Disposable Youth in America in the Age of Neoliberalism

With the rise of market fundamentalism, today's youth are facing a crisis unlike that of any other generation. Young people, especially poor minority youth, are no longer seen as a social investment but as a problem and, in some cases, ‘disposable.’ Caught between the discourses of consumerism and a powerful crime-control complex, young people are either viewed increasingly as commodities or are subjected to the dictates of an ever expanding criminal justice system. I explore the current conditions of young people and their everyday experiences within an emerging governing-through-crime complex, the neoliberal politics of disposability, and the ever-present market-driven forces of privatization and commodification. I focus on the contemporary United States as the prime example of a country that is disposing of its youth. I also raise some important questions regarding the role that youth, in particular, might play in challenging the what might be called the crisis of disposability in the age of late modernity, while deepening and extending the promise of an aspiring democracy.