the effects of political and the economic forces on the lives of young people. In this article, I show how their rejection of the political-economy-of-youth perspective is based on their misunderstandings of some of the fundamental concepts of that perspective, as well as their misrepresentations of what I recommend to the youth studies community concerning that perspective. Consequently, although their Bourdieusian framework may be useful in illuminating certain aspects of the problem, their attempt to promote their framework as a better approach to the political economy of youth is based on unfounded claims. I use their errors to illustrate several metatheoretical principles that can help researchers to be less imperialistic in their claims, and I offer an analysis of how this dispute reflects the current fragmented nature of the field of youth studies.

KEYWORDS:

• Rejoinder
• political economy of youth
• false consciousness
• Bourdieu
• metatheory

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

1. I found only one study (unpublished) attempting this but the operationalization of habitus appears rather remote from how the concept is used qualitatively, using four variables measuring ‘saving for college, parental involvement in student's school, parenting styles in relation to student's academic performance, and engaging in conversations about current events' (Spinosa 2011, 148).