Health Education Research, Vol. 14, No. 5, 583-596,
October 1999
© 1999 Oxford University Press
Male youth street culture: understanding the context of health-related behaviours
Research Unit in Health and Behavioural Change, and
1 Department of Public Health Sciences, University of Edinburgh Medical School, Teviot Place, Edinburgh EH8 9AG, UK
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In the UK growing concerns have been expressed about young people, and particularly young men, who spend large amounts of their leisure time on the streets. Problems such as vandalism, under-age drinking and drug use have all been heavily reported in local and national media. This paper reports on ethnographic (primarily participant observation-based) research which sought to explore the motivations, meanings and behaviours of young people hanging around on the streets during the evening in a Scottish town. The aim is to move beyond previous research which has largely focused on the `risk' factors associated with health-relevant behaviours, and to provide an understanding of the roles of alcohol, illicit drugs and tobacco within the young people's street culture. The paper therefore provides contextualized accounts of health-relevant behaviours. In conclusion it is argued that, to be effective, health promotion programmes need to locate lifestyle risk behaviours within broader life circumstances and that without a reduction in `risk conditions' it is unlikely that youth street culture will disappear or that `risk behaviours' will reduce.
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Introduction |
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In the UK there have been growing concerns over young people and particularly young men, who spend large amounts of their leisure time on the streets. Problems such as vandalism, under-age drinking and drug use have all been heavily reported in local and national media. In response, Scotland has witnessed the `Hamilton' experiment wherein the police enforced a curfew on under 16s living on a council housing estate. New legislation is also planned to allow the police to confiscate and destroy any alcohol in the possession of someone under 18 in a public place, and to seize alcohol from anyone over 18 who is believed to be intending to give it to someone under age. Bye-laws are now in existence in over 300 Scottish towns and villages which prohibit alcohol consumption in public places. Several advertising campaigns for the new `alco-pops' and `white ciders' have also been banned or amended by the Advertising Standards Authority because of the fear that they would promote drunkenness amongst young people (Brown, 1996
; Kwatra and Brown, 1996). The media attention and rather hasty piecemeal policy responses are characteristic of what Cohen has termed a `moral panic' (Cohen, 1987).
Simultaneously, voluminous literatures exist which seek to explain why some young people experiment with or use alcohol, tobacco and illicit drugs. However, the majority of these studies have focused on the individual, and tried to uncover `risk factors' associated with up-take rather than to situate and understand health-relevant behaviours within the context of young people's broader lives and cultures. Here, by the term culture we refer to those shared stocks of knowledge, values, ideas and systems of meaning that are held collectively and manipulated by social actors in the daily construction of reality (Berger and Luckmann, 1966).
Previous studies which have been broadly psychologically based have pointed to associations between high rates of smoking, drinking and illicit drug use, and such factors as low self-esteem (Royal College of Physicians and British Paediatric Association, 1995; Fergusson et al., 1995), low academic ability and/or lack of commitment to school (McBride et al., 1991; Diamond and Goddard, 1995), and inadequate family bonding and/or functioning (Andrews et al., 1991; Bahr et al., 1995).
More sociologically based studies have tended to focus on the relationships between the behaviours of family members and friendship groups, and young people's patterns of smoking, drinking and illicit drug use. There is, for example, now considerable evidence that both parental (Newman and Ward, 1989; Goddard, 1990; Fidler et al., 1992) and sibling smoking (Bewley and Bland, 1977; Aaro et al., 1981) are associated with higher rates of up-take in children. Strong relationships have also been found between having a best friend who smokes (Charlton and Blair, 1989) or believing that prevalence is high in one's peer group (Van Roosmalen and McDaniel, 1989), and experimentation with tobacco use. Similar relationships have been found between having friends who drink or use illicit drugs and/or believing that many of one's peers take part in such behaviours and an individual's likelihood to use alcohol or illicit drugs (Dean, 1990; Thombs and Beck, 1994; Goddard, 1996).
While there is far less knowledge in relation to how these statistical associations manifest themselves within particular socio-cultural contexts and the everyday lives of young people, some evidence suggests that during the teenage years drinking, smoking and experimentation with illicit drugs can come together to form what we might term a `health-relevant lifestyle' (Donovan and Jessor, 1985; Dean, 1990; Pavis et al., 1997). At the same time, to focus solely on the ways that friendship groups often share patterns of health-relevant behaviours is to miss the fact that they also share many other social attributes, behaviours and values (Eiser et al., 1991), as well as similar structural constraints and opportunities (e.g. educational experiences, opportunities in the local youth labour and housing markets).
