Gill Jones

Title: Emeritus Professor of Sociology
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I became Emeritus Professor of Sociology at Keele University in 2003, having held the Chair of Sociology from 1999 to 2003. My field is the sociology of youth, and in particular the everyday lives of young people as they become independent adults. This interest originated in my earlier experiences as a social worker working with young people and their families in Inner London. Since making the shift into sociology in 1982, I have undertaken extensive research on young people’s post-16 transitions to adulthood, with a particular emphasis on how their relations with their parents or carers change during this period in their lives. Over the years I have frequently advised governmental and other policy and practitioner organisations on matters concerning young people, as well as advising on UK and EU research programmes. I was Chair of the Advisory Committee to the Economic and Social Research Council’s Youth, Citizenship and Social Change Programme, 1998-2002; and the Programme Advisor to the Joseph Rowntree Foundation’s research programme on transitions to adulthood, 1997-2001. My work with voluntary organisations has included the posts of Vice-Convenor of Children in Scotland, Research Associate of the National Family and Parenting Institute, and Specialist Consultant to the National Youth Agency. I was also Chair of the Executive Committee of the British Sociological Association in 1998/9. I am now semi-retired and living in Edinburgh but continue to do research, consultancy and writing.

There are many media stereotypes about young people, often depicting them in sensational and detrimental ways. By contrast, my focus is on the ordinary and the everyday experiences of young people as they negotiate their transitions to adulthood through complicated policy structures and family practices. My programme of research on young people and their families reflects my particular interest in inequalities in youth, how and why these develop and how they manifest themselves – so, for example, how does advantage and disadvantage affect the ways in which young people become independent adults? Initially, I used national surveys such as the National Child Development Study, the General Household Survey, the Scottish Young People’s Survey, the Family Expenditure Survey, the Labour Force Survey and the National Census to provide data for identifying variations in socio-economic circumstances and patterns of behaviour. With time I began to seek a greater understanding of the micro-processes underlying these patterns, and so started to combine survey research with in-depth face-to-face interviews with young people and their parents/carers - and later to review the effectiveness of social policies in combating poverty in youth. This research programme, made possible mainly through funding by the Economic and Social Research Council and the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, has included:

  • Leaving home, household formation, housing careers and homelessness;
  • Young people’s sources and levels of income and patterns of expenditure in the UK;
  • Cross-national comparative research on the roles of the family and the state in social protection for young people in Europe;
  • UK policy constructions of youth in terms of economic dependence and independence, and of parental responsibilities for young people;
  • The implications for parents and adult children of government policies extending economic dependence into adulthood;
  • The effectiveness of  UK government policies aimed at combating social exclusion in youth;
  • Variation in beliefs and actual practices among young people and among parents concerning parental economic support for transitions to adulthood, such as continuing in post-16 education, finding employment, and setting up an independent home;
  • Rural disadvantage and youth out-migration from rural Scotland.

 The findings from much of this research can be found on the JRF and ESRC websites as well as through publications.

Books

  • Jones, G. (1995). Leaving Home. Buckingham, Open University Press. ISBN 0-335-19284 - X (178 pp).
  • Jones, G. (1995). Family support for young people. London, Joseph Rowntree Foundation and Family Policy Studies Centre. ISBN 0 907051 78 2 (36 pp).
  • Jones, G. and Wallace, C. (1992). Youth, Family and Citizenship. Buckingham, Open University Press. ISBN 0-335-09294-2 (192 pp).

     - Japanese edition (trans. Michiko Miyamoto). Tokyo, Shinhyouron. ISBN4-7948-0316-8 C0036 P2884E (302 pp.)

     - Korean edition. Seoul, Kyoyookkwahaksa Publishing Company. ISBN4-978-89-254-0033-4. (285 pp.)

  • Jones, G. (with panel of experts) (2002) Youth policy in Luxembourg: report by an international panel of experts appointed by the Council of Europe. Council of Europe. ISBN 978- 92-871-4923-7 (English); 978-92-871-4922-0 (French)(35 pages).
  • Allen, G. and Jones, G. (eds) (2002). Social Relations and the Life Course. London, Palgrave.
  • Bynner, J., Londra, M. and Jones, G. (2004). The Impact of Government Policy on Social Exclusion among Young People: A review of the literature for the Social Exclusion Unit in the Breaking the Cycle series, ODPM.
  • Jones, G. (2009). Youth. Cambridge, Polity Press.

 Chapters in books

  • Jones, G. (1990). 'Marriage partners and their class trajectories', in (eds G. Payne and P. Abbott).  The Social Mobility of Women. London: Falmer Press.
  • Jones, G. and Wallace, C. (1990). 'Beyond individualisation', in (ed. L. Chisholm, P. Buchner, H-H. Kruger and P. Brown) Childhood, Youth and Social Change: a comparative perspective. London: Falmer Press.

     - (1990). 'Zum aktuellen Wandel der Lebenslaufmuster von Jugendlichen in Grossbritannien' in (eds P. Buchner, H?H Kruger and L. Chisholm) Kindheit und Jugend im Interkulturellen Vergleich. Leske und Budruch.

