What are the ties that bind the 'good youth citizen' and the youth activist in the twenty-first century? Contemporary young people are encouraged -- through education and other cultural sites -- to 'save the world' via community projects that resemble activism, yet increasingly risk arrest for public acts of dissent. "Citizen Youth: culture, activism, and agency in a neoliberal era "goes to the heart of these contradictions, exploring the dilemmas and cultural dynamics of being young and politically engaged. Through an ethnographic study of young people working on activist causes across the three largest urban centres in one of the wealthiest nations in the world (Toronto, Montreal, and Vancouver, Canada), this book draws on Bourdieusian cultural sociology, feminist theories of agency, phenomenology, and political theories of the state and neoliberalism to understand what it means to be a certain kind of youth citizen in the twenty-first century. Accessibly written yet theoretically engaged, the book will be of interest to individuals both within academia and in the wider world of social movements and youth engagement.

How do young people get by in hard times and hard places? Have they become a "lost generation" disconnected from society's mainstream? Do popular ideas about social exclusion or a welfare-dependent underclass really connect with the lived experiences of the so-called "disaffected," "disengaged" and "difficult-to-reach"? Based on close-up research with young men and women from localities suffering social exclusion in extreme form," Disconnected Youth?" will appeal to all those who are interested in understanding and tackling the problems of growing up in Britain's poor neighborhoods.

In the last decades of the 20th century, successive British Governments have regarded adolescent pregnancy and childbearing as a significant public health and social problem. Youthful pregnancy was once tackled by attacking young, single mothers but New Labour, through its Teenage Pregnancy Strategy, linked early pregnancy to social exclusion rather than personal morality and aimed, instead, to reduce teenage pregnancy and increase young mothers' participation in education and employment. However, the problematisation of early pregnancy has been contested, and it has been suggested that teenage mothers have been made scapegoats for wider, often unsettling, social and demographic changes.The re-evaluation of early pregnancy as problematic means that, in some respects, teenage pregnancy has been 'made' and 'unmade' as a problem. Focusing on the period from the late-1990's to the present, "Teenage Pregnancy" examines who is likely to have a baby as a teenager, the consequences of early motherhood and how teenage pregnancy is dealt with in the media. The author argues that society's negative attitude to young mothers is likely to marginalise an already excluded group and that efforts should be focused primarily on supporting young mothers and their children. This comprehensive examination of teenage pregnancy focuses on the situation in the UK, but will be useful for readers in other developed world countries. It will be of interest to students in sociology, social policy, health studies and public health, and also to policymakers and young people's interest groups.

This collection of essays represents some of the most important recent research into changing patterns of family, household and community life. It brings together some of the leading sociologists in the field to explore how these informal social relationships change over time and the life course. It will be essential reading on courses concerned with the family and youth sociology.

Political struggle situated within and between cleavages based on sexuality, gender, and age is examined in this volume. The collection offers cutting edge work that challenges traditional notions of what is political sociology and what constitutes political behavior. Political activism organized around identities of transgender, intersex, lesbian, gay, and old age demonstrates the increasing importance of identity politics for political sociologists and social movements scholars alike.

The authors combined in this volume teach students and scholars of political sociology the continued significance of questions related to the culture wars and art as an agent of change, the role of political opportunity and threat in social movements, transgender and intersex political activism, the advantages and disadvantages of late-life liberal political activism, and how everyday life or just living constitutes social movement activity. The readings raise important questions regarding the intersection of sexual minority, race, and gender. Additionally, the readings explore ???identity politics??? from the vantage of several different contexts using a variety of methodological approaches and theoretical views. The authors hope this volume will stimulate other political sociologists and social movement scholars to further explore political behavior that is based upon and motivated by some of the most intimate aspects of our lives.

Thatcher's Grandchildren explores sociological and political issues about childhood that have that have become increasingly significant in the twenty first century within a political landscape framed by neo-liberalism. Issues addressed include child protection and abuse, the media, education and schooling, and poverty.

Based on an intensive qualitative study of a diverse group of 51 older widowers, this unique book sets widowhood within the context of life experience and identifies characteristics and patterns of behaviour that contribute to widowers' success, or lack of it, in adjusting satisfactorily to their circumstances. The authors shed light on widowers' specific needs and on the services needed to help widowers develop greater self-reliance. Among the topics discussed are models of resilience, marriage and illness of the spouse, caregiving and communication, death of the wife, grief and adjustment, living alone and remarriage, life values carried forward, adult children and other social support, and cohorts and the future. The authors conclude with a consideration of trends that may influence the next generation's experience of widowhood. This excellent volume offers expert guidance on the needs and care of the nearly invisible population of older widowers.

