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This paper focuses on Judith Butler’s theorisation of the performative subject and contemporary critiques to consider its relevance to the doing of racialized masculinities in Finnish schools. Recent postcolonial critique has indicated that, early work on performativity and subjectivation implicitly assumes a whiteand western, enlightenment subject and does not take the aftermath of slavery into account. While Butler’s work since then theorises inequalities including racism, it leaves untheorized the de/subjectivation of Black people and those from other minoritised ethnic groups as well as how racialisation and abjection is a systematic part of the subjectivation of whitepeople. This paper draws on a study of the narratives of Finnish 12–15-year-olds in order to shed light on processes of subjectivation they do while doing racialized masculinities. The findings point to the need to extend Butler’s theory of subjectivation to take power-knowledge-affect-relations and de/humanization on board in ways that account for Black as well as whitepeople’s performative subjectivation.

The last decade has seen the growth of knowledge societies within neoliberal economies. As a result, learners are increasingly individualized trod expected to be responsible for their learning. The main part of the article uses findings from a study of young masculinities to argue that boys are not free to choose to work toward qualifications but are concerned to manage their everyday school interactions in the context of their complicated, multiple positioning. Keywords: masculinities; neoliberalism; racialization

Psychologist Ann Phoenix examines a study spanning three decades which shows worrying changes in the mental well-being of teenagers and backs reports of widespread unhappiness PRACTICE IMPLICATIONS The RESEARCH Authors: [...]

Discusses the factors that contribute to the crisis in masculinity and attempts to understand how boys and men are dealing with social changes in Great Britain. Interplay between the society, the person and sexual politics; Research on masculinity and gender strategies; Method of constructing and deconstructing masculinity through critical literacy; Construction of masculine identities; Racialization of masculinity.

This paper takes up the idea of “hegemonic” masculinity and explores its relevance to a group of 11-to 14-year-old boys in London schools. Although there is considerable debate in the literature over the existence and significance of an organising mode of “dominant” or hegemonic masculinity, it is apparent from the interview material provided by these boys that attributes such as “hardness”, antagonism to school-based learning, sporting prowess, and fashionable looks remain very influential in determining boys' popularity and also their views of themselves and others as properly “masculine”. In this paper, we use this material further to illustrate ways in which social class and “race” impact on constructions of, and are drawn on in constructing, modes of hegemonic masculinity. The function of hegemonic masculinity as a method of social regulation amongst young men is also discussed.

Current debates about the utility of the concept of social class for social analysis have been helpful in illuminating the shortcomings of traditional theories and traditional methods of assessment of social class. Yet, social class continues to have an important impact on life chances and worldviews. This article uses data from an interview study of 248 young Londoners (young women and men; black, white and of `mixed-parentage') to examine the place of social class in young people's lives. The young people's accounts indicated that they did not necessarily use occupational groupings in defining social class and that the majority considered themselves to be middle class. Nonetheless, social class was important to the ways in which they thought about themselves. They differentiated themselves from others on the basis of differences in lifestyle, housing, money, speech, dress and behaviour. Some disliked and/or feared people they considered to be from other social classes.

Seventy-nine pregnant women aged between 16 and 19 years were given in-depth interviews on a wide range of topics in late pregnancy. The data reported here describe influences on their contraceptive use prior to pregnancy. Four orientations to pregnancy which influenced women's contraceptive use at conception are identified. Various other factors which influenced contraceptive non-use are described. Some of these factors are age-specific, while others would apply equally to older women. Knowledge of contraception was virtually universal in the sample. Women had not become pregnant through ignorance. It is argued that reasons for pregnancy in women who are under 20 years of age can only be understood if contextual factors (such as employment careers and relationships with male partners) are taken into account.

Much of the opposition to transracial adoption depends on unvalidated assumptions about the identity of black and mixed race children living with their own families. We know little, however, about the ways in which these families help their children to cope with racism. Research moreover suggests that young black children often have a negative view of their racial identity. On the other hand, research also shows that black adolescents tend to have high self-esteem. Self-esteem and racial identity may derive from different contexts and relationships, and a negative attitude to one's race may not necessarily be associated with low self-esteem. Further, the concept of a 'positive black identity' requires critical analysis, since each of its three constituent terms is problematic. Social identities are complex phenomena, and the ways in which people perceive and think about themselves often fail to correspond to prescribed pigeonholes. This is evident, for example, in the growing number of children of mixed parentage who see themselves as having a separate identity, distinct from both black or white groups. Transracially adopted children are likely to have a different identity from that of children growing up in a black family, but we argue that there are not yet well-grounded reasons for believing that the practice is damaging to children.

An obituary for a psychologist Barbara Tizard is presented.