‘Participatory parity’, young people and policy in Scotland

The last three decades have witnessed significant changes in the social and economic
context of young people’s lives. There is increasing evidence that for
young people growing up in the UK, this is fuelling a disparity between those
with resources and those without. What this means in terms of social justice,
however, is difficult to discern. In Scotland, promoting greater social justice so
that all its citizens are included has been held up as a key vision of successive
Scottish administrations since devolution began in 1999. Scotland therefore
makes an interesting case for the examination of policy discourses in relation to
young people. In order to do this, the paper draws on a theoretical framework
of justice developed by Nancy Fraser which is oriented on the norm of participatory
parity. Combining this framework with an approach informed by critical
discourse analysis, the current policy context in Scotland is examined in order
to discern if it contributes to all young people achieving participatory parity and
subsequently social justice.