The Culture of Consumption and the Construction of Youth At-Risk as a Health Issue in Rural Communities

Abstract

Our paper constitutes a theoretical analysis framed by fictitious, yet factually informed, case scenarios, constructed using a technique called ‘critical fiction’. Based on our research experience in rural Newfoundland, these scenarios are used to illustrate how health subjectivities are enmeshed in social and economic conditions. While people perceive and make sense of health issues related to youth as signs of change in both community life and the way health is defined, more vulnerable youth are framed as ‘at-risk’ and efforts to address these issues are often institutionalised, medicalised, and relegated to a health domain. Consequently, we argue that by paying attention to the situated context of these issues, service providers and policy makers must look not only at the opportunities for preventing problems, but also at redefining what constitutes healthy environments for youth to thrive.