Further reading<\/strong><\/a>.)<\/p>\nA further important step is for workers to examine what their values may mean in the lives of the people they work with. Choosing values is an intensely personal affair. By and large it is not the worker who has to live with the consequences of his\/her intervention in another persons life For this reason much importance has been placed on the idea that problems should be defined by the person who \u2018owns\u2019 them. The values we, as workers, hold can be experienced and understood in a completely different way by others. What we may see as sensible \u2018rules\u2019 about behaviour (such as the \u2018doing\u2019 values already discussed) can be experienced as oppressive by the people they are applied to. Workers therefore need to be constantly checking the appropriateness of what they are encouraging.<\/p>\n
Second, workers need to understand how concentrating on individual needs maintains the power structure.<\/strong><\/p>\nWorkers will have to recognise that the concentration on the needs of the individual and small group that has characterised social education up until now may actually work to maintain the uneven distribution of power and so negate their efforts. This may appear to be a harsh judgement to many but an examination of the way power is maintained within our society shows why this may be so.<\/p>\n
When people have power, they, not unnaturally, want to hold on to it. In simple terms this involves the creation of two groups, one on top of the other, using a process known as subordination. The top, powerful group maintains its distinctiveness from the larger, bottom group by setting certain entry requirements. In our society it could be argued that the two main requirements are the possession of:<\/p>\n
\n- property; and\/or<\/li>\n
- academic or professional qualifications.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
[page 38]<\/em><\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/infed.org\/dir\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/social-educators-and-politics.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
Today it is more difficult than in the past for members of the top or dominant group to pass on their privileged status to their sons and daughters. Their children do, of course, start with a special advantage. There is likely to be a background of academic or other success, an environment which encourages the gaining of qualifications and money for special schooling and help. The result is that children in middle class families stand a much greater chance of academic success (e.g. over 70% of students attending polytechnics and universities are from middle class families). Also while rising death duties may have made the passing on of the advantages of wealth more difficult, a similar \u2018improvement\u2019 in tax avoidance has meant that little difference has been made.<\/p>\n
Members of the bottom or excluded group are faced with two choices if they want to increase their power. The first individualistic <\/em> response is to attempt to get the necessary qualifications\/property that will gain them entry. As we have seen, members of the top group have a head start here. They can also alter the entry requirements if it looks like too many people from the bottom group are getting in.<\/p>\nAn alternative choice is the collective <\/em> achievement of power. Here members of the excluded group join and work together in order to take power for the benefit of the group as a whole. Examples of this sort of action would be the day to day conflicts between trade unions and employers, the efforts of ethnic and racial groups to attain civil rights and the attempts of women’s groups and organisations to achieve full equality with men. The excluded group\u2019s main strength is its ability to mobilise significant numbers of people in such things as strikes, pickets, demonstrations, marches and so on. As such, collective responses often find themselves with legal problems (not unexpectedly as the power holders use the legal system to maintain their own position). The types of action already mentioned can also be very costly in personal terms and are therefore difficult to sustain over a long period.<\/p>\nTo sum up, the top or dominant group is in a strong position to hold on to power. It makes the rules (and therefore has \u2018the law\u2019 on its side), its sons and daughters have a head start in gaining the necessary entry requirements and its methods of getting and keeping power involve fewer direct personal costs. When we look at what youth workers do, the significance of this analysis quickly shows itself.<\/p>\n
Social educators only work with a small proportion of the youth population. As long as they continue to emphasise individual needs to the exclusion of collective needs, all they will be doing is to oil the wheels of the subordination process. An example of this sort of process is when workers help young people to get jobs by tackling things like self presentation and social skills. They are dealing with a private trouble yet [page 39]<\/em> the public issue is a considerable shortfall of jobs. The collective or public need is for an expansion of job opportunities or their alternative. If the worker is successful s\/he merely alters which individuals get through the gate into the privileged group. The worker does not affect the overall balance between the groups. In other words, s\/he meets the needs of one group at the expense of the other.<\/p>\nHere then, is the challenge facing social educators. They have traditionally worked in individualistic areas, \u2018private troubles\u2019. By doing so, they have contributed toward the smoother functioning of a system that their values would appear to be in conflict with. If they are to bring their practice into line with their values then they have to work in the area of collective action. They must deal with \u2018public issues\u2019.<\/p>\n
