Dr Ben Lohmeyer

Video (2min): Researching with Young People

Video (20min): Fearless Minds Series - Focussing on the Invisible: The unseen impacts of youth violence

I research Youth Violence. You might be thinking of school bullying, youth ‘gangs’, or maybe the chaos of protests. I step back from these eye-catching behaviours, to uncover where violence is an invisible and accepted part of Australian society that shapes young people’s lives.

Stories of violent young people have inspired fear since the “bodgies” and “widgies” of the 1950s. The labels we give youth subcultures have changed, but the patterns of moral panic have not. If we want to build a safer world, we must ask hard questions why violence is ok in professional sport, but not on the school oval? Why is bullying ok in parliament, but not in the classroom?

I tackle these questions using a social lens. Rather than looking for the cause of violence inside young people’s minds and bodies, I think about types of violence that follow the patterns of violation deeply embedded in our institutions, societies and our stories. To address Youth Violence, we need to see it as part of a larger system full of contradictory messages and attached to physical and social spaces. We need to look for the less visible forms of violence, then support young people to challenge and question its place in Australia’s history and future.

Youth Sociologist and Youth Worker

My research and teaching are in the field of youth sociology and the sociology of violence, with intersections into youth policy and youth work practice.

Prior to my academic career, I worked in the Non-Government Youth Work sector with young people around issues of violence and justice in alternative education and accommodation.