  • Jones, G. (1992). 'Short?term reciprocity in parent?child economic exchanges', in (eds C. Marsh and S. Arber) Household and Family: Divisions and Change. BSA Conference Volume. Basingstoke: Macmillan. (Reprinted in paperback 1995). ISBN 0-333-56533-9 (pp. 26-44).
  • Jones, G. (1996). ‘No key - no door? Young people's access to housing', in C. Samson and N. South (eds) The Social Construction of Social Policy. Basingstoke: Macmillan. ISBN 0-333-630904 (pp. 126-147).
  • Jones, G. (1997). ‘Youth homelessness and the underclass’, in R. Macdonald (ed.) Youth, the ‘Underclass’ and Exclusion. London, Routledge. ISBN 0-415-15830-3 (pp. 96-112).
  • Jones, G. and Martin, C.D. (1999). ‘The “Young Consumer” at home: Dependence, resistance and autonomy’ in J. Hearn and S. Roseneil (eds) Consuming Cultures: Power and Resistance. Basingstoke, Macmillan. ISBN 0-333-74716-X (pp 17-41).
  • Jones, G. (2001) ‘Chapter 12: Critical Discussion and Introduction’ in H. Helve and C. Wallace (eds) Youth, Citizenship and Empowerment. RC34 Committee on Youth of the International Sociological Association. Aldershot, Ashgate.
  • Jones, G. (2003). ‘Youth, dependence and the problem of support’, Chapter 9, in S. Cunningham-Burley and L Jamieson (eds) Families and the State: Changing relationships, London, Palgrave. pp. 187-204. ISBN 0-333-774341-1
  • 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. (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. (2008). ‘Youth, citizenship and the problem of dependence’, in A. Invernizzi and J. Williams (eds) Children and Citizenship. Sage. pp. 97-107.
  • Jones, G. (2009). ‘From Paradigm to Paradox: Parental Support and Transitions to Independence, in I. Schoon and R.K. Silbereisen (eds) Transitions from School to Work: Globalization, Individualization, and Patterns of Diversity. Jacobs Foundation Series. Cambridge, Cambridge University Press.  (pp. 145-164) ISBN-13: 9780521490689.

 Peer reviewed journal articles

  • Jones, G. (1987). 'Leaving the parental home: an analysis of early housing careers', Journal of Social Policy, 16, 1, pp 49?74.
  • Jones, G. (1987). 'Young workers in the class structure', Work, Employment and Society, 1, 4, pp 486?507.
  • Jones, G. (1988). 'Integrating process and structure in the concept of youth: a case for secondary analysis', The Sociological Review, 36, 4, pp 706?732.
  • Jones, G. (1991). 'The cost of living in the parental home', Youth and Policy, 32, pp. 19-29.
  • Jones, G. (1991). 'The cohort in time and space', Bulletin de Methodologie Sociologique, 30, March, pp. 44-54.
  • Jones, G. (1992). 'Leaving home in rural Scotland: choice, constraint and strategy', Youth and Policy, 39, pp. 34-43.
  • 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. (2000). ‘Experimenting with households and inventing ‘Home’? International Social Science Journal, Issue No. 164 (A. Furlong, ed.). Youth in Transition pp. 183-195. Blackwell/UNESCO. ISSN 0020-8701.

     - (2000). ‘Des ménages à l’essai et l’invention d’un “foyer”’, Revue Internationale des Science Sociales, No 164 La Jeunesse en Mutation, June. pp. 209-222. ISSN 0304-3037/ISBN 2-86586-800-1.

  • Jones, G. (2001). ‘Fitting homes? Young people’s housing and household strategies in rural Scotland’. Journal of Youth Studies. Vol 4, No. 1. pp. ISSN 1367-6261.
  • 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).
  • 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.

 Research reports

  • Jones, G. (1997). Changing patterns of income and expenditure in youth. End-of-award report, R000 23 5393, Economic and Social Research Council.
  • Jones, G. and Jamieson, J. (1997). Migrating or staying on: decision-making and behaviour among young people in rural Scotland. End-of-award report, R000 23 5394, Economic and Social Research Council.
  • Jones, G. (rapporteur)(2002). Youth policy in Luxembourg: Report by the international panel of experts appointed by the Council of Europe. Council of Europe Publishing. ISBN 92-871-4923-2. 58pp.

     - French version La Politique de la Jeunesse au Luxembourg ISBN 92-871-4922-4 www.coe.int/t/e/cultural_co-operation/youth/YP_luxembourg.pdf.

  • Jones, G. (2004). The Parenting of Youth: Economic dependence and social protection. R000238379. End-of-award report to the ESRC.
  • Jones, G. (2006). ‘Enjoying and achieving: The Implications for Youth Work of Every Child Matters’. Book 4, National Youth Agency Research Programme Series.  Leicester, NYA.
  • Jones, G. (2006). ‘Economic wellbeing: The Implications for Youth Work of Every Child Matters’. Book 6, National Youth Agency Research Programme Series.  Leicester, NYA.