Youth Studies

In A Critical Youth Studies for the 21st Century Peter Kelly and Annelies Kamp present an edited collection that explores the challenges and opportunities faced by young people in an often dangerous 21st century. In an increasingly globalised world these challenges and opportunities include those associated with widening inequalities, precarious labour markets, the commodification of education, the hopes for democracy, and with practising an identity under these circumstances and in these spaces. Drawing on contemporary critical social theories and diverse methodologies, contributors to the collection, who are established and emerging scholars from the Americas, Europe, and Asia/Pacific, open up discussions about what a critical youth studies can contribute to community, policy and academic debates about these challenges and opportunities. Contributors are: Anna Anderson, Dena Aufseeser, Judith Bessant, Ros Black, Daniel Briggs, Laurie Browne, David Cairns, Perri Campbell, James Côté, Ann Dadich, Maria de Lourdes Beldi Alacantra, Nora Duckett, Deirdre Duffy, Angela Dwyer, Christina Ergler, Michelle Fine, Madeline Fox, Andy Furlong, Theo Gavrielides, Henry Giroux, John Goodwin, Keith Heggart, Luke Howie, Amelia Johns, Annelies Kamp, Peter Kelly, Fengshu Liu, Conor McGuckin, Majella McSharry, Filipa Menezes, Magda Nico, Pam Nilan, Henrietta O'Connor, Jo Pike, Herwig Reiter, Geraldine Scanlon, Keri Schwab, Michael Shevlin, Adnan Selimovic, Joan Smith, Jodie Taylor, Steven Threadgold, Vappu Tyyskä, Brendan Walsh, Lucas Walsh, Rob Watts, Bronwyn Wood, Dan Woodman, and David Zyngier. A Critical Youth Studies for the 21st Century is now available in paperback for individual customers.

This is a clear, jargon-free and accessible textbook which will be invaluable in helping to explain concepts, theories and trends within youth studies. It raises questions for discussion, with international case studies and up-to-date examples.

This book provides an updated and fresh introduction to recent theoretical developments in youth studies. It expands upon these developments and introduces new discussions and perspectives. It presents three central theoretical traditions in youth studies, and explores the possibilities of redefining some of the central concepts, but also of combining different theoretical perspectives. After depicting the theoretical landscape of youth studies, the book explores generations and new subjectivities. Next, it examines subcultures and transitional spaces, mediatization and learning processes. One chapter is set aside for a discussion on the body, the self and habitus, and this is followed by a chapter on postcolonial spaces. Before presenting its conclusions, the book delves into the development of youth studies, theory and everyday life. All together the book taps into what is happening in the everyday lives of young people, and employs a methodology that can be used to create bridges between young people’s voices and experiences on the one hand and societal and cultural transformations on the other.

There is currently much discourse about generations in the public sphere. A sequence of letters conflates generations and age cohorts born in the last few decades (generation “X”, “Y” or “Z”) as well as multiple categories are used to describe today’s young people as a generation that is distinct from its predecessors. Despite the popularity of generational labels in media, politics, or even academia, the use of generation as a conceptual tool in youth studies has been controversial. This Special Issue allows readers to better understand the key issues regarding the use of generation as a theoretical concept and/or as a social category in the field of youth studies, shedding light on the controversies, trends, and cautions that go through it.

What is youth? How do we understand youth in its social and cultural context? Mark Cieslik and Donald Simpson here provide a concise and readily accessible introduction to the interdisciplinary field of youth studies. Drawing upon the latest research and developments in the field, as well as discussing the fundamental ideas underlying the discipline as a whole, it offers a comprehensive yet unpacked understanding of youth as a social phenomenon. Illuminating the many abstract and contested concepts within youth studies, the book offers explanations to questions such as: How might we define youth? How can we understand young people in relation to their social identities and practices? What is the relationship between youth and social class? How do youth cultures develop? How can we understand youth in a globalized perspective? Key Concepts in Youth Studies stands out as a natural companion for students on youth studies, sociology, criminology and social science programmes. It will also be useful for youth practitioners such as social workers and teachers.

This book introduces the inter-disciplinary study of childhood and youth and the multi-agency practice of professionals who serve the needs of children, young people and their families. Exploring key theories and central ideas, research methodology, policy and practice, it takes a holistic, contextual approach that values difference and diversity. It examines concepts such as identity, representation, creativity and discourse and issues such as ethnicity, gender and the ′childhood in crisis′ thesis. Furthermore, it challenges opinion by exploring complex and controversial modern-day issues, and by engaging with a range of perspectives to highlight debates within the field.

A definitive statement of YPAR as it relates to education with an informative combination of theory and practice, this edited collection addresses both the political challenges and inherent power imbalances of conducting research with young people.

The burgeoning field of youth studies encompasses multiple viewpoints, presenting a confusing picture to novices and experts alike. This insightful text goes to the heart of the fundamental issues and debates that characterize this developing field, giving readers a clearer understanding of its current progress and future prospects. James Côté's lively, debate-focused overview of the underlying paradigms and theories in youth studies - drawn from the overlapping disciplines of sociology, psychology and cultural studies – functions both as an introduction to the area and as an exercise in critical thinking, putting its readers on the cutting-edge of the field. The chapters move from identifying the key 'threshold meta-concepts' that influence research, to showing readers how to critically evaluate key debates in areas that are central to students' lives, including education, work, family, technologies, youth culture, identity and politics. Youth Studies is the ideal companion to youth-related degree programmes and to youth modules in sociology, social work, social policy, psychology and other related disciplines.

Over the last decade, "youth" has become increasingly central to policy, development, media and public debates and conflicts across the world – whether as an ideological symbol, social category or political actor. Set against a backdrop of contemporary political economy, Youth Rising? seeks to understand exactly how and why youth has become such a popular and productive social category and concept. The book provocatively argues that the rise and spread of global neoliberalism has not only led youth to become more politically and symbolically salient, but also to expand to encompass a growing range of ages and individuals of different class, race, ethnic, national and religious backgrounds. Employing both theoretical and historical analysis, authors Mayssoun Sukarieh and Stuart Tannock trace the development of youth within the context of capitalism, where it has long functioned as a category for social control. The book’s chapters critically analyze the growing fears of mass youth unemployment and a "lost generation" that spread around the world in the wake of the global financial crisis. They question as well the relentless focus on youth in the reporting and discussion of recent global protests and uprisings. By helping develop a better understanding of such phenomena and critically and reflexively investigating the very category and identity of youth, Youth Rising? offers a fresh and sobering challenge to the field of youth studies and to widespread claims about the relationship between youth and social change.

As a unique blend of reference guide, conceptual dictionary, and critical assessment, Keywords in Youth Studies presents and historicizes the "state of the field." It offers theoretically-informed analysis of key concepts, and points to possibilities for youth studies’ reconstruction.