For generations, the antisocial behavior of young people has been attributed to the lack of discipline in their home environments and a lack of respect for their elders and society in general. Recent statements from the United Kingdom’s government have indicated that this assumption regarding a lack of respect in young people remains a powerful force in society; one that has the power to shape policy. The authors examine this assumption and argue that if young people are expected to behave respectfully towards others and towards their communities, they must first respect themselves. Moreover, in order to gain respect, society’s institutions must show that they are worthy of respect. The authors argue that communities will not gain the respect of young people as long as social inequalities exist that marginalize large segments of the population’s youth. In the same way, local people are often blocked from contributing to the social policy that will directly affect them because they supposedly lack the expertise to participate in the debates regarding policy. The authors also illustrate how the government fails to support and respect families by offering substandard or even nonexistent family-oriented social policy and programming. As such, the local governments and communities in the United Kingdom have done very little to generate the respect they demand from young people and they have done very little to generate a sense of self-respect in young people. The government now faces the challenge of generating positive outlooks in communities besieged by problems that include unemployment, poverty, and high crime rates. Notes, references