Third, workers need to understand the relation of young people to power.<\/strong><\/p>\nWe often talk about young people\u2019s \u2018powerlessness\u2019 without fully grasping the nature of their position. As well as being young, young people also have a particular gender, race and class and through these will experience power in different ways.<\/p>\n
If we begin at a general level we can see that individually<\/em> young people have not accumulated significant property or qualification. In addition they are not in a position to take sustained collective action. The institutions to which they belong (such as schools) discourage it; they [page 40] <\/em> have, as yet, little of the knowledge, feelings or skills necessary for successful actions; and the whole period is one of change which works against any sustained activity. Where they join community organisations such as political parties and unions, their interests and actions are frequently seen as an irritant, something those organisations could do without.<\/p>\nThe one major power young people have is a negative <\/em> one \u2014 their ability to be a threat to order. It was such a fear of the mob which fanned the development of youth work in the late nineteenth century and it is a similar fear which has more recently loosened municipal purse strings in a number of metropolitan areas. It is, however, a difficult power for young people to take any advantage of.<\/p>\nBeyond this general level there are big differences in the way young people experience power. We should not isolate the mechanisms we have been discussing from the classes they create. To a large extent, young people\u2019s experience of power will be affected by the relationship of their families to the subordination process. Thus children from families in the dominant group are likely to gain certain ideas, feelings and skills \u2014 those which reinforce the \u2018rightness\u2019 of their position and their ability to hold on to it. In a similar way young people who come from families where there has been a history of involvement in collective action will be affected by that experience. Their view of the nature of power and how it is achieved will generally be different from the children of the \u2018top\u2019 group, but they also could be prepared to act politically. Young people from families who have suffered subordination without taking collective action are unlikely to possess such confidence, knowledge or skills. They also have a more restricted access to the means to take action.<\/p>\n
If the young person\u2019s class position and familiarity with political action is important then their potential class position is also significant. In advance of their fulfilling the full entry requirements for membership of the dominant group, young people who look like getting a good range of academic\/professional qualifications or achieving a substantial holding of property can often be allowed to develop and exercise power \u2018on licence\u2019. A classic example of this process is the government patronage of student unions.<\/p>\n
Beyond class and age two further characteristics need careful attention \u2014 gender and race. They remain deep and powerful means of discrimination.<\/p>\n
Firstly, at an individualistic <\/em> level there is a great deal of evidence about the under-representation of women and minority ethnic groups in higher education, apprenticeships, and training for the \u2018professions\u2019. [page 41] <\/em> They are, therefore, falling down on the \u2018qualification\u2019 entry to the dominant group. Secondly, in relation to collective action <\/em> we can see that women and members of minority ethnic groups do not occupy such a strategic position in the labour market. The sectors of the labour force that have industrial \u2018muscle\u2019 such as the power workers are predominantly white and male. Women tend to occupy low paid and part-time jobs spurned by men which are, almost by definition, weak in industrial power. Similarly, Black and Asian workers tend to be in the low paid sector.<\/p>\nMembers of minority ethnic groups, then, face a double exclusion. They are usually members of the subordinate class and, therefore, experience the dominant class\u2019s attempts to keep them from getting too powerful. However they also experience racism from white members of both classes. Thus, for instance, ethnic minorities are harder hit by unemployment, do not achieve formal positions of power and fail to have their interests adequately represented by trade unions. A similar argument can be made about women\u2019s experience.<\/p>\n
To fully understand the experience of young people we must use ideas such as class, gender and race. Rather too often in the past we have used the category \u2018youth\u2019 in a far too general way and so ignored the profound differences in experience that, for instance, class generates. Such differences also find expression in the way we, as youth workers, operate.<\/p>\n
Fourth, we need to recognise that these society wide processes are reproduced in our work.<\/strong><\/p>\nThis process of subordination is reproduced in the way youth workers and groups work. If we take any of the four concepts previously discussed \u2014 class, age, gender and race \u2014 and apply them to our day to day youth work then the reproduction becomes clear. A useful example is class.<\/p>\n
