Critical youth studies in an individualized and globalised world: making the most of Bourdieu and Beck

The motivation that drives many youth researchers is to understand, and hopefully alleviate inequality. Historically, critical theories of class have been the foundation of this work. Yet the meaning of class is contested in contemporary social sciences in general and youth studies in particular. Ulrich Beck for example has called class a "zombie category" and, because of this provocative nomenclature and his influence in sociology, has been a target of writers arguing for the continuing salience of class as a category for understanding the experience of youth in contemporary societies. In this context an ongoing debate has taken place in the Journal of Youth Studies about Beck's understanding of class and the value of Bourdieu's influential relational and multifaceted theory of class analysis to the future of critical youth studies (Woodman 2009, 2010; Roberts 2009, Threadgold 2011, Farrugia 2012). In this chapter Dan Woodman and Steven Threadgold, two of the protagonists in this debate, discuss the challenges that Beck's work raises for researchers trying to understanding class-based inequality in youth studies