**2. Territorial stigmatization and precarious living conditions for (some) children and young people in the Danish welfare state**

With inspiration from Wacquant [19, 20, 34–36] theory of advanced marginalization, this chapter sets out to frame how specific housing areas, selected by urban and

### *Processes of Precarious Living Conditions: Young Men of Ethnic Minority Background Growing… DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.110646*

housing policy initiatives in the Danish welfare state, are designated as explicit housing areas characterized by specific difficulties, for example, juvenile delinquency, ethnic minority women not affiliated to the labor market, or children who do not attend nursery school or learn the Danish language, as well as political concern about the development of parallel society, in which ethnic minority groups in these housing areas seem to live separated and isolated from the rest of society.

While several Nordic researchers rightly point out that we cannot directly copy Wacquant's [19, 20, 34, 35] theory apparatus connected to advanced marginalization in specific urban and housing areas and transfer this to the Nordic countries characterized by a strong welfare state, there are nevertheless several points in Wacquant's theory of territorial stigmatization processes that can be retrieved across the Nordic countries.

The segregated housing areas are discussed, among other things, in a Swedish context by Lunneblad and Sernhede [38] when they point out that despite the extensive research that exists on segregation and simultaneous poverty problems, the tendency still seems to be connected to the fact that socially deprived housing areas must be understood as parallel societies controlled by criminals and to which immigrants have adapted to the norms that govern these housing areas. In a Norwegian context, Rosten [39] points to the importance of how the spatial stigma and symbolic structures that create, develop, and maintain specific housing areas in advanced marginalization processes seem to become important for young men with an ethnic minority background in particular, who as strategy takes on a special masculinity where "playing ghetto" becomes a possible way of dealing with the fact that you live in a local community that is looked down upon by people from outside, and that you yourself cannot always feel sure is good for you either [39]. In a Danish context, Hansen [40] has similarly pointed out how housing areas in the Danish welfare state have been transformed in tandem with the advanced urban marginality and the politics of gentrification that have concentrated stigmatized populations in segregated areas of the city ([40], p. 1).11

Wacquant et al. [21] emphasize how some housing areas are affected by territorial stigmatization, which seems to constitute the key symbolic feature of advanced marginalization. According to Wacquant [19, 20], the characteristics of the advanced marginality of the post-Fordist era—the fragmentation and desocialization of wage labor, the disconnection of the poor from the economic conjunctures, the rise of precarious jobs and inequality, and the spatial concentration of poverty—have fostered a transformation of the organization and experience of space itself.

"Second territorial stigma has become nationalized and democratized, so to speak: in every country, a small set of urban boroughs have come to be universally renowned and reviled across class and space as redoubts of self-inflicted and self-perpetuating destitution and depravity. Their names circulate in the discourses of journalism, politics, and scholarship, as well as in ordinary conversation as synonyms for social hell." ([21], p. 1273).

By Wacquant [18–20, 34–36, 43] and Wacquant et al. [21], territorial stigmatization is connected to both Goffman's [44] theory of stigmatization and Bourdieu's [45] work with the concept of symbolic power. Stigmatization is defined by Goffman as encompassing various forms of human characteristics designated as particularly undesirable in individuals or groups of individuals and which are formulated as "discrediting differentness" flowing from the ordinary gaze of others in face-to-face interaction ([21], p. 1272).

<sup>11</sup> In a Nordic context, several researchers have discussed Wacquant's urban and housing sociology analyses See, for example, Jensen & Christensen [41] or Larsen [42] for analyses based on the Danish welfare state.

Goffman points out that stigmata can be linked to the body, people's individual characteristics, as well as tribal affiliation "transmitted through lineages," however, Wacquant et al. [21] take inspiration from Goffman to also add the physical place where people live as something also available for exposure to stigmatizing looks and actions that add to the other stigmata. The territorial stigmatization of physical places in urban and housing areas, Wacquant [34–36] connects to the formation of new social groups, including the precariat. In this context, symbolic power is connected to Wacquant's analyses of how some groups in society have the power to designate physical places, which are then exposed to derogatory and stigmatizing mention, and how these physical places are particularly related to the formation of new social groups, for example, the precariat, that seems to congregate in these housing areas.