From what research evidence we have it can be seen that there is a high proportion of middle class young people involved in youth club committees. The same can be said of other forms of youth participation such as school councils, local youth councils, and in self programming groups such as the Young Farmers. We should not be surprised at this, as these young people are the \u2018sons and daughters\u2019 of the middle class sponsors of such attempts at participation. They know how to behave, feel they have a right to participate and are confident that they have something worth saying. Also they have access to the right sort of knowledge and opportunities. Interestingly the one club members committee in the main piece of research in this area that had a substantial working class membership was based in a coal mining area [page 42] <\/em>where there was a strong history of collective (trade union) action. (John Eggleston, Adolescence and Community Edward Arnold, London, 1 976 p.109).\u00a0 If we look at the example we started with, the \u2018skating trip\u2019 club, a high proportion of its active membership either had parents that were heavily involved in working class organisations such as trade unions and social clubs or were middle class. These examples underline the importance of family or community experience of power in determining the extent to which its children will become involved in \u2018participation\u2019 exercises. Those that come from middle class or active working class families are more likely to \u2018participate\u2019. Young women and men who have not known or seen power and organisation are likely to be excluded from such exercises.<\/p>\nAge plays a powerful role in determining the sort of youth provision young people can expect to experience. It often seems that in the youth workers\u2019 minds there are two age categories that involve two different forms of youth work. Thus for the under-14s youth work is largely competition\/activity based. Over 14 and we begin to see the trimmings of social education \u2014 the attempts at participation, the development of discussions on topics like sex and sexuality, and the use of experiential forms of learning. Such a division cuts right across the developmental needs we examined in the last chapter. In many respects that initial period of adolescence (from 11 to 14 years) involves more change than the later period. It is, after all, in this period that young people have to begin to come to terms with a new set of emotional and physical experiences. It is here that people gain a more sophisticated picture of themselves in the world. Given all this, the way we work with the 11-14 age group seems all the stranger. To deny people the opportunity to have some control over the sort of youth work they receive is a peculiar way of meeting their developmental need for responsibility.<\/p>\n
We can see similar patterns in the way we discriminate on ground of gender or race. In the case of gender, for example, in recent years the evidence concerning the way we work with young men and women builds a formidable case for workers to make a major appraisal of their work. Many of us still encourage girls and young women to view their lives in terms of marriage and motherhood. On the other hand our work with boys remains almost totally orientated toward promoting ideas and activities which reinforce sexist attitudes and does little to encourage young men to examine and understand their masculinity.<\/p>\n
Similarly, whilst most youth workers would claim that they do not discriminate on the grounds of race, a great deal of youth work can still be said to be racist by default. This is because workers fail to do anything about developing anti racist attitudes. Thus when young people come into youth clubs wearing National Front badges and similar insignia\u2014 [page 43]<\/em> their presence goes unchallenged. Racist graffiti and symbols get left up on the walls. Jokes about ethnic minorities get laughed at. Here we see workers through their inaction and sometimes through a misplaced desire to be \u2018one of the boys\u2019 (sic), supporting and colluding with racism.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/infed.org\/dir\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/social-educators-and-politics-2.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
Fifth, workers need to understand the \u2018politics of the youth group\u2019.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\nIn the last section we saw how the subordination process is reproduced in the club or group. We now need to examine how workers themselves \u2018exclude\u2019 young people\u2019s wishes.<\/p>\n
A useful starting point is our attitude to management committees. The youth workers tells his\/her members that they couldn\u2019t possibly be full members of the management committee (and so be able to discuss the worker\u2019s performance and conditions of employment), because they wouldn\u2019t be able to see both sides of the question\/wouldn\u2019t be able to keep confidences\/would be bored by the meetings\/and so on. In other words s\/he is excluding them and maintaining them in a subordinate position. What response can the members make? They have little access to information and to the sources of power. At a collective level, (if they have the confidence and skills to go that far), deputations appear with demands, teams refuse to play, at a negative level equipment gets smashed, relationships become unpleasant. The saddest outcome is when members actually believe the things the worker says about their abilities and attitudes \u2014 they accept the \u2018rightness\u2019 of their powerless position. Here the worker is not simply failing to me et developmental needs but is actively conspiring to block them.<\/p>\n
