Betsy Thom & Rosemary Sales 
Growing up with risk [PDF ebook] 

Growing up with risk provides a critical analysis of ways in which risk assessment and management – now a pervasive element of contemporary policy and professional practice – are defined and applied in policy, theory and practice in relation to children and young people. Drawing on conceptual frameworks from across the social sciences, the book examines contrasting perspectives on risk that occur in different policy domains and professional and lay discourses, discussing the dilemmas of response that arise from these sometimes contested viewpoints – from playground safety to risks associated with youthful substance use. The contributors address issues of gender, ethnicity and socio-economic status which impact on definitions and responses to risk, and consider related concepts, such as ‘risk-resilience’, care-control’ and ‘dependence-autonomy’. Written in an accessible manner, each chapter provides a specific policy case study to illustrate the cross-cutting themes and issues that will make it a key text for researchers and students. It also offers policy makers and practitioners a valuable insight into the complexities of balancing responsibility for protecting the young with the benefits of risk taking and the need to allow young people to experiment.

Over de auteur

Betsy Thom is Reader in Drug and Alcohol Studies at Middlesex University. Rosemary Sales is Professor of Social Policy, specialising in refugee and migration studies, Middlesex University. Jenny Pearce is Professor of Young People and Public Policy, University of Bedfordshire