Here we report on ethnographic research which sought to gather first-hand observations of young people's unstructured leisure periods, i.e. when they were `hanging-out on street corners', in one small town on the east coast of Scotland. The aims of the project were to understand the meanings and motivations of the young people on the streets, to observe their day-to-day actions and behaviours, and therefore achieve contextualized accounts of health-relevant behaviours. In this paper we show how the young people's health-relevant behaviours were integral constitutive elements of their street culture, and argue that any attempt to address these behaviours must take account of both the socio-economic processes that led to the young people being on the streets and the broad psychosocial needs that their culture met.
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The origins of the research
The ethnographic research reported in this paper grew out of a larger longitudinal (2 year) study of 106 young people, who were followed from the completion of their final year of compulsory education into their post 16 destinations (school, college, Youth Training, apprenticeship, employment). This initial project, which utilized the mixed methods of qualitative interviews and structured questionnaires, was concerned to explore the relationships between various types of occupational transition and respondents' health-related behaviours (Pavis et al., 1996
, 1997, 1999; Bell et al., 1998). The findings also suggested that many young people were spending considerable amounts of time hanging around on the streets, and that it was during these unstructured leisure periods that they were most likely to experiment with and to use alcohol, illicit drugs and tobacco. In response we designed a study to explore some of the reported behaviours from our previous work.
Methods and fieldwork procedures
Within this ethnography the primary research technique was participant observation, which is ideally suited to gathering direct first-hand observational data. However, some semi-structured interviews were also conducted with youth and community workers, and some documentary analysis undertaken so as to familiarize the research team with the town's history, its youth labour market and formal leisure opportunities.
The fieldwork was carried out by a qualified male youth worker (age 25) who was experienced in street out-reach work. He conducted approximately 70 h of participant observation during the summer of 1996 (June and July). Most of his participant contact time was on Friday and Saturday evenings/nights, and covered the period 7 p.m. to 3 a.m. Each individual field-work sessions lasted about 4 h and took place in informal unstructured settings, such as on streets corners, outside local chip shops, at bus shelters, on public transport, at free-houses (i.e. house-parties held by young people in the absence of parents) and, on one occasion, at an illegally organized rave.
The fieldworker carried an audio tape recorder during his time in the field and used this to record short notes. These brief recordings were made at regular intervals no longer than 1 h apart so as to ensure reliable recording of events. They were subsequently typed into fuller fieldnotes, no longer than 12 h after contact with participants. Fieldnote recordings were not, however, made openly in front of the young people as it was felt that this would both unduly influence their behaviours and restrict what could be recorded. Going to the toilet, and buying soft drinks, sweets and cigarettes were all used as reasons for leaving the young people and as a means of creating space for the subtle recording of fieldnotes.
Gaining access and the role of the fieldworker
Securing the participation of respondents in informal unstructured settings involves both practical and theoretical difficulties. On the positive side there are no formal gatekeepers such as ethics committees or managers who can veto access or alter the parameters of the project. However, less positively, there are also no easily identifiable sponsors who can help smooth the path into the field. For this project we did not want the fieldworker to be thought of as a `youth worker' or as being attached to a particular youth project; not least, because many of the potential participants had been excluded from, or had trouble at, local youth facilities.
At the same time, it is clearly very difficult for a researcher to `cold' approach a group of young people and particularly young men who are hanging around during the evenings on street corners. First, the researcher is likely to feel physically very intimidated and, second, he is open to all sorts of allegations (e.g. sexual) by the young people. It is for this reason that many youth out-reach projects now insist on always sending two workers as a team (one male and one female). The material resources for this project did not allow us this option. However, the local police force and youth workers were made aware of the research prior to the start of fieldwork.
In order to overcome the problems of `cold approaching' during the initial phase of the project, the fieldworker spent his time walking around the town, observing and recording the locations where young people regularly gathered. He also visited the local youth project, and explained to the young people who he was and what he was doing. Some of the information given at these sessions filtered through to the young people `hanging out' on the streets. However, during the very early research period the fieldworker did not directly approach any of the young people on the streets; but he did make sure that he was frequently seen by them. He would sit, for example, on a bench opposite a favourite hang-out and eat fish and chips or drink a can of juice. Understandably, the young people quickly became curious as to who this stranger was and then actually began to approach him. Within the research team, we came to refer to this as `the intrigue factor'.
