REASSESSING STREET KIDS - A CRITIQUE OF SUBCULTURE THEORY (REPRINTED FROM YOUTH STUDIES AUSTRALIA, VOL 11, PG 12-17, 1992)

Focusing on the notion of ''street kids,'' the paper suggests that you th be viewed in an alternative way to the subculture theory associated with the Center for Contemporary Cultural Studies in Birmingham (CCCS ). It is argued that not only is subculture theory an unsuitable mecha nism for understanding homeless youth but also, and more importantly, is itself fundamentally problematic, It is suggested that the work of Michel Foucault necessitates a reevaluation of the domain assumptions underlying subculture theory and offers in its place a model that relo cates street kids, and youth itself, as artifacts of a network of gove rnmental strategies.