[page 44]<\/em><\/p>\nIf we go back to our definition of power, we can see that in our examination of the way things happen in youth groups, we should be looking at what gets onto the decision making agenda. An issue has to pass through a number of gateways before a youth worker will answer it directly. Let us consider what might have happened if Neil had been in a different club with a group of workers who saw themselves as the \u2018providers\u2019 and \u2018deciders\u2019.<\/p>\n
The first question is \u2018Would Neil think about making the request for an ice skating trip?\u2019<\/em><\/p>\nIn many clubs and groups the workers create an environment around certain issues so that those issues don\u2019t even cross people\u2019s minds. If there has not been a history of a particular type of activity taking place within the club or group and the workers are not in the business of trying to expand people\u2019s horizons, then it is quite likely that most of the members would not see the group or club as a possible forum for such activities. Examples of this may be using the club or group to talk about sexuality, as a live rock venue or as a means of organising a holiday abroad. In some groups it may not even cross people\u2019s minds that they or the workers could organise an ice skating trip. This process is known as the Mobilization of Bias <\/strong> and is a common obstacle to things not getting on the decision making agenda.<\/p>\n The second question is \u2018Would Nell make the request if he thought a trip was a good idea?\u2019<\/em><\/p>\nLet us assume that the idea of a club skating trip had crossed Neil\u2019s mind. The next hurdle is the actual asking of the question. Frequently questions are not asked or demands made because members believe it would be no good if they did. They \u2018know\u2019 in advance that the workers would refuse because they had \u2018too much work\u2019 or some other excuse. Another response might be that they expect the workers to make no response! The request will simply be left unanswered. A third possibility is that members fear for what could happen if they did speak out \u2014 they expect a retaliatory response. Members may want to complain because a certain person is excluded from the club but don\u2019t speak out because they might be branded as a trouble maker and therefore not \u2018suitable\u2019 for other club activities. This way of stopping an issue reaching the \u2018agenda\u2019 is known as Anticipating Reactions<\/strong>.<\/p>\n Question three is \u2018What happens when Neil does make a request?\u2019<\/em><\/p>\nHere the workers may simply fail to directly respond \u2014 they say neither
\nyes nor no. Examples of this sort of behaviour are<\/p>\n
\n- not \u2018hearing\u2019 the request<\/li>\n
- proposing a delaying course of action e.g. suggesting that a small [page 45] <\/em> group should look into the matter (knowing that the whole thing may fizzle out)<\/li>\n
- saying the idea sounds interesting and proposing that the person should join the members committee\/junior leaders\u2019 group so that s\/he is brought into the power structure and can be more easily controlled.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
This strategy is known as negative decision making <\/strong> \u2014 where people are able to make a noisy protest but nobody listens.<\/p>\nLastly, Neil\u2019s request may actually get on the \u2018agenda\u2019 and a decision is made.<\/p>\n
Figure 6: Non-decision making<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n <\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/infed.org\/dir\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/non-decision-making.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
Based on ‘The non-decision making filter’ in Peter Saunders,
\nUrban Politics. A sociological interpretation<\/em>, London, Penguin 1980, page 29.<\/p>\n[page 46]<\/em><\/p>\nThere is, of course, no guarantee that it will go in his favour. The workers may say no.<\/p>\n
This non-decision making process <\/strong> is shown diagrammatically in Figure 6.<\/em><\/p>\nHere, then, we have the process by which issues are filtered out before an actual decision has to be made. We also need to consider the basis on which the worker is able to use his\/her power. In other words why does the worker have power?<\/p>\n
Much that has been written about the sources of power in social or organisational settings can be brought under six broad headings<\/p>\n
\n- Physical power<\/li>\n
- Resource power<\/li>\n
- Position power<\/li>\n
- Expert power<\/li>\n
- Personal power<\/li>\n
- Negative power<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
(The main characteristics of these sources of power are summarised in Figure 7).<\/p>\n
What such analysis can do is to help us understand the position of workers and what they can do to encourage young people to achieve some control for themselves. Thus, for example, if we apply these headings to the relationship between youth workers and young people, it can be seen that the sources of power most frequently in young people\u2019s hands are negative and physical. In saying this we must bear in mind the following points: Firstly, as we have seen, there is power on both \u2018sides\u2019. Thus what is of interest is the balance of power.<\/p>\n
Secondly, it is important to be clear where that power can be used. Many of the arguments in organisations are about boundaries. What domain can a particular group or individual rule over? Thus whilst the worker may have control over what goes on in certain parts of a club – there may be other parts (such as the toilets!) where his\/her control is more marginal and is in dispute.<\/p>\n
