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the dynamics of communities themselves: how people co-operate, forge social bonds and develop culture and identity. One consequence of this was that Labour had a tin ear when it came to questions of identity, belonging and claims to recognition. Most importantly, this left it ill equipped to understand cultural concerns about immigration and other profound changes in national identity. However, it also limited its understanding of rising intergenerational fears and anxieties. Much of the public concern about crime is rooted in a fear of young people; a widespread sense of unease that large numbers of adolescents have not been properly parented and are increasingly cut off from the norms of adult society. This is particularly acute in disadvantaged areas, where young people make up a disproportionate share of the local population but lack stable routes in the adult world of work
On 8th August my daughter was born. The labour ward of a London hospital is always noisy. But as night fell, the sounds of new life coming into the world were drowned out by something altogether more frightening. London was on fire, and the streets echoed to the wails of police sirens. and responsibility. In these areas, communities have been weakened over the last thirty or so years under the stress of unemployment and
Lost innocence. Why did young people destroy their communities? deindustrialisation, and traditional mechanisms of socialisation within the family and community have waned. In consequence, young people have more complex routes to navigate into adulthood, but with less structure and support from the surrounding community. They increasingly socialise themselves within peer groups which, at its extreme, expresses itself in gang cultures. Contact with the adult world authority is restricted to educational institutions and the criminal justice system. Lacking the soft skills needed to gain a foothold in low skill service labour markets, poor young men in particular suffer high unemployment. This is compounded for some ethnic minorities by discrimination from employers. Meanwhile, childhood has become increasingly commercialised. As countries get richer, childhood becomes an important site of commodification, as parents spend more of their disposable income on goods and services for their children. Childhood is now replete with brand identities, advertising campaigns and commercial marketing. Adolescence has become stretched at both ends as, on the one hand, the market economy has reached down further into childhood, creating new groups of tweenager consumers, whilst on the other, entry into stable patterns of adult work and family life takes longer. The issue is not consumerism per se, than how it interacts with these dynamics of childhood and adolescence. Nonetheless, it should have come as no surprise that it was consumer brands, not political slogans, which tripped off the lips of rioters caught on camera.
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A new generational compact
The initial response to the riots has been understandably punitive. In contrast to the riots of the 1980s, the lack of political leadership or collective efficacy in disaffected communities quickly allowed anger to descend into criminality. The messy and violent reality has made it difficult for the public to empathise and easy for politicians to dismiss wider implications. While a swift response from the authorities was right, the harsh reaction from the courts has undone much of the work which saw the youth prison population fall in recent years: the latest figures show riot offenders contributed to an eight per cent increase in the number of children in jail. Yet beyond the immediate question of what to do with perpetrators of the riots, politicians need to engage with the wider socio-economic and cultural challenges facing young people in disadvantaged communities. Many young people who do not have access to the factors that develop personal and social skills or to the organised structures that support young people into work are less likely to do well than their better socialised peers. This requires a fundamental rethink of youth policy to support the transition to adulthood and citizenship. Our education and training systems must be structured by the goal of securing a transition to skilled work or higher education for all young people. In contrast to continental Europe, the UK has high drop-out rates from education and training of 18 year olds, with relatively weak college education and apprenticeships for those not on the academic A-level track. Despite its best efforts, and the introduction of