As an analytical category, the term precariat is formulated by both Wacquant [19, 20, 34–36] and Standing [31] as comprehensive groups living under exposed and uncertain life conditions, with affiliation to the labor market marked by shortterm employment, without security, and at the same time affiliated to jobs that do not require education. Wacquant's analyses is based on understanding of the precariat as "miscarried collective that can never come into its own precisely because it is deprived not just of the means of stable living but also of the means of producing its own representation" [36], but at the same time, he connects the precariat to those urban and housing areas, which are marked by territorial stigmatization processes, as areas in risk of developing and maintaining the residents in precarious living conditions and thus constitute, in this context, a relevant analytical category.

At the same time, Standing [33, 46], Standing [31, 32], although from a different theoretical point of view than Wacquant, in his analyses is concerned with the fact that the new precariat takes place in the increased immigration in the European countries, as well as changes in labor market policy, which seems to create a new class consisting mainly of immigrants, the young and the low-educated.12 This class is termed the precariat, which at the same time includes new forms of proletarianization and is characterized by uncertainty. Uncertainty that is created and maintained through a lack of job security. Standing [47], Standing [32] points out that this lack of security can be linked to social development to which the precariat encounters, among other things, uncertainty in relation to employment, income, qualifications, and protection of the employees who, for example, work in dangerous, isolated and exposed jobs. In this context, Standing [32] further points out how some groups of ethnic minorities, including immigrants and refugees, are at risk of belonging to the precariat. Standing analyses [32, 37] how these groups, across the countries, are regarded as second-class citizens and not as citizens, and are also covered by many national laws and rules for what they must—and especially must not.13

<sup>12</sup> Standing also works with the concept of the precariat as encompassing several different groups in society. We are thus not dealing with a homogenous group, but also young people in their 20s and 30s who are well educated, but whose working conditions are characterized by employment on a shorter contract basis, characterized by, among other things, lack of employment security, lack of security for income and skills development [32, 37]. In this chapter, however, the starting point is the definition of the precariat connected to the increased immigration in the European countries, as well as labor market and social policy, which seems to create a new class living in relative deprivation.

<sup>13</sup> It is important to maintain that Standing argues that we are not dealing with homogenous groups in society. From a lecture with Guy Standing at Reykjavik University, Iceland in June 2022, he also pointed out that he uses the term precariat in two senses. One refers to a specific socioeconomic group, while the other is attached to both young and well-educated people, who live under uncertain working conditions as a result of globalisation.

*Processes of Precarious Living Conditions: Young Men of Ethnic Minority Background Growing… DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.110646*

However, the essence of the analytical categories of stigmatized housing areas and movements into precarious living conditions for some children and young people is the fact that these must be seen in the context of the Danish (and Nordic) welfare state, which is characterized by the fact that "the state is present" in the housing areas also designated as special housing areas marked by special difficulties. Several Nordic researchers point to how the welfare state steps in and formulates housing policy goals and guidelines, which are to prevent, for example, children and young people from acquiring an education, prevention of movements into crime, as well as support and help the area's residents in order for them to take an active part in shaping their housing area in more positive ways [38–40].

In a Danish context, these housing areas thus undergo extensive social housing initiatives in these residential areas, for example, with a focus on improving daycare and school attendance for children and young people, helping with leisure jobs, as well as increasing the employment opportunities for the residents in these areas.14 However, Kamali & Jönsson [51] bring up a relevant point as they argue for how the Nordic welfare states have undergone extensive reorganizations and reforms legitimized by both political and administrative demands for "increasing efficiency, increasing professionalism, decreasing welfare dependency and cheaper gowernance" ([51], preface). These reorganizations and reforms are characterized as neoliberal movements in the Nordic welfare states, which at the same time also seem to have an impact on children and young people, especially those growing up in socially deprived housing areas characterized by poverty and inequality. Thus, Hansen [40] points out that "The politics of urban marginality are individualizing and racializing, and in a way demonizing the poor populations, considering poverty as self-inflicted, the poor as lazy, unwilling, morally corrupt, and as potential thieves and welfare cheaters. As such, the poor residents are officially categorized as nonhumans, noncitizens" ([40], p. 10).

