Resources: Review - An insight into the true meaning of youthparticipation

Children, young people and social inclusion: Participation for what? Edited by Kay Tisdall, John Davis, Malcolm Hill and Alan Prout Published by The Policy Press Price 21.99 ISBN 186134662X

I once wrote that citizenship and social exclusion were two sides of the same coin, representing society's hopes and fears in relation to young people and the future. Yet few texts bring the two ideas together, and that makes this publication all the more welcome.

What is more, not only are the distinguished academic contributors from a range of disciplines, but all the contributions build from a lengthy debate between scholars, practitioners and policymakers. At last we discover the very necessary unravelling of two much vaunted terms - social inclusion and participation - that have been bandied about so much they have largely lost any precise or useful meaning. The authors, in their different ways, restore greater specificity to the debate and, critically, remind us that the 'harder' notions of poverty and multiple disadvantage still matter.