Young People and Social Class in the United Kingdom

Within the field of youth studies researchers have extensively debated the relative importance of social class as a structuring force in young people’s lives. Some researchers have emphasised the importance of class while others have pointed to its declining significance for various aspects of young people’s lives, which in many respects is reflective of wider debates in the social sciences and sociology in particular. Indeed, if social class were to be less relevant than it might have been then it is perhaps amongst younger people that such trends might be most apparent. This chapter reviews some of this history before moving on to consider the ways in which current patterns of economic inequality, and the impacts of the recent global economic recession and the COVID-19 pandemic have impacted on young lives in the UK. The chapter grapples with possibilities for social mobility for the current generation of young people in the UK and in doing so raises questions about intergenerational fairness. This analysis provides challenges for how youth theorists explain and understand young lives, asking questions about where young people might ‘fit’ in respect of the changing class structure and what youth researchers need to do to effectively grapple with these shifting conditions.