C. Katz Resources

Katz, C. (1998). Disintegrating developments: Global economic restructuring and the eroding of ecologies of youth. In Skelton, T. & Valentine, G. (eds.). (1998). Cool places: Geographies of youth culture, 130-144. London & New York: Routledge.

OVERVIEW

This writer is concerned how "global economic restructuring and other forces of ‘globalization’ have cut a swath through the everyday environments of young people in settings as far different as New York City and rural Sudan."

In Howa, Sudan, the Suki Agricultural Project turned small, subsistence farms, woodlands, meadows, and pastures into a an irrigated and intensely fertilized groundnut and cotton agricultural project. As a result the surrounding areas suffered from over-use and people were forced into a cash economy. Children and youth were forced into menial jobs and therefore "were not learning what they were likely to need to know in their adulthood….most young people were unlikely to have access to productive land when they came of age.

Consider changes that have come to New York City:

• Dis-investments in manufacturing, shipping, and warehousing,.
• Declines in construction and infrastructural maintenance.
• Shrinkage of government posts (including military).
• Transition to high-tech service economy, especially in finance industry.

The result of these factors is a greater split between low-paying, menial jobs and high paying professional and technical careers.

Unemployment among (NY) teens 16-19 years-old…increased from 18 to 36 per cent between 1988 and 1993. (Citizens’ Committee, 1995:47) Biases around race, gender, and ethnicity, among other things, further divide the labour market, leaving some segments—most notably African American men—with disastrously few prospects for employment. As in Sudan, political-economic shifts (many associated with global processes) render the knowledge acquisition of many young people moot.

The question of knowledge leads to the issue of schooling, which—especially in the inner city—has deteriorated in the gutting of state and local budgets tied integrally to urban disinvestment and the renewed segregation of race and class with which it is associated.

…there are well known but equally pernicious effects created by the decay and outright elimination of public environments for outdoor play and recreation.

Refusing to fall into cynicism or hopelessness from the above scenario, this author found herself renewed by grass-roots initiatives. When power wells broke down in Sudan, the people built hand pumps from wells that were more accessible and reliable. The Sudanese villagers went on to build girls’ schools the government failed to provide. In Harlem, NYC, residents in land-lord abandoned apartment houses organized to take control of the property. Others redesigned two school yards for recreational use, and in Spanish Harlem, the El Barrio Popular Educational Program improved neighborhood education.

In conclusion, this writer encourages "connecting youth movements" and bringing together the ideas and actual circumstances that will enable young people to affect our future and theirs. For the future’s sake young people must have work and opportunity.

It is important to take seriously what the absence of work—what "not future"—means to them as they construct their identities and make place.

Young people’s growth and development depends upon environments that

• • Provide stimulation.
  • Allow autonomy.
  • Offer possibilities for exploration.
  • Promote independent learning and peer group socialization.

These criteria are important in all settings, no just those designed specifically for teens such as schools, leisure environments, and teen centres.

QUESTIONS FOR REFLECTION AND DISCUSSION

1. What is the main point of this article?
2. How do you understand globalization? What possible economic effects of this process is seen here to affect young people all around the world?
3. Do people need to work?
4. How do you see young people suffering from being inadequately prepared to face the future, from lack of education, or from the lack of jobs that pay adequate salaries and can give them some future hope?
5. What solutions or responses does this author suggest?

IMPLICATIONS

• This author has stated that her commitment to youth has given her hope. Providing for healthy socialization and training of children and young people, is a sign of a healthy society.
• Growing gaps between rich and poor, privileged and disadvantaged must be stopped. It is dangerous for a society and the world to allow the festering of a neglected underclass.
• Positive signs of hope are all around for any who will look for them.