Accessing participants in this way is effective but it also raises difficult ethical issues. On the one hand, creating `naturalistic' contact and securing the trust of participants is key to the success of projects such as this; however, on the other hand, it is equally important not to abuse participants' understandings of the research process, which may be quite vague, or indeed their trust. To try and overcome these issues, during the `intrigue phase' of the project the fieldworker was always careful to explain his intentions to the young people (i.e. that he was from `the university' and hoped to spend some time with them so as to understand what it was like for them on the streets during the evenings). Most young people were astonished, and many clearly flattered, that anyone from a university was interested in their lives. It remained the case, however, that during fieldwork there were occasions when the researcher had contact with people who did not know about and/or fully understand his research role. Indeed this is an inherent ethical concern in this type of ethnography. As a research team we have not been able to find a completely satisfactory answer to this ethical problem. However, in presenting our findings we are mindful of our responsibilities to participants and are careful to protect their anonymity. Ethnography in particular demands an appreciation of ethics in research as a processual concern, where emerging issues have to be dealt with on a daily basis.
As the fieldwork progressed, the levels of contact, trust and the quality of the interactions grew, and by mid way through the project the researcher was able to predict roughly where groups of young people would be, and was able to just walk up to and `join in' with some of the groups of young men. As is common with participation observation, during the second half of the fieldwork more and more time was spent with one particular sub-group of young people. This `core group' consisted of eight young men aged 15 and 16, and the majority of the data presented in this paper relates to these young men's behaviours and experiences. The aim was to achieve a greater degree of trust and understanding than was possible when the fieldworker was moving between different groups. However, on the less positive side the decision to focus upon one sub-group obviously places limits on generalizability; this is particularly so in relation to what our research can tell us about young women and their reasons for spending leisure periods on the streets.
Data analysis
In ethnography, data analysis is always both ongoing and inductive (Hammersley and Atkinson, 1995). In the early days of this project the fieldworker took a primarily observational role. However, as the project progressed he began to participate more and more, and, as his role changed, so did the type of data recorded and the degree of understanding generated. The fieldworker met with at least one other member of the research/project team after each fieldwork session. At these `debrief' meetings the preceding day's fieldwork events were discussed, and hunches, hypotheses and understandings shared and developed. Through collective discussion, areas were identified which required further data and it was agreed when to feedback particular areas of our emerging understanding to participants for verification or otherwise. Holding daily de-brief meetings also afforded the fieldworker the important opportunity to express and discuss any fears or reservations, and to off-load some of the inevitable stresses incurred during this kind of research. For non-fieldworking members of the team, these regular meetings were crucial in keeping abreast of the data and the ongoing analyses.
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`Seaview'—an over-view and the street scene
The town of Seaview lies on the east coast of Scotland less than 20 miles south of a major city. At the last population census in 1991 there were just under 7000 people, with 1359 being aged between 10 and 24 years (1991 Census, small area statistics). At that time the local population was also recorded as being overwhelmingly `White', with only 17 people (over 16 years) being of Asian or Afro-Caribbean descent/origin (1991 Census, small area statistics). The town contained a state co-educational secondary school (700 pupils), a reasonable sized sports centre providing a range of different activities, a community centre and a small local library. The biggest single local employer of young people (while at school and at 16/17 years) was a large local supermarket.
There were three locations in the town where young people congregated regularly (the upper chippie, the town square and the lower chippie). All three places had certain common characteristics: they were at the junctions of quite major roads, they had an open area that was either pathed/tarmaced or grassed, and they had late opening shops from which the young people could buy take-away food, alcohol and cigarettes; two sites also had telephone boxes (which the young people constantly occupied, often several at a time) and two had benches to sit on.
On an average weekend evening there were between 35 and 50 young people spread between these three main `street-hangouts'; with the upper chippie being slightly more popular than the other two sites. On very wet or cold evenings the numbers of young people tended to drop, but a `hard core' of 20 or so could still be found sheltering in doorways or bus shelters. The ages of the young people varied from as low as 10 to as high as 19 or 20; the majority, however, were between 14 and 17 years. The young women tended to be slightly younger (13–15 years) than the young men (14–17 years). Some movement took place between the three street hangouts but on the whole each young person tended to have a site that they preferred and attended regularly.
The young people spent the majority of their evenings in single sex groups (ranging in size from two or three to 10 or even 15). However, these single sex groups (or smaller splinter groups from them) would often engage with opposite sex groups in close proximity. Members of the opposite sex would stay for a few minutes and then return to their original single sex group. On most weekend evenings it was after midnight before the streets would start to empty and the young people would go home.
The following fieldnote extracts provide general descriptions of the street scene in Seaview.
