The COVID-19 pandemic and youth in recent, historical perspective: more pressure, more precarity

MacDonald, Robert; King, Hannah; Murphy, Emma; Gill, Wendy

Abstract

Young people have faced some of the hardest social and economic impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic and associated lockdowns. Taking a critical Youth Studies perspective, we draw on research with nearly 1,000 16-to-30-year olds in North East England in order to rectify the 'structured absence’ of young people’s viewpoints in national media and political commentary about the pandemic. Our findings contradict narratives about young people as lockdown 'rule breakers’ and demonstrated the immediate pressures that they faced vis-à-vis family and social life, well-being, and education and employment. Going further than most recent COVID-19 research – and in disagreement with the notion of a so-called 'COVID generation’ - we locate these pressures of the moment within the already hostile social-economic conditions that existed for young people in the UK pre-COVID and a discussion of the pressures to come, particularly in terms of longer-term labour market conditions and outcomes. Amidst very rapidly changing political and economic circumstances in the UK, continuing precarity for young people seems to be one certainty. We conclude by identifying some important priorities for youth research.

Citation

MacDonald, R., King, H., Murphy, E., & Gill, W. (2024). The COVID-19 pandemic and youth in recent, historical perspective: more pressure, more precarity. Journal of Youth Studies, 27(5), 723-740. https://doi.org/10.1080/13676261.2022.2163884

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Dec 28, 2022
• Online Publication Date: Feb 2, 2023
• Publication Date: 2024
• Deposit Date: Jan 5, 2023
• Publicly Available Date: Jul 25, 2023
• Journal: Journal of Youth Studies
• Print ISSN: 1367-6261
• Electronic ISSN: 1469-9680
• Publisher: Taylor and Francis Group
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 27
• Issue: 5
• Pages: 723-740
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/13676261.2022.2163884
• Public URL: https://durham-repository.worktribe.com/output/1182540
• Publisher URL: https://www.tandfonline.com/journals/CJYS