Lastly, the amount of power an individual or group has will change \u2014 it is not constant. Changing circumstances, new issues, will put strains on power relationships, bring new forces into play. The power of one group is likely to be discovered a bluff when it fails to deliver the goods.<\/p>\n
\n\n\n\nFigure 7 Sources of individual power<\/h5>\nThere are six possible sources of individual power which give the holder the ability to influence others<\/p>\n Physical Power. <\/strong> This category is self explanatory \u2014 it is based on the threat or use of physical coercion. It does not have to be used to be effective \u2014 if people believe in its existence and see it as superior to their own power then that will be enough. As a power source it can be particularly significant when adults deal with children, or men with women.<\/p>\n Resource Power. <\/strong> Here the person is in control of resources that others desire. It is also known as \u2018reward power\u2019. Thus where the youth worker has control over a building and the provision for certain activities then s\/he can have considerable power through the threat of withdrawal. Rewards need not be material. They can be things like the granting of status.<\/p>\n Position Power. <\/strong> This power comes through a particular role or position in an organisation. Position gives the holder authority to do certain things. It is sometimes called \u2018legal\u2019 or \u2018legitimate power\u2019 and in the end has to be underwritten by either physical or resource power. Position power gives the holder potential control over some crucial \u2018unseen\u2019 assets.<\/p>\n\n- Information<\/em>. Information is usually directed towards a particular position such as \u2018youth worker\u2019 or \u2018secretary\u2019.<\/li>\n
- Right of access<\/em>. Positions give entry to a variety of networks. Committee membership is often ex officio. People in other organisations will often only \u2018listen\u2019 to those holding a certain level of position.<\/li>\n
- The right to organise<\/em>. Position confers on the holder the right to different behaviours – s\/he controls the way work is organised, the layout of the physical and social environment, the way decisions are made, and so on.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
Expert Power. <\/strong> Expert power is vested in someone because of his\/her acknowledged expertise. It is only influential for as long as it is recognised that the holder has expertise. In a \u2018meritocratic\u2019 society it is a power that many will accept. Only if expertise is questioned do the holders have to resort to other sources of power to get their recommendations accepted.<\/p>\n Personal Power. <\/strong> Also known as \u2018charisma\u2019, here power resides in the person and in his\/her personality. It can be enhanced by a person\u2019s expertise or position. Personal power is tied to success and self confidence and can quickly disappear in defeat. Many people make the mistake of viewing their power as being personal rather than positional.<\/p>\n Negative Power. <\/strong> All the previous forms of power are \u2018legitimate\u2019 in particular situations. If power is used contrary to the agreed rules then it could be said to be negative power. Negative power is, therefore, the ability to stop things happening, to delay them, to distort them. In a sense this power is an \u2018illegitimate\u2019 use of some of the other forms e.g. of position.<\/p>\n(Based on Charles B Handy, Understanding Organisations, <\/em>London: Penguin 1981 (Chapter 5).<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\nUnderstanding the nature of power, how it is used and what is its hidden agenda is of central importance. If youth workers are to seriously make [page 48] <\/em> in their work a space for young people to gain some understanding, confidence and skills in affecting the political forces that structure their lives, then the problem of power has to be tackled. This whole discussion points to the need to face up to the way we keep things off the decision making agenda. How do we, as workers, contribute to young people\u2019s powerlessness?<\/p>\n Sixth, we must look for the possibilities for action<\/strong>.<\/p>\nThe problem with the sort of questions that have been raised here is that they run very deep. Confronting our own racism or sexism can be personally<\/em> very threatening. For instance, as a male youth worker when I begin to examine the way I work with young women and girls it doesn\u2019t stop with questions about the relative range of activities available to them, but has to explore the way I relate to them, what sort of things do we talk about, what sort of attitudes am I communicating? I am then faced with questions about my relationship with women workers in the group. Are they doing \u2018women\u2019s work\u2019 \u2014 looking after the domestic side, the relationships, leaving the men to \u2018organise\u2019? This questioning then leads to my own family relationships. Do I do my share of the housework, cooking or childcare? Is the responsibility for these equally shared? Whose interests are paramount when we make decisions? How do I use the peculiar and \u2018unsocial\u2019 nature of youth work to avoid family responsibilities and so on? It doesn\u2019t even stop there. I then have to start [page 49] <\/em> exploring the way I work with the \u2018lads\u2019. Am I colluding with their sexism so that I can gain entry into their world? Are they going to think I\u2019m \u2018wet\u2019, or eccentric, or completely out of touch with reality if I start questioning their attitudes to women or their macho posturing? This is where it hurts. So much of social education is concerned with process \u2014 with who and what we are \u2014 that we have to get personal about politics.