ADOLESCENTS AS OFFENDERS, SOCIAL-ORDER, AND THE MORALITY OF WORK IN APOSTINDUSTRIAL SOCIETY - THE AUSTRALIAN EXPERIENCE

This article argues that traditional views of employment as both finan cially necessary and morally imperative for guaranteeing a relatively smooth transition from adolescence to responsible adult status are nai ve in the context of a postindustrial society. Increased youth unemplo yment since the mid-1970s has excited considerable anxiety and debate about the criminal potential of ''youth,'' generating debate and resea rch claiming a causal link between youth unemployment and crime. Analy zing this gives rise to inquiry about some of the old assurances and c ertitudes of full-time, waged labor in a context where full-time, wage d labor is steadily becoming a minority activity for most people of wo rking age. The pursuance of youth, political, and economic policies ba sed on assumptions about an indefinite growth in the labor market, or a return. to the ''full-time employment'' of the past, are problematic and require rethinking. Rather than providing corrective measures tha t entail the restoration of now unfeasible certainties (''full'' emplo yment), effort can be better spent appreciating the significance of th e shift toward a postindustrial society and considering other ways of providing the inner stability and the fundamental social experiences f or young people once obtained through waged work. Copyright (C) 1996 E lsevier Science Ltd