Peter Kelly's article "Youth at Risk: Processes of individualisation and responsibilisation in the risk society" provides information meant to open people's eyes with regard to how youth-at-risk discourses are meant to function as a tool to control young people and to shape their thinking in order to make them hesitant about becoming delinquent, deviant, or disadvantaged. The article practically emphasizes how youth-at-risk ideas are purposed to identify a series of problems that young people are likely to come across and to address these respective problems in order for society to have as little troubled youths as possible.
¶ … Youth at Risk: Processes of individualisation and responsibilisation in the risk society" provides information meant to open people's eyes with regard to how youth-at-risk discourses are meant to function as a tool to control young people and to shape their thinking in order to make them hesitant about becoming delinquent, deviant, or disadvantaged. The article practically emphasizes how youth-at-risk ideas are purposed to identify a series of problems that young people are likely to come across and to address these respective problems in order for society to have as little troubled youths as possible.
Discourses of youth typically focus on promoting the concept that adolescence is a period in which individuals must go from being children to being adults. These people should apparently abandon their childish thinking and concentrate on behaving like adults during this time-frame.
While youth at risk discourses are essentially meant to have society turn into a better place, the fact that they promote the idea that every young person is predisposed to putting across deviant behavior means that they are actually meant to regulate youthful identities. By installing new forms of modernization and standardization, the social order is apparently trying to shape young people's personalities and have them behave in a certain way in order to avoid suffering as a result of their vulnerability.
Hook's article "KIDS: Transgressive Subject Matter" further contributes to Kelly's point-of-view by making it possible for readers to understand how films displaying deviant adolescent behavior can be associated on account of the way they portray young people. Kids's producers have apparently intended to have viewers acknowledge the delicate state of teenagers in the present. However, this might influence some children watching the film to believe that it would be perfectly normal for children to be corrupt. The film practically promotes the idea that there is nothing wrong with children who engage in deviant behavior, as adolescence is a period during which young people are likely to do some of the craziest things in their lives (Hooks, 81).
Some youth discourses are, according to Kelly, intended to persuade young people to think that they are at a point where they need to choose the best option available in order for them to be more likely to live normal lives. However, such ideas can make some people consider that there is something wrong with them and that youth-at-risk discussions are simply meant to emphasize that they are different from the rest of the social order (Kelly, 26).
Kitty te Riele's article further supports Kelly's point-of-view by showing how youth discourses can make some young people feel marginalized. These discussions practically divide young people in two different camps -- one that is normal and one that is predisposed to putting across deviant behavior. The fact that the authorities wrongfully attempt to address the issue concerning how youths have problems instead of also trying to realize what might be wrong with the system is a principal reason why some young people continue to think that they are never going to be able to fully integrate the social order. It is practically as if society singles out these individuals and tries to make them accept their position as outcasts. A young person who believes that he or she is more likely to commit immoral acts when compared to other individuals his or her age is predisposed to engage in deviant behaviors. The masses stigmatize particular groups of young people and make it difficult for them to gain a complex understanding of the situation they are in (te Riele, 134).
In some cases young people are encouraged to play an active role in getting control over their lives in order to avoid coming across problematic situations. "Here, individuals, groups, and communities are 'encouraged freely and rationally, to conduct themselves.'" (Kelly, 29) While such behaviors can be effective in some cases, they can have a devastating effect in others. Such thinking can influence individuals to believe that it would be better to keep their problems to themselves instead of trying to turn to a more experienced person for help. Young people suffering from sexually transmitted diseases are very probable to hide their problems from the rest of the world on account of being embarrassed. The fact that youth-at-risk discourses relate to these problems and emphasize their gravity further makes it problematic for a person to want to discuss them. Adolescents are obsessed with self-image and acknowledging that they have an STD is in the eyes of many an upsetting idea.
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