Finding oneself a loneliness agenda

This chapter explores the policy, practice and media contexts surrounding the emergence of the youth loneliness agenda. To understand the social conditions of loneliness it is necessary to locate youth loneliness in the neoliberalising policy context, and the intersections between neoliberalism and the individualising tendencies of psychological research and loneliness interventions. Finally, the chapter questions the representation of youth loneliness, especially how loneliness emerges and spreads, through notions of contagion and crisis.