Lost Boys

How Education is Failing Young Working-Class Men

Alex Blower (Arts University Bournemouth)

$165.95

Hardback

Forthcoming
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English

Policy Press
11 July 2025

Social mobility; Gender studies: men; Age groups: children; Age groups: adolescents; Higher & further education, tertiary education

Since the mid-2000s, consistent commentary from politicians and media outlets in the UK have presented low educational attainment and low aspiration as defining attributes of working-class boys in education. It has often characterised them as misogynistic, aggressive and unwilling to learn. But how true is this?

Combining research, real-life case studies and the author's experience of navigating school exclusion, this book provides clear recommendations for how to better support the health, wellbeing and vulnerabilities of working-class boys and men through both policy and practice.

Challenging us to reconsider ideas about the role of masculinity in the lives of working-class boys and men, the book asks what would change if, instead of focusing on perceived individual failures, we considered the troubled relationship between working-class boys and the social and educational systems in which they reside.

By: Alex Blower (Arts University Bournemouth)
Imprint: Policy Press
Country of Publication: United Kingdom
Dimensions: Height: 216mm, Width: 140mm,
ISBN: 9781447370246
ISBN 10: 1447370244
Pages: 192
Publication Date: 11 July 2025
Audience: Professional and scholarly , General/trade , Undergraduate , ELT Advanced
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Forthcoming

1. Introduction 2. The Aspiration Trap 3. Inequality and Educational ‘Success’ 4. Making the Grades 5. Mental Health 6. Jobs for Boys? 7. Learning from the Real Experts 8. A Manifesto for Change 9. Conclusion

Alex Blower is Research Fellow at Arts University Bournemouth. Having faced challenges related to mental ill health and school exclusion as a young man, his motivation for writing this book is as personal as it is professional.

Reviews for Lost Boys: How Education is Failing Young Working-Class Men

“Compelling, compassionate and uncompromising in its honesty. Lost Boys gives me hope.” Jason ‘Foxy’ Fox, Special Forces Instructor, SAS Who Dares Wins “A game-changing take on masculinity – where sharp research meets raw personal insight.” Darren McGarvey, author of Poverty Safari: Understanding the Anger of Britain’s Underclass “Alex's readable, honest and passionate book offers a roadmap for hope in the way we see and support young working-class men.” Sarah Atkinson, CEO, Social Mobility Foundation “A beautifully written book. Thoughtful, deeply personal and combining years of practitioner experience, Blower has produced exactly the kind of generous, well-researched and hopeful account of young working-class men we need to counter dominant reactionary narratives.” Sam Friedman, author of The Class Ceiling: Why it Pays to be Privileged