Uneasy bedfellows? Fusing participatory and psychosocial principles in research with youth workers and young people. (1st October 2019)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Harris, Peter
• Is Part Of: Journal of psycho-social studies. Volume 12:Number 3(2019)
• Page Start: 245
• Page End: 257
• Publication Date: 2019-10-01
• Subjects: participatory -- psychosocial -- research -- young people -- youth work -- desistance; Social sciences and psychoanalysis -- Periodicals; Psychology -- Periodicals; Psychohistory -- Periodicals; Social interaction -- Periodicals; Politics, Practical -- Periodicals; 302.5
• DOI: 10.1332/204378919X15674407381128
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1478-6737

Abstract

Abstract : This article charts an attempt to fuse two arguably incompatible formulations of social research; one rooted in a commitment to democratic, participatory practice and the other rooted in a psychosocial epistemological frame. After setting out the broad precepts of the two methodological approaches, the article explores some theoretical and practical tensions that surfaced during a doctoral criminological study examining the desistance-promoting potential of relationships between male youth workers and young men involved in violence. I show how the professional context in which the study was conducted (youth work) afforded the opportunity to work with participants while also retaining a psychosocial epistemological and analytic frame. The article concludes that while the two approaches are likely to remain 'uneasy bedfellows', more researchers in the youth work field might consider adopting a psychosocial standpoint as a means of keeping in sight both the psychic and the social forces imbricated in young people's lives and within their relationships with youth professionals.