Overview

Since the mid-2000s, consistent commentary from politicians and media outlets in the UK have presented low educational attainment and low aspiration as defining attributes of working-class boys in education. It has often characterised them as misogynistic, aggressive and unwilling to learn. But how true is this? Combining research, real-life case studies and the author's experience of navigating school exclusion, this book provides clear recommendations for how to better support the health, wellbeing and vulnerabilities of working-class boys and men through both policy and practice. Challenging us to reconsider ideas about the role of masculinity in the lives of working-class boys and men, the book asks what would change if, instead of focusing on perceived individual failures, we considered the troubled relationship between working-class boys and the social and educational systems in which they reside.

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9781447370246

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Reviews

“Compelling, compassionate and uncompromising in its honesty. Lost Boys gives me hope.” Jason ‘Foxy’ Fox, Special Forces Instructor, SAS Who Dares Wins “A game-changing take on masculinity – where sharp research meets raw personal insight.” Darren McGarvey, author of Poverty Safari: Understanding the Anger of Britain’s Underclass “Alex's readable, honest and passionate book offers a roadmap for hope in the way we see and support young working-class men.” Sarah Atkinson, CEO, Social Mobility Foundation “A beautifully written book. Thoughtful, deeply personal and combining years of practitioner experience, Blower has produced exactly the kind of generous, well-researched and hopeful account of young working-class men we need to counter dominant reactionary narratives.” Sam Friedman, author of The Class Ceiling: Why it Pays to be Privileged

Author Information

Alex Blower is Research Fellow at Arts University Bournemouth. Having faced challenges related to mental ill health and school exclusion as a young man, his motivation for writing this book is as personal as it is professional.

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