“Maybe You Should Try It This Way Instead”: Youth Activism Amid Managerialist Subterfuge

Abstract

The authors theorize what we call managerialist subterfuge, drawing on distinct ethnographic studies to examine how adult “partners” leverage the language and strategies of corporate managerialism to undermine youths’ radical visions of change. Critical analysis of patterns in interview and participant observation data across two youth participatory action research projects revealed the ways in which adult interventions functioned to co-opt youths’ activist agendas; following the rationale that youth who are presumed to be in need of adult management are “out of their depth” when it comes to civic matters. The authors assert that managerialist subterfuge functions as a mechanism to further bureaucratize youth activism and absolve state actors of accountability for harm that Black youth and youth of color experience.