<\/p>\nAlongside an exploration of our personal politics we must also examine what this political dimension means for social education\u2019s broader \u2018curriculum\u2019.<\/p>\n We must return to the issues raised in the last section. As has already been suggested if workers are to help people to meet their own and others developmental needs then action must be taken to share the sources of workers power. If we are to avoid reproducing the subordination process, power has to be put into the hands of the group as a whole. This has implications for the kind of structures that will be needed \u2014 so that information is open, skills can be shared \u2014 and for the ethos\/feelings that will have to be generated. Individuals need to be committed to the group\u2019s ideas and the idea of the group (i.e. respect for the groups authority). The headings suggested in Figure 7 <\/em> provide a useful framework for starting this questioning process.<\/p>\nAt the knowledge <\/strong> level the political curriculum would have to include many of the issues raised in this chapter. The meaning of power, how it relates to concepts such as class, race, gender and age, what it means in day to day life. Beyond that it is necessary to know how the political process can be acted upon. In many respects the development of a political understanding can begin in very simple ways. It might mean that workers have to put a bit more effort into creating opportunities for discussion by doing things like leaving newspapers around, or putting up posters or by \u2018challenging\u2019 people wearing badges. It might mean having a few more \u2018formal\u2019 discussion groups. As has already been suggested, the difficulty with social education is often that there are so many possible cues for conversation \u2014 such as the lads excluding the girls from using the pool table, why people like a particular record, experiences on a particular YOP scheme and so on. Our first problem, as workers, is often that we don \u2019t make the time to listen and talk or don\u2019t recognise the opportunity.<\/p>\nA second problem faced by social educators is that the most appropriate form of learning \u2014 learning by doing \u2014 involves action \u2014 and in this case political action. If we look at some of the knowledge areas that a political education curriculum would cover then we can see that learning about the way local government works is best done through directly trying to influence what it is doing \u2014 what is being learnt is seen as more relevant and immediate. Similarly by starting with the way everyday events in a [page 50] <\/em> person\u2019s life are affected by factors such as class, race, gender and age then the significance of these concepts can be grasped. The problem of course, is that education has generally been seen as passive. People sit behind desks in rows and learn. As soon as they leave the classroom and think and act on that learning then this is somehow not education. The problems multiply when we consider what sort of things might go to make up the skills part of a political education curriculum.<\/p>\nThe ice skating trip shows a considerable cross-over between the concerns of a more traditional social education and the aims of a developmental needs or critical approach. A clear implication of the analysis in this chapter is that action on the political system involves action in groups. As individuals, we have (or feel we have), little chance or power to get things changed. The achievement of power for all members of society involves collective action. In this sense social education\u2019s traditional emphasis on groups, collective and participative ways of working, and the development of the necessary knowledge, feelings and skills for groups to work echoes the contents of a political curriculum. However, what is different is that a developmental needs approach indicates a far more active involvement by workers and young people in the creation of space to be able to do things for themselves. This involves action on the political system. The skills involved are not just the inter personal\/communication skills of group work but the skills of political action \u2014 lobbying, organising public meetings, and so on.<\/p>\n A growing number of workers have discovered the difficulties likely to be faced with managers and employers when they begin work in this area. It is rather more of a problem for full-time workers. Employers (local councillors and their officers) are not known for their charity towards employees who appear to be questioning and challenging decisions they have made. Particularly where this challenge is public. Even where workers have remained within a strictly educational role, their giving of help to those who question their employers policies and actions, brings conflict. There is a sense in which this is inevitable. Social education, if it means anything to local councillors, is likely to be seen as a form of control. The values we have discussed lead to a form of education markedly different.<\/p>\n When we come to the feelings area of the curriculum a similar crossover between traditional and critical approaches is there. The inter personal values have to be translated into political values (as we did in \u2018The politics of developmental needs\u2019). The feeling of personal confidence and worth becomes a sense of solidarity and worth as a group. This identification of the individual with the group is a crucial part of politics.