## **3. Data and method**

The research project elapsed in the period 2018–2019 with the participation of pedagogical staff, as well as children and young people from leisure and youth clubs located in three different socially deprived housing areas. Leisure and youth clubs have been established in all three housing areas, as well as drop-in centers for young people holding various pedagogical efforts. Some of the efforts function as traditional leisure and club efforts [52], but the majority of the efforts have also been extended to deal with different measures that sprung up directly contextualized by challenges that the pedagogical staff consider to be connected to children and young people growing up in these specific housing areas, for example, efforts that prevent crime and vandalism as well as efforts that focus on homework assistance, job searching, and efforts that, so to speak, move out of the housing areas through association with other leisure and sports activities in the municipality.

<sup>14</sup> With the so-called Housing agreement from 2010, it was formulated as an overarching goal that the amount of socially deprived housing areas should be reduced to half, and that the housing areas should be changed and become attractive housing areas fully integrated into the rest of society. The efforts are expected to promote safe and stimulating living conditions for children and young people, employment and business opportunities as well as cultural and leisure facilities in the areas [48, 49], retrieved from Christensen et al. [50].

For the sake of anonymization,15 the different housing areas have been given the invented names, Bluegarden, Greengarden, and Applegarden. The three housing areas share common features, as they are all periodically covered by the list of socially deprived housing areas, and all three include many citizens with an ethnic minority background from non-Western countries. For children and young people with an ethnic minority background, these include both refugees and immigrants, as well as descendants of immigrants, from many different countries, for example, Syria, Pakistan, Turkey, Albania, Morocco, Palestine, Macedonia, and Somalia. In several of the leisure and youth clubs, there are solely children and young people with an ethnic minority background, and one of the employees in Greengarden specifies that in this club there are "at least 25 different nationalities" ([9] in review).

For the geographical location of the housing areas on the Danish map, they are typically located around the larger cities in Denmark and can be further clarified through the Swedish researcher Sernhede's [17, 53] analyses of stigmatized metropolitan areas in the suburbs in the Swedish society. Sernhede [17] points out, with inspiration from Wacquant's [34, 35], that the key factor seems to be social stratification, which is clearly marked in spatial segregation, in which some urban and housing areas include very wealthy residents while other housing areas delimited to poor citizens and constitute so-called multiethnic housing areas in the Swedish welfare state.

Thus, Bluegarden, Greengarden, and Applegarden are also examples of housing areas to be covered by the term multiethnic housing areas, which appear (sometimes invisibly) demarcated from other urban and housing areas. The pedagogical staff in the various leisure and youth clubs, as well as children and young people, point to this demarcation, although from different angles. For the pedagogical staff, for example, the importance of "helping the young people to get outside the housing area and participate in activities, jobs and training" or the importance of "learning about the Danish society" is pointed out, while several of the young people point out how their housing area is the "best place to live" and they rarely seem to express a need to get outside the area's invisible boundaries.

The project's data includes three leisure clubs, three youth clubs, and two drop-in centers. In a Danish context, drop-in centers are defined by being a physical place, where young people can attend and participate in various activities, and with the attachment of pedagogical staff. Drop-in centers are typically open in the evenings and offer free of charge for young people—often also young people over 18 years of age. The difference between drop-in centers and more traditional youth clubs is thus them being offered free of charge for young people and the participation of young people over the age of 18.

All municipalities in Denmark have several leisure and pedagogical offers for children and young people often unfolded through various forms of leisure and youth clubs.16 Leisure and youth clubs are aimed at children and young people approx.

<sup>15</sup> In addition to the anonymization of the housing areas, this is also applicable for children, young people, and the pedagogues.

<sup>16</sup> In the Act to amend the Act on day care, leisure and club service, etc. for children and youths, the following is described under Chapter 10, paragraph 43 about financial free space allowance in club facilities for children and young people: The municipal board in the municipality of residence must provide a financial allowance for free spaces in accordance with §76, paragraph 1, subsection 1 of the Day Care Act, when the parents or the one of the parents, who has the right to the club offer space and the free space allowance, cf. § 1, declare a household income per month, cf. § 44, where the conversion to an annual income is within the income limits of the free space scale, cf. § 56.