I can see a group of 10 young men (15–17 years), they are standing on the pavement in a vague circle, looking in at each other. Occasionally they move around or look over their shoulder at what is happening in the street. . . All but one of the group have very short hair cuts, they are dressed in jeans and jackets, some of which are branded makes. (I could allow myself to be intimidated by the group because of their number and appearance). A young woman briefly joins the group (14–16years). Some of the group go to the telephone box, the door is held open. . . A second group of four young men (14–16), are standing/sitting on the window ledge outside the Spar shop. I pass and a young man points at his tee-shirt and says, `Aye, 30 quid there, Calvin Klein'. [Session 4, 8.45 p.m.]There is a buzz of activity. A couple of young women (15–16 years) are seated on a bench alone. A group of five young men (16–18 years) are looking under the bonnet of a red car parked at the side of the road in front of the Spar shop. Outside the Chinese take-away, a mixed group of seven 14–16 year olds (two are young women) are standing talking to each other. A young man (16 years) is holding another (14 years) around the shoulders play fighting. He pulls him to the ground and puts his knee on him. He says to a young women near by, `go on smash him'. The group are hanging around quite boisterously, hand in pockets, moving around in a reasonably tight circle, laughing and chatting. [Session 5, 8.30 p.m.]
Dress and style were important to the young people, and they tended to wear clothes with designer labels. It was also very common for them to comment on each other's clothes or hair styles and they would frequently tell each other how much new clothes cost.
The group talked about another young man who I had met earlier that night. He had some new jeans (a named brand), which he said cost £220. One young man was in awe, another thought it was an excessive amount. Another commented, `imagine how many birds [women] you could get with those'. (This may have been sarcastic, I wasn't sure.) [Session 18, 9 p.m]
However, dress was not solely related to sexual attraction or peer status gained through having expensive possessions. In the extract below a young man warns the fieldworker about the dangers of hanging around on the streets, and explains how to `read' the codes and identify those young men who were likely pose a threat.
I explained the project and he told me to be careful in `Seaview'. He said `it's a violent town' and explained that if I go up and ask some people questions they will want to know who told me to speak to them . . . He said, `stick to the main streets if you can'. He described the kind of young people to watch out for saying, `if someone approaches you with a skinhead haircut, a check shirt, and their arms held out swinging by their side, be careful'. . . [Session 7, 7.30 p.m.]
Making leisure and excitement
The young people repeatedly told us that for them Seaview was `boring', `shit' and `dull'. However, when asked directly what would improve their lives and more specifically make their leisure time better, they were often unable to answer. This was not because they were inarticulate or lacked imagination, but rather reflected the fact that the most valued aspect of hanging around the streets was that it was unsupervised, `adult-free' space. It was space, both geographical and social, that the young people had colonized and used to create their own leisure using minimal material resources. Participants explained that once you have spent time out on the streets its very difficult and incredibly boring to go back to sitting in watching television with your parents. In relation to organized leisure activities one participant commented:
. . . we don't need organization, we like to have a game of football or smoke tarry [cannabis], that doesn't need organizing it just happens. [Session 16, 10.30 p.m.]
Through spending time on the streets it was possible to understand some of the ways that street life could be simultaneously both boring and exciting. Whilst on the streets the young people gathered information about events or happenings that were of interest to them. For example, who had a `free house', when and where the next party or rave was going to be, who was dating who, who was fighting with who, etc. However, on a minute to minute basis there was often very little happening and participants spent hours, often in cold or wet conditions, standing around literally kicking their heels. During these times even their conversations were repetitive and quite predictable. Within the core group the most common topics were sex, previous or anticipated violence/aggression, drugs, alcohol, football and money. Often comments were overtly aggressive and/or threatening, sexist, involved micky-taking (of anyone in close proximity including each other), and `point scoring' within the group. However, their exchanges were also commonly laced with a sharp, clever and witty humour. The following fieldnote extracts are all related to a favourite topic of conversation—sex.
They (core participants) talked about the young woman in the chip shop who they thought was `all right'. I took this to mean sexually attractive. They talked about another young woman, who was beautiful, `but a bit hefty'. They said they would, `shag her though' and said `she's got big tits'. One young man said, `big tits, big arse'. The group laughed. [Session 18, 9 p.m.]The football match was a hard fought battle between the young women and the young man. A young man with me said, `oh he better win this one, against a girl'. Similar comments continued for a while until a young woman challenged them. He replied, `I'll ride you', `I'll shag you', these taunts continued for a few minutes and were meant to insult her. After about the sixth time the young woman replied, `the only thing you will be shagging tonight is your hand'. I laughed as did the other young men. [Session 16, 9 p.m.]
At the same time as street-life was boring and largely repetitive, it was also exciting and occasionally unpredictable. There was a constant feeling that something exciting could happen at anytime. Some of these `exciting' events or happenings were instigated and/or influenced by the young people; others were not. For example, one evening a couple (in their late 20s) had a major argument in the street which involved the man taking the women's purse and throwing its contents down the street. All of the young people stood around captivated.
