Unearthing the Institutionalised Social Exclusion of Black Youth in Contemporary South Africa : The Burden of Being Born Free

South Africa is often dubbed as a young nation, with youth making up 35.7% of the total population. But are its institutions set up to include all young people equitably? Unearthing the Institutionalised Social Exclusion of Black Youth in Contemporary South Africa highlights how the social exclusion of impoverished black youth in South Africa remains deeply entrenched within the key institutions of health, education, and employment.

Shifting the focus of youth exclusion to institutions and how it is embedded within these and focusing on health, education, and economic systems, Kubeka provides a toolkit for interventions to challenge exclusion within institutions. Drawing upon well-established theories of social exclusion and neo-institutionalism as lens through which to reflect upon, unearth, centre, reframe, and reimagine social exclusion, particularly as it is experienced by black youth from the townships of South Africa, the author provides an understanding and articulation of how certain individuals and a collective of individuals are excluded from fully participating in society. Presenting a conception of ‘youth social exclusion’ that captures the complex social disconnection of youth resulting from a socioeconomic positionality that is inherently precarious, Kubeka calls for an institutional analysis approach to be adopted to enable the identification of the nature and processes of exclusion inherent within the structure and systems of institutions.

Offering recommendations for the creation of strategic and intervention frameworks to assist existing institutions of education, health, and employment to be more inclusive and to effectively facilitate smooth transitions to adulthood among black youth, this is important reading for scholars interested in reforming education, health and the economic systems.