<\/p>\n [page 51]<\/em><\/p>\nIn many respects it is this area that can cause most problems for youth workers with their managers. For what this entails, if we are to follow the logic of our analysis, is for people to define themselves in terms of their gender, race, age and class. Over the last few years much of the political action taken by young people from within a Youth Service context has been by groups who have a close identity with one or more of these factors. Thus we have seen young Black and Asian groups campaigning for improved youth provision, organising around issues such as police harassment and developing a wide range of self help organisations. Similarly we have lately witnessed a mushrooming of activities by groups of young women \u2014 the production of magazines both local and national, putting pressure on for increased \u2018girls only\u2019 provision and so on. The importance of what has been happening in both these areas of youth work is that in practice very clear linkages have been made between young people\u2019s everyday experience and the characteristics by which they are oppressed \u2014 their race, gender and age.<\/p>\n To a certain extent both these areas of work have been allowed to develop within a Youth Service context because they can exploit the (white, male) liberal guilt of those who administer the service. The \u2018solution\u2019 that administrators have proposed \u2014 multicultural mixed youth work – has been found to be wanting. It has been rejected by many of the young people it was supposedly designed for. A vacuum was created \u2014 the Youth Service had no real answer to this rejection yet felt something had to be done. This space has to some extent been filled by workers and groups of young people who defined themselves first and foremost as \u2018Black\u2019 or \u2018Female\u2019. However their success, whilst being significant, is also limited. The direction and form of their work has been experienced as threatening by both administrators and workers. In a sense there is little that can be done about this as the work should be threatening. It should be challenging the racism and sexism that permeates our society.<\/p>\n Beyond youth work defined by gender and race stands a form of work that has not been able to exploit the guilt of those who run the Youth Service \u2014 youth work defined by class. If we accept that social education should be about helping people to understand their relationship to power and to know who else might be in the same boat, then class has to be tackled. Developing people\u2019s consciousness of class and the way their membership of a particular class affects their ideas and life chances can lead workers into difficult areas. However the next two steps \u2014 developing people\u2019s identity with a particular class and taking action on that understanding \u2014 are such that it is difficult to conceive of many situations where state sponsored youth work could handle such activities. How many local authorities would agree to their employees encouraging young people to identify with the \u2018excluded\u2019 class and to undertake collective action i.e. the achievement of power for the group or class as a whole? Such a form of youth w ork, with values and an [page 52] <\/em> analysis which lead to conflict, makes clear the controlling functions of traditional youth work. It is at this point that social education\u2019s values clash with political reality, where politicians\u2019 fine words and phrases dissolve into one – NO!<\/p>\nSo what can social educators do? If they try to push a conflict model of work too far within a state sponsored Youth Service then their money and jobs will soon be lost. If social educators try to forget or skate round the issue their morality has to be questioned. Perhaps the only realistic course is for workers to recognise, that as such a form of social education is oppositional, it must largely take place outside the state sector. It has to be \u2018voluntary\u2019. That said, much can still be done from within the statutory sector and its satellites to support the efforts of those attempting a more critical form of social education.<\/p>\n This then, is some of the ground that an exploration of the possibilities for action must cover. As suggested in the opening paragraphs such an exploration is far from comfortable. It includes looking at one\u2019s personal life, examining the means by which we hold on to power, defining what might be part of a critical social education curriculum. Finally and inevitably it leaves a number of questions about just how far such a form of youth work can be pursued from within a state run youth service.<\/p>\n Seventh, workers need to be sure of their ground before proceeding.<\/strong><\/p>\nAs we have seen, workers that have developed a more critical form of social education work have frequently found themselves in difficulties both with their employers and with the work they have begun. In our experience four broad problem areas have arisen.<\/p>\n \n- The failure to act politically<\/em>. Many attempts in this area have been rather naive. As has been suggested here social education is political and a critical social education is Political with a big \u2018P\u2019. Whilst much of the knowledge and skill involved is that traditionally associated with youth work, the activity surrounding the creation of space for this sort of work involves conscious political action. It involves the creation of links with other organisations and bodies that can support and legitimise the work. The creation of strong and supportive management committees. The convincing of councillors and administrators of the importance and legitimacy of the work.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