The following fieldnote extract provides an example of the core participants creating their own excitement by encouraging another young man to do something that they considered risky.
A young man wandered down the street . . . the group I was with stood up and said its `Spac', . . . `look it's My Left Foot', referring to the film about the disabled Irishman. (The approaching young man had a slight limp.) The group laughed . . . and shouted . . . `bang the window', `bang the window'. They shouted with an air of expectation as if asking him to perform his party piece. `Spac' banged a few times on the chippie window with both hands, much to everyone's amusement. . . The group commented on his hat, saying it was `ridiculous'—the hat was baggy and made of black cotton. `Spac' turned and told the group he was going to the pub to buy drink. The group spent the next few minutes talking . . . with great excitement. One young man kept saying the landlord was going to `kick his balls'. A few moments later, after a group member had been to the pub window to watch, and had come back to the group to report that he (Spac) was at the bar, `Spac' came out with a white carrier bag with four bottles of Orange Hooch. The young men shouted in unison, `has he done it', `he's done it?'. [Session 12, 10 p.m.]
With regard to health-relevant behaviours, our observational data confirmed and added to the findings from our previous longitudinal interview based study (see below). We observed many examples of drinking, smoking and drug taking on the streets. Indeed the use of these substances formed an integral element of the young men's leisure experience. Below we discuss the place of each in their `street culture'.
Alcohol
Alcohol consumption was very common among the young people and they would often stand around or sit on benches or walls drinking and/or smoking cannabis joints (see below). The most popular alcoholic drinks with the young men were lager or vodka (normally added into cans of soft drinks such as Coke or 7UP); for the young women they were cider, wine and vodka (again often added to soft drinks). We also observed some young people drinking Hooch (alcoholic lemonade) but this was less common, possibly because of the relatively high cost (£1 for a small bottle).
The young people's use of alcohol was closely related to their desire to create fun, excitement and to have a laugh during their time on the streets. Previously, in our longitudinal study we found that the young people often claimed that they drank in order to aid and facilitate social interactions within their friendship group (Pavis et al., 1997). Our findings from this study provide us with further insights into how these processes manifest themselves within their street culture.
The young men we observed were generally more boisterous and confident when they were drinking. However, most remained orderly, if also a little intimidating to passers-by. Even without alcohol, the core participants often talked about violence and fighting between various groups (particularly those who tended to hang around at the upper and lower chippies or between Seaview's young people and those from a neighbouring town). Such bravado and the recounting of previous incidents were integral to their macho culture and the young men were generally skilled story tellers. The constant talking about and potential threat of violence was also another aspect of their street life that made it exciting and unpredictable.
When alcohol was involved, however, there were examples of real aggression, violence and disorderly conduct. The first fieldnote extract below describes a visit by the core participants from the lower chippie (after they had been drinking) to the hang-out at the town square. The second extract is taken from a conversation with a local bus driver and offers insights into previous more extreme types of behaviours.
As we approached the town square, the group shouted and taunted some older young people across the road (two young men and two young women 17–19). . . The group I was with continued staring and walking toward them at a fast pace, shouting, `go on' `go on'. The four people across the road looked sheepish. This taunting was not the friendly kind which happens, it was more sinister and threatening, at no time did the young men I was with relent, say something friendly or slow down. [Session 12, 10 p.m.]I was the only person on the bus. I talked to the driver who had worked for the bus company for 19 years. He told me a few years ago the bus route was notorious, drivers would refuse to take the run because kids outside the chip shop would `throw half bricks at the buses'. He said he had had windows broken quite regularly. [Session 14, 11.15 p.m.]
Illicit drug use
Cannabis was the most frequently seen and used illicit drug; however, we also observed examples of amphetamine (speed), LSD (acid) and Ecstasy (`Es') use. We did not see or hear of any examples of heroin or cocaine and, as the following extract shows, the young men appeared to see such drugs and `injecting' as completely different to their own recreational drug use.
An older man (aged 27–30) entered the park from the other side. He wore army waterproofs, large boots, had long hair and was followed by a dog. As he approached, the group started to talk about him. They said he was a `professional beggar', who went up the town to beg with his dog. . . The group hushed each other as he came closer. After he walked past they started talking about him again, one said `he's the cunt that injects himself'. [Session 11, 10.45 p.m.]
Drug use was again interwoven into the young men's desire to create excitement and this manifest itself in several ways. The physiological effects of certain drugs were enjoyed by the young people and this cannot be overlooked. The following extract is taken from a rave at a barn a few miles from research site. The participant in the extract had taken `E' about 30 min before the discussion took place.
