Often in youth work and informal education, we work alongside young people to create and design 'The Contract'. This short think piece aims to encourage practitioner appraisal of the process and product consideration of working with layers of values in a youth work setting and how to improve equality, diversity and inclusion and enable freedoms and rights. Posing questions around our work to reflect on our practice should work to strengthen approaches and increase awareness of the styles employed to enable young people in social informal education.
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The concept of the social contract, stems from political philosophy, noting an implicit agreement among members of a society to cooperate for social benefits. In youth work, we devise 'The Contract' in a similar way to capture benefits through positive ideas based in social co-operation. However, a critical analysis reveals that this arrangement of the social contract often disadvantages young people in a variety of ways, stemming from structural inequalities and power imbalances within society.
The following are valuable to consider in relation to youth work processes in activity planning and design to ensure that we elevate and improve responses to young people and broaden the scope of our practice.
The Social Contract Can Limit Participation In Decision Making Processes.
The social contract in principle aims to encourage the participation of individuals in decisions that shape society - within our context, decisions that shape the way the youth provision will form to positive social norms. Young people often find themselves excluded or marginalised firstly from social contract processes, as an example; policies and laws are often developed without consideration of the needs and perspectives of young , leading to decisions that may not align to young people's interest or aspirations.
In some ways, the Youth Work contract can if not undertaken effectively has the potential to replicate these dominant social ideas. The time to research and understand the words and phrases developed to continue discussion regarding how the implementation of contract content impact on individuals and groups.
To be explicit, I have been part of the development of 'The Contract' many times and have seen in virtually every youth work setting, a valuable list of key terms and phrases that express values, ideologies meant for good - my observations are that they are often very similar (I imagine based on youth work values and principles) and developed as part of a wider activity on flip chart in about half an hour(ish).
Respect as a single word often appears for instance in these discussions, I wonder how detailed this discussion was? How the views on respect really really work to challenge prejudice and discrimination? Or in contrast how the invisible power formations are subtly enabled without collective research and storytelling about what this means through the lenses of gender, gender identity, race, religion or beliefs, disability to form effective representation rather than fitting in to ideas that have not been explored.
Inequality Of Access To Resources
The social contract acknowledges that individuals contribute to society through their effort and obedience to both written and unwritten norms, laws, policies and social advantage in exchange for access to resources and opportunities. It is clear however that young people, particularly those young people that society marginalises alongside communities, face systemic barriers that limit access to education, employment and services. An unequal distribution of resources can lead to intergenerational poverty and reduces the ability of young people to fully participate in society. The myth of the meritocracy is evident here and is a consideration in the design of activities and services for young people,
In a youth work context, compliance through 'The Contract' in youth work does have real benefit and gives power, but arguably does not always share power equally. Access to decision making, particularly voice, comes through the ability for young people to 'perform' and adopt a language that may be unfamiliar or a set of values that do not feel safe. Representation of young people by young people is often based upon the 'obedience' raised in the wider social contract.
This creates a discourse discussion for the youth work team to consider how to disrupt and challenge this aspect of social conformity whilst balancing a safe environment. Our work is both amazing and yet complex and the important understanding of what we do and why we do it, should be present in each step. Shifting the access to power and resources in youth work requires time to understand the present voice, learn from the experiences that has promoted particular views to establish a version of contract that carries real purpose and is based upon young people's truths. To work alongside young people as a change maker, replication is not the answer, particularly of wider social models the isolate and distance young people from their freedoms and aspirations.
Debt And Obligations
The social contract imposes obligations on young people, such as student loan debt or an expectation to enter the workforce within a period of instability and increased in the labour market. This may limit young people's ability to aspire to higher education, achievement of financial independence and therefore contribute to society in a 'meaningful' way. The ongoing cycle of economic security and dependence as the squaring the circle economic challenges are perpetuated.
In youth work, the development of skills, attainment of social cohesion may now be a poor partner in the youth work offer and to an extent why I consider that youth work should operate both inside and outside the centre.
Further consideration of how the value of youth work activities aligns to the socio-political challenges to create pathways that young aspire to. The meritocratic principles of 'work hard and use your talents' it would seem now create debt and obligation and ongoing discussion with young people who are aware of this dynamic in an experiential sense. As social actors we should be striving to ensure that we are taking a stance and not replicating these obligations through alignment with funding streams that perpetuate now historic of valuable youth work.
There is a need for a breath of fresh air in youth work to challenge the debt and obligations hidden within a false meritocracy.
Lack Of Representation and Advocacy
The social contract establishes an assumption that individuals have the opportunity to advocate for their rights and interests within society. Young people often lack adequate representation on social forums and political institutions. Voices are frequently ignored and overlooked, dismissal is a clear feature which leads to the further marginalisation and reinforcing age based stereotypes and prejudice. There is an issue regarding the demonisation of young people on social media in communities, inept political understanding of the experiences of young people.
"The Contract' in informal social education is perhaps a very powerful tool when done properly to take the representation and advocacy up and out of the safe place of youth work to encourage young people to share their story in the social and political environments that whilst challenging, should be a positively framed takeover of spaces that young people have the right to occupy, attend and share their stories, compliment developments and promote their ideas.
Whilst the social contract is intended to foster cooperation and mutual benefit within society, the implementation often disadvantages young people due to a range of systemic inequalities, age-based discrimination, and a lack of representation and agency.
The role of the youth worker in addressing these challenges, requires a concerted effort to dismantle structural barriers, amplify the voices of young people, and ensure that policies and institutions are inclusive and responsive to their needs and aspirations. Only then can the social contract and in youth work 'The Contract' truly fulfill its promise of justice and equality for all members of society, regardless of age.
'The Contract' in youth work I would argue is young people's first political manifesto and not a way of managing behaviour around a pool table. If we are to understand that political philosophy is how the wider social contract is determined. This manifesto should be the cornerstone on how the design and development of voice and agency is represented outside of the walls of the youth provision - taken to the community, taken to those in power; negotiated as fundamental principles of Youth Work.
I wonder what you think? Comment on this thread and share your thoughts. Do you have examples on how you have effectively used 'The Contract' to go beyond, please share this in The Youth Work Common Room forum spaces to develop discussions and perhaps even find a new way.
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