### *Processes of Precarious Living Conditions: Young Men of Ethnic Minority Background Growing… DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.110646*

12–18 years old and includes children's and young people's free time outside school hours, in the afternoon and evening, and is not connected to children's and young people's school life [52]. In relation to the parents' expenses for their children's participation in leisure and youth clubs,17 this varies from the different municipalities, and it is also possible to apply for so-called financially free space,18 so that children and young people are able to participate in leisure activities, independently of parents' income. In a Danish context, a report from the Danish Evaluation Institute, EVA [54] points out that children and young people with an ethnic minority background are more likely to be enrolled in clubs than ethnic Danish children and young people, which also seems to apply to the other Nordic countries [25, 55–57].

This is substantiated by a report from the Danish Evaluation Institute from 2018, which states that it is primarily young people in school-leaving age, whose parents have less education, as well as young people with an ethnic minority background and young people of one-parent families, who make use of club offers. Furthermore, the report's studies identify that boys more often than girls as well as young people with an increased risk of so-called socio-emotional challenges are more likely to be enrolled in a club [9, 52, 58].

The research project is based on various qualitative methods to collect data material for the project, consisting of a total of 38 semi-structured interviews, which include three individual interviews with managers from each of the three institutions involved, three focus group interviews with 15 pedagogical employees, also divided between the various institutions in the 3 housing areas and 8 focus group interviews with 20 children and young people. The eight focus group interviews with children and young people include interviews with children and young people across the three housing areas, typically the participation of between three and four children and young people in each interview.

As additional data material for the research project, questionnaires have been sent out to all employees and partners in and around the involved leisure and youth clubs in the three housing areas. All employees, managers, and business partners have answered these questionnaires, which were often distributed at the beginning of meetings, where time was set aside for the forms to be answered and returned.

Ethnographically inspired fieldwork has also been carried out in the various clubs in the three housing areas ([7–9] in review). The fieldwork has, among other things, including participation in the daily life of the leisure and youth clubs in the afternoon and evening, together with the children and young people, as well as participation in staff meetings of the pedagogical staff, as well as in collaboration meetings with schools, administration, police, and participation in supervision and general work meetings, in which the pedagogical work is planned.19 The ethnographically inspired fieldwork has generally been guided by a focus on the visibility of housing social structures, which form the framework for leisure-time pedagogical work, as well as the lived lives, among children, young people, and pedagogues. The fieldwork, along with the pedagogical staff through their work meetings, their organization of pedagogical initiatives, and their collaborative relationships with, for example, school, administra-

<sup>18</sup> Financial allowance for free places includes that "Parents with an income below a certain limit can, in addition to the regular subsidy for a place in day care, receive an additional subsidy from the municipality" (for further details see the Ministry of Children and Education's website: https://eng.uvm.dk/)

<sup>17</sup> In a review of various municipalities' prices for children and young people's participation in leisure or youth clubs, parental payment appears to vary between approx. DKK 500 and DKK 1000.

<sup>19</sup> See further Appendix, which in detail describes the research project's methodological basis.

tion, and parents, point to a specific preoccupation with creating opportunities for the children and young people in terms of schooling, education, and job affiliations. Opportunities that must constantly be promoted, developed, and supported and whose built-in uncertainty seems to have been created based on the advanced marginalization, which at the same time takes place in these housing areas [34, 35].

The analytical readings of the data material, in this context, are concerned with exploring how the patterns of urban marginality and ethno-racial inequality, as well as precarious processes, seem to be retrieved in the Danish welfare state, already among some children and young people at an early age. Precarious processes can be set in motion before children and young people even enter the labor market. They are also in their childhood and youth at risk of being caught in what Standing terms the precarity traps ([37], p. 26). These traps seem to be connected to growing up in these housing areas and can further be captured through poor or inadequate schooling, lack of leisure jobs, the risk of movements into crime and difficulties in completing further education, and later a permanent connection to the labor market. In particular, the analyses show how some of the children and young people are highly at risk of being in a pre-precariat, which includes processes of poor or deficient schooling, including many and often negative experiences with school life, as well as experiences of failure to maintain further education, and at the same time a linkage to growing up in these housing areas.