We walked up the hill and he explained about the rave. He told me most young people were from `Seaview' because that's where the organizers live. . . We turned to look at the view of the town. . . He was a bit disorientated and I pointed out several land marks. He commented `I can't believe how beautiful it is out here, I like the countryside'. We talked about the drug `E' and how it made him appreciate the countryside. He thought that it was similar to `acid' (LSD) and explained that it made him look at things in a different way. He explained how he appreciated small things more and said that on `acid' he could look at a tree, or a field of grass for half an hour or more and not be bored. During the 20 min we spent together he commented another three times on how beautiful the land around us was. I told him that I had heard that taking `E' involved a euphoria and a feeling of togetherness and contentment but with a rush. He replied, `you're talking about the way I feel now'. [Session 15, 12 p.m.]
There was, however, far more to the role of illicit drugs than solely their physiological effects. Stories of `good' and `bad' experiences on different substances seemed intrinsically interesting to the young men; so too were discussions of the different methods of taking drugs, particularly cannabis. There was considerable status attached to knowing about and having tried different methods. This contributed to the story telling culture, and to the meaningful mixture of unpredictability and boredom which underpinned their leisure time.
The young men told me they had smoked `bucket bongs' at a friend's house on Thursday afternoon. One of the young men described this as `his first bong'. . . He described the feeling saying `they [bucket bongs] are very strong . . . I was out of it, I felt like I was out of control at times'. He said he also felt disorientated and a little worried. The other young men said they thought the first one was rough, but that then they could take them one after another. . .I was asked if I had ever had a `hot knife', I said I hadn't. A young women said she didn't believe there was such a thing and asked what it was. One of the other group members explained saying, `you heat tarry [cannabis] between two hot knifes and breath in the smoke'. The young man asked me if I knew what a `T' was—I didn't. He told me it was when a joint looks like its got handlebars coming off it. He explained that `you light two ends of it at once'. The young woman again acted with disbelief. Another young man again confirmed that it was true. [Session 16, 10 p.m.]
Securing or buying illicit drugs was another important element in the young men's street culture. Often young people would ask each other whether they had any drugs (normally cannabis) and they would discuss whether they had enough money to buy some. The fact that they were talking about and doing something that was illegal no doubt added a further excitement factor. These activities also formed part of the business of being on the streets and aided the construction of action out of waiting and talking. The following fieldnote extracts are taken from the same evening as the young men tried to secure some cannabis.
I got of the bus at around 8.40 p.m. and immediately saw two young men who I knew (14 and 16 years). As I approached they raised their thumbs in recognition, I waved back and joined them. I asked how they were and they told me they were okay but were looking for something to do. We stood chatting for a while then a young man approached and asked if anyone had any hash (cannabis). The young men said they had none, but they were looking for some as well. [Session 18, 9 p.m.]A young man (14–15 years) approached from over the street. One of the young men I was with shouted, `hey, `Billy' do you have any thingme'. This is the first time I have heard this term for cannabis. . . The young man walked up to the group and told them he had `a half ounce'. The group began to negotiate with the young dealer. . . He asked if the group wanted a `half quarter'. They shuffled around and he asked if they had any money. They asked him to `lay on' (supply on credit) a `10th' (a 16th of an ounce). He said he would not `lay on' any more than that, because he had the drugs on credit and had to pay for them in the morning. He then asked one member to come with him (he insisted it should be only one person). I was unsure if they were going to another house or a different street location. [Session 18, 9.30 p.m.]
Small debts related to drugs that had been given on credit (`laid on') were also occasional flash points for violence and aggression. Again, in a similar way to alcohol-related violence, the stories about fights as well as the events themselves added to the air of excitement on the streets. The following fieldnote extract describes the scene as a small drug-related debt is collected.
As we came round the corner one of our group saw a young man outside the chip shop. The young man quickly moved back into the shop. One of the group I was with said `he better be waiting for me with the 15 quid he owes me, he thinks I'm blind. I'm gonna kick his balls if he's not got it'. I waited outside the shop not wanting to crowd the group but I saw the exchange of money. [Session 12, 11 p.m.]
Cigarette smoking
There were two important and distinct aspects to the young people's use of cigarettes. First, they repeatedly used a request for a cigarette as an opening gambit to a longer conversation or interaction. This was particularly so when an individual wanted to join a larger group or when members of the opposite sex approached each other. Whether the request for a cigarette was granted or denied was also a good indication of the two parties' perceptions of each other. Below are two examples of these processes from our fieldnotes. In both cases the approaching young person is rejected. However, it is interesting to note the ways that the young men (particularly in the second example) attempt to save face by becoming overtly aggressive.
