The culture of fear and Waiton’s (2002) proposition that we are ‘scared of the kids‪’‬

Historically, public discourses have used the threats young people appear to pose, as a barometer of social ills and an indicator of society's moral decline (Brannen et al. 1994). Particularly nowadays this tendency is reflected in the increasing ‘evidence’ issued, fuelling public fear and neo-liberal policy reaction (Côté 2002).