Making the work legitimate <\/em> and gaining strength through acting collectively are the two main themes that workers will have to tackle if they are to develop a more critical form of social education. Whilst this conflicts with the \u2018spontaneous\u2019 ethos of much of youth work, it is very necessary if workers are to avoid the mistakes of the past.<\/p>\n[page 53]<\/em><\/p>\n\n- The failure to act educationally<\/em>. It must not be forgotten that the base from which this work springs is an education alone. This means that any interventions with young people have to governed by the sort of values that were discussed in the last chapter. Thus the work must be open, truthful, enhancing of the persons freedom and dignity. Rather too often, workers have got off on a \u2018trip\u2019 of their own. Too often workers have seen themselves as advocates professing to speak for young people rather than directing their efforts into helping people to develop skills for themselves or have allowed their own unworked through feelings to cloud their response to young people\u2019s needs.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
Whilst the relationship between workers and young people has to be educational, the relationship between the worker and his\/her managers is beset with a number of dilemmas. For instance, just how open can, or should, a worker be, given what we have already said about political naivety? There is a need to educate managers and employers but this has to be set alongside the creation of political pressure to support the work you wish to develop. Getting this particular balance right is no easy matter.<\/p>\n iii. The failure to act professionally<\/em>. I\u2019m rather hesitant about using the word \u2018profesional\u2019 as I\u2019ve always felt that it is a singularly inappropriate way of describing the position and relationship of a youth worker with the young people s\/he works with. Perhaps \u2018craftspersonship\u2019 is more appropriate. Whatever, quite a number of problems arise through workers not working out objectives for their work, planning appropriate actions and responses and evaluating what they are doing. The process outlined in Chapter 1 of assessing \u2014 planning \u2014 executing \u2014 evaluating applies equally to the workers organisation of his\/her time as to solving a particular problem.<\/p>\n\n- The failure to recognise the constraints of the working situation<\/em>. Just how much can be achieved in a particular working situation varies from area to area. Workers need to make a careful assessment of just what is possible. If circumstances (and employers in particular) mean that the sort of work you want to engage in will be seriously compromised then it is likely to be better to pursue the work outside a formal youth work context. In other words it has to be done in your own time. Thus groups of workers have used organisations such as their local union branch, local voluntary organisations or groups set up specifically for the purpose to sponsor their work.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
Interestingly some of the most progressive work has occurred where workers have a high degree of accountability to their employers. They have used reports and detailed plans in order to get their work [page 54] <\/em> accepted by their employers whilst at the same time building up a strong political base for their work. Their secret if they have one) has in general been to start small, to gain credibility and then to build on that.<\/p>\n Eighth, Act!<\/strong><\/p>\nWhilst there are very real problems in extending and exploring social education work, there is a tendency for workers to see ghosts. Problems that are in reality marginal gain an importance in workers\u2019 minds that blocks the development of their work. As we have seen it is necessary to be realistic about the prospects but there are gaps and spaces within the Youth Service that can be exploited. In many respects it is the first step into a critical practice that is the most difficult one. Once taken, bits of the jigsaw begin to fall into place, and possibilities appear for a more creative and critical social education.<\/p>\n In conclusion<\/h3>\nFor too long youth workers have tried or pretended to be neutral or nonpolitical. In any society where injustice remains, the social educator has to take sides. As Paulo Freire once wrote<\/p>\n \u201cWashing one\u2019s hands of the conflict between the powerful and the powerless means to side with the powerful, not to be neutral.\u201d<\/p>\n Sadly, through our failure to recognise that social education involves action at both an individual and a collective level, we have taken sides with the powerful.<\/p>\n Will we change?<\/p>\n Mark Smith (1982) Creators not Consumers. Rediscovering social education<\/em> 2e, Leicester: National Association of Youth Clubs.<\/p>\nReprinted with the permission of Youth Clubs UK.<\/p>\n Chapter 4: pages 34 – 54.<\/p>\n Return to main contents page<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n\u00a9 Mark K. Smith 1980, 1982<\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Chapter\u00a04 of Mark Smith’s exploration of youth work and social education – Creators not Consumers. Rediscovering social education (1982). contents: the politics of developmental needs\u00b7 what should workers do?\u00b7 conclusion [page 34] Whilst many of the young people we work with face incredible injustices, are ignorant of their rights and are racist and sexist, our … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":109,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":"","_wp_rev_ctl_limit":""},"class_list":["post-6649","page","type-page","status-publish"],"yoast_head":"\nMark Smith: Creators not consumers. 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