The core group were sharing cigarettes when a young women (15 years) approached (she) . . . asked one particular young man for a cigarette. He did not reply and she again asked if he had any cigarettes (she was now getting loud and quite aggressive). He said that he had and produced 10 `Regal' from his back pocket, but refused to give her a cigarette. After a few moments another group member dropped his half finished fag and kicked it over to her. She picked it up and began smoking but left very shortly afterwards. [Session 12, 9 p.m.]Two of the young men (15–16 years) walked over to a group of young women. They began talking and then I heard one of the young women scream, `give me the fucking bag'. The young man was rooting through her bag saying, `I just want the fags that are in it, I'm not interested in the other stuff in there'. The young woman got her bag back and seemed to accept the young man having a cigarette. The young men left soon afterwards. [Session 13, 10.15 p.m.]
It was also a common during the initial `intrigue phase' of fieldwork for the young people to use the tactic of asking for a cigarette when approaching the researcher.
Two of the six young women (14–15 years) followed me. . . When they caught up, they asked if I smoked and if they could have a cigarette, saying, `it better be a Regal Kingsize'. . . Both took one and commented `I'll have it later'. They told me that they had seen me around and they knew that I had met some young men 2 days before outside the chip shop. We talked for a few minutes and they told me that their friend [pointing], `with the fat arse', fancied me. I smiled politely and told them that I wasn't interested. . . They wanted to know where I had come from and what I was doing. I told them a little about myself and the project. The young women thought it was `boring' and `garbage', in Seaview, and said there was very little for them to do. . . Although they did mention there was soon to be a rave at a barn just outside of town. [Session 11, 8.30 p.m.]
The second distinct aspect to the young people's street smoking was that cigarettes were nearly always shared. Within the core participant group when one person lit a cigarette it was very common for the others to shout `seconds' and `thirds' in order to claim draws or drags. This practice was clearly related to the young men's lack of money. However, the ritual also had other social implications. Smoking had become something that the young men shared, and this way of stacking up draws or drags involved reciprocal relationships that strengthened their social bonds and bound them together.
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Discussion |
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The starting point for this ethnography was the verification (or otherwise) of our previous study's interview-based accounts of high levels of drinking, illicit drug and tobacco use by young people who spend their leisure time on streets. Our interview data had suggested that the streets were a primary setting for young people to both come into contact and experiment with such substances. Our aim was to gather `naturalistic' accounts of young people's (and particularly young men's) health-relevant behaviours via the use of ethnography and more specifically participant observation.
Although not designed as a prevalence study, our ethnographic data confirmed that many young people (at least in the geographical area of our study) do use alcohol, tobacco and certain types of illicit drugs whilst `hanging around' on the streets during the evenings. However, possibly of more interest was that we found that the use of these substances are not marginal or peripheral aspects of youth street culture. As we have shown, smoking was a key behaviour for our young men during the long periods of relative inactivity and something that bound them together as a social group, via a system of complex reciprocal exchanges. Cigarettes were also used as important `social props' to facilitate joining a larger group or making initial approaches to members of the opposite sex. Somewhat similarly, alcohol and illicit drug use, and/or their attempted use, provided much of the social material and impetus that made street-based leisure exciting, at least on occasions. Sometimes this was through the processes involved in securing illicit substances, at other times it was via the behaviours that resulted from their use and on still other occasions, it was through the recounting of stories of previous or anticipated events and happenings. The consumption of alcohol, illicit drugs and tobacco were, then, central to the young men's street lives, and it is hard to imagine their street culture's existence without their use. In this sense the use of these substances were key constitutive and integral elements of their street culture.
However, an adequate understanding of our participants' street culture requires more than observation and analysis of the young people's behaviours. It is necessary to look beyond the actions and behaviours of individuals or even small groups, to the broader socio-economic context in which the young people lived their lives. Within sociology there is a strong tradition that sees youth subcultures as an articulation of the experiences of working class youth during periods of rapid social and economic change (Hendry et al., 1993). For Hebdige (Hebdige, 1979), such subcultures are best `read' as a symbolic challenge to a symbolic order. In our study, the importance of structural issues are clear, and the ethnographic data explore the intersection of structure, culture and agency.
At the level of social policy, changes over the last 20 years have fragmented traditional working class pathways from childhood into adulthood; with movements from school to work and from parental home to own home having become more difficult (Banks et al., 1992; Wallace, 1987; Jones and Wallace, 1992). As Jones (Jones, 1995) argues, changes in housing, labour and training markets, as well as alterations to state benefit structures, have effectively created an extension of childhood. In many areas young people, and particularly young men, are becoming increasingly isolated and marginalized from their local communities. Many have, at best, a limited stake in society and in turn are often not trusted or even feared by their wider communities.
