Policy Press
Drawing on empirical research, this book provides an innovative exploration of youth and work, showing how youth identities are connected with the dynamics of labour and value in contemporary capitalism.

In the past, youth has been seen as a transition into the labour market, but today young people’s identities are increasingly wrapped up in their value as workers.

In this book, young people describe the meaning of work in their own words. Drawing on these narratives, the author reveals how their identities are intertwined with the dynamics of labour and value in post-Fordist capitalism and how social inequalities are manifested through the practices and ethics that young people draw upon to cultivate an economically productive self.

Illuminating the rapidly changing social conditions that mould youth identities, this book represents a paradigm shift in our understanding of youth and work.

"Farrugia shows how youth itself is formed through the requirement to become a worker. This book is a must-read for those interested in the changing nature of work." Dan Woodman, The University of Melbourne

“This book is a timely intervention. Its focus on the formation of distinctive subjectivities by young workers and the complex biopolitical relationship between the self, productivity and value sets a profound new direction for youth sociology.” Johanna Wyn, The University of Melbourne

David Farrugia is Senior Lecturer in Sociology at the University of Newcastle, Australia.

Young People, Work and Society: New Terrain

Youth in the New Economy: The Post-Fordist Self

Passionate Subjects and the Middle-Class Self at Work

Subjects of Achievement: Social Mobility, Competence and Aspiration

Socially Appropriate and Credentialled: The Struggle for the Working Self

Conclusion: Young People in the Work Society

Methodological Afterword