Professor Gill Jones

Background and Research Interests:

Gill Jones is Emeritus Professor of Sociology at Keele University, and is now semi-retired in Edinburgh where she continues to write and undertake consultancy work. She has an active interest in research, policy and practice regarding young people, and frequently advises governmental and other organisations on youth matters. She was Chair of the Advisory Committee to the ESRC's Youth, Citizenship and Social Change Programme, 1998-2002; and Programme Advisor to the Joseph Rowntree Foundation (JRF)'s research programme on transitions to adulthood, 1997-2001. She has recently been Vice-Convenor of Children in Scotland , a Research Associate of the National Family and Parenting Institute (NFPI), and a Specialist Consultant to the National Youth Agency. She was Chair of the Executive Committee of the British Sociological Association in 1998/9. She is mainly known for her own programme of research on young people and their families. Her work has included major projects funded by the ESRC and the JRF on economic and domestic transitions in youth, and the parent/state interface in supporting young adults, including:

• Studies of leaving home, household formation and housing careers
• Research on rural disadvantage and youth out-migration from rural Scotland
• Studies of young people’s incomes from employment, family support and state grants and benefits, with a particular focus on the family/state interface in social protection, and the implications of extended dependence.

Key Publications:

• Jones, G. (2009) Youth. Cambridge, Polity Press. (Forthcoming - January 2009)
• Jones, G. (2007). ‘Trail-blazers and path-followers: social reproduction and geographical mobility in youth’, in S. Arber and C. Attias-Donfut (eds) The Myth of Generational Conflict: Family and State in Ageing Societies, London, Routledge. ISBN 0-415-20770-3. (pp.154-173) (Paperback edition. First published in hardback, 2000).
• Jones, G. O'Sullivan, A. and Rouse, J. (2006). 'Young adults, partners and parents: individual agency and the problem of support’, Journal of Youth Studies, Vol 9(4) pp: 375-392. ISSN 1367-6261.
• Jones, G. (2005). ‘Social protection policies for young people: a cross-national comparison’, in H. Bradley and J. van Hoof (eds) Young People in Europe: Labour Markets and Citizenship. Bristol, Policy Press. pp. 41-62. ISBN 1 86134 587 9.
• Jones, G. O'Sullivan, A. and Rouse, J. (2004). ‘Because it’s worth it? Education beliefs among young people and their parents in the UK', Youth and Society 36(2): pp. 203-226. ISSN 0044-118X (J210).
• Bynner, J., Londra, M. and Jones, G. (2004). The Impact of Government Policy on Social Exclusion among Young People: A review of the literature. SEU Breaking the Cycle series. London, Social Exclusion Unit, ODPM.
• Jones, G. (2002). The Youth Divide: Diverging paths to adulthood. York, Joseph Rowntree Foundation. www.jrf.org.uk/knowledge/findings/foundations/pdf/792.pdf
• Jones, G. (2001). ‘Fitting homes? Young people’s housing and household strategies in rural Scotland’. Journal of Youth Studies. Vol 4, No. 1.
• Jones, G. & Bell, R. (2000). Balancing Acts? Youth, Parenting and Public Policy. York, York Publishing. www.jrf.org.uk/bookshop/eBooks/1859354084.pdf
• Jones, G. (1999). ‘The same people in the same places? Socio-spatial identities and migration in youth’. Sociology, 33(1) pp. 1-22.
• Jones, G. (1995). Leaving Home. Buckingham, Open University Press.
• Jones, G. and Wallace, C. (1992). Youth, Family and Citizenship. Buckingham, Open University Press. Also published in Japanese and Korean translation.