At a more local level, the young people who took part in our study were living in a community that had witnessed the rapid decline of its traditional industries of mining and fishing. Both industries had all but ceased to exist and, as noted, the largest single employer of young people had become a large supermarket. For those young people who did not go on to further or higher education, early working life no longer meant a traditional apprenticeship but rather either a place on a youth training scheme or insecure, low-paid and low-skilled work in the service sector.
Our young men's street culture arguably provided a group of relatively alienated and marginalized young people with a source of interest and excitement. The streets were `colonized' space that was `adult-free'. It provided a place where they could meet with friends and, using very limited resources, `have a laugh'. The streets also provided a social context in which the young men could experiment with their sexuality and/or develop a particular type of masculinity. It was somewhere that they could achieve peer status and recognition through conspicuous consumption, e.g. of designer labelled clothes, and/or via the less overt mechanisms of knowledge about and use of illicit drugs, and/or involvement in small-scale gang violence.
Paradoxically, however, the young men's very involvement in the street scene meant that they became further isolated and marginalized from the rest of the community. There was little doubt that the large groups of young people on the streets could be very intimidating, particularly when they had been drinking, and were shouting and screaming at each other, however playful or good natured this appeared to them. The sites where they gathered were littered with drinks cans, fish and chip wrappings, and cigarette packets, and there were considerable amounts of graffiti (often racist or sectarian in nature). The local shop owners complained that the young people kept other customers away and local bus services had sometimes been disrupted. We can only speculate as the effects of hanging around on the streets until late into the night upon school work, but it seems unlikely to be positive for the vast majority of young people.
In these ways the young men's street culture simultaneously provided a practical and symbolic short-term resolution to some of the structural pressures that they encountered, whilst also further reinforcing their marginalization and limiting their life chances. Here parallels are apparent to the processes documented in Willis' classic ethnography from the mid-1970s. At that time he described how the `lads' culture of resistance both simultaneously excluded them from the traditional (i.e. educational) pathways to achievement whilst also preparing them for their forthcoming working class lives. At that time Willis sub-titled his book `How working class kids get working class jobs', possibly if he was investigating today's youth street culture he may well have chosen the sub-title, `How working class kids get no or low paid insecure jobs'.
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Conclusion |
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TopAbstractIntroductionMethodologyFindingsDiscussionConclusionReferences |
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The findings from this study have important implications for the practice of health promotion. For young men who participated in this study their potentially health-damaging behaviours were an integral part of their street-based youth culture. This culture in turn can be seen to arise from complex social, economic and historical conditions, as well as the contextualized choices of the young people who took part. As Coles argues there is a need to take account of both:
. . . the choice patterns of young people and the ways in which economic and social policies help to shape opportunity structures. The interplay of each side of the equation produces the `social structuration' of youth. [(Coles, 1995
We would argue that to do this in practice requires health promotion professionals to move beyond a concentration on health-damaging behaviours, whether through local endeavours or mass media initiatives, towards a more political and campaigning role. The health promotion task must be to locate risk behaviours in their economic and socio-environmental contexts, and to recognize these contexts as independent risks in their own right (Labonte, 1998). In Britain it appears that this is also in line with the new Labour administration's position. The recently published public health Green Paper, Working Together for a Healthier Scotland (Department of Health, 1998), stresses the importance of addressing life circumstances as well as lifestyle choices, and Tessa Jowell, the minister for public health, commented (Jowell, 1997):
We want to attack the underlying causes of ill-health and to break the cycle of social and economic deprivation and social exclusion. This signals a major change in the nation's policy, to maximise good health, as well as treating sickness. You might call it being tough on the causes of ill-health.
We suggest, then, that it is only through working to create a more inclusive society, where young people are valued and given a stake that the health-damaging behaviours associated with youth street culture will begin to be addressed. In this way, the health of whole communities, and not just targeted `at-risk' groups (such as drug users) will be improved.
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Acknowledgments |
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Our sincere thanks go to John Williams who undertook the fieldwork with skill and determination, and to Professor Neil McKeganey who acted as advisor to the project. The research was funded by a Scottish Office mini-grant K/OPR/15/8/F5. The Research Unit in Health and Behavioural Change is funded by the Chief Scientist Office of the Scottish Office Department of Health (SODoH) and the Health Education Board for Scotland (HEBS). However, the opinions expressed in this paper are those of the authors, not of HEBS or SODoH.
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Received on June 28, 1998; accepted on September 14, 1998
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