Author Description

About the Author The Authors: Judith Bessant is Reader at the Australian Catholic University (ACU) in Melbourne, Australia, and Director of the Social Policy and Advocacy Research Centre at the ACU. She has researched and published extensively in the areas of social policy, youth studies, social theory, sociology and education. Richard Hil is Senior Lecturer at the University of Southern Cross in Coffs Harbour, New South Wales, Australia. He has been a practicing social worker in England and his current research interests include justice studies, social work and criminology. Rob Watts is Professor of Social Policy at Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology University, Melbourne, Australia. He is the author of eleven books, including Foundations of the National Welfare State, Arguing About the Welfare State, Making Groups Work, Youth Studies and Sociology Australia and is currently completing a major study on state violence. Product Description Anxiety about unemployment, homelessness, poverty and crime has always been around. Today, governments, experts and the media spend a lot of time talking about people at risk, the measurement and prediction of risk factors, encouraging resiliency and the need for early intervention. What are the politics, origins and meanings behind risk talk? Is the discovery and management of risk factors capable of offering real solutions? This lively, provocative book asks these questions by examining youth employment, homelessness and juvenile crime. It is a must-read for policy makers, human service workers, researchers and anyone interested in the key social issues of our time.