How has popular film, television and fiction responded to the realities of an ageing Western population? This volume analyses this field of representation to argue that, while celebrations of ageing as an inspirational journey are increasing, most depictions still focus on decline and deterioration.

What is a 'we' a collective and how can we use such communal self-knowledge to help people? This book is about collectivity, participation, and subjectivity and about the social theories that may help us understand these matters. It also seeks to learn from the innovative practices and ideas of a community of social/youth workers in Copenhagen between 1987 and 2003, who developed a pedagogy through creating collectives and mobilizing young people as participants. The theoretical and practical traditions are combined in a unique methodology viewing research as a contentious modeling of prototypical practices. Through this dialogue, it develops an original trans-disciplinary critical theory and practice of collective subjectivity for which the ongoing construction and overcoming of common sense, or ideology, is central. It also points to ways of relating discourse with agency, and fertilizing insights from interactionism and ideology theories in a cultural-historical framework.

This book examines the processes by which older people make housing decisions and the impact such decisions have on the construction of their lives. Evidence is included from a major three-year research study, where older people told stories of their lives. The authors argue that housing decisions are not necessarily the result of rational, analytical and objective thinking. The contribution of other ways of decision-making is often hidden, as when people think intuitively, act impulsively, or for essentially emotional reasons.

Attention to social class is a major issue confronting the study of ageing in the 21st century, yet it has been significantly overlooked to date. Social class in later life provides the most up-to-date collection of new and emerging research relevant to contemporary debates on the relationship between class, culture, and later life It explores the interface between class dynamics and later life, whilst acting as a critical guide to the ways in which age and class relations 'interlock' and 'intersect' with each other, whilst examining the emergence of new forms of inequalities alongside the interrogation of more traditional divisions. Social class in later life brings together a range of international high profile scholars to develop a more sophisticated, analytical and empirical understanding of class dynamics in later life. It will be of major interest to students and researchers examining the implications of global ageing, and will appeal to scholars concerned with the development of a more critical and engaged gerontology.

Children born during the post-WWII era of peace and prosperity entered history at a time dominated by I-Like-Ike politics and domestic security. As they approached adolescence, however, their world was shaken by major cultural, economic, social, and political upheaval. And although it was time of great innovation and progress, a sense of chaos and bitterness began to envelop the country. It was the a ~60s. For many Americans, a mere mention of this decade evokes an extraordinary time and place in the countrya (TM)s - and their own - history.

Adolescents who had been enjoying the technological and medical advances of the era - television, drive-in movies, rock-and-roll, vaccinations that prevented once-incurable diseases - now were also experiencing the fallout from the Civil Rights Movement, domestic terrorism, stagflation, and (perhaps most significant) the Vietnam War.

From Adolescence to Adulthood in the Vietnam Era provides a unique, detailed, long-term study of the psychological and social worlds of male adolescents who were on the cusp of adulthood as the 1960s were ending. This longitudinal analysis follows adolescent boys who graduated with the class of 1969 and transitioned into adulthood either through military service, full-time employment, or college life. The results examine the different pathways these boys chose and the affect these choices had on their transition from adolescents to young adult men.

The problem of children 'in trouble' is the subject of repeated media panics and of heated political rhetoric. Drawing on wide-ranging original research, Carol Hayden reviews evidence about children in trouble across a range of circumstances, demonstrating the tensions between welfare and justice, care and control in the treatment of these vulnerable young people and evaluating the methodological as well as practical implications of the current 'what works' debate within social policy. All students and professionals working with children, whether in social work, teaching or the criminal justice system, will find this book invaluable.

This edited collection provides the first in-depth analysis of social policies and the risks faced by young people. The book explores the effects of both the economic crisis and austerity policies on the lives of young Europeans, examining both the precarity of youth transitions, and the function of welfare state policies.

Many western nations have experienced a rise in the number of marginalised and deprived inner-city neighbourhoods. Despite a plethora of research focused on these areas, there remain few studies that have sought to capture the 'optimality' of ageing in place in such places. In particular, little is known about why some older people desire to age in place despite multiple risks in their neighbourhood and why others reject ageing in place. Given the growth in both the ageing of the population and policy interest in the cohesion and sustainability of neighbourhoods there is an urgent need to better understand the experience of ageing in marginalised locations.This book aims to address the shortfall in knowledge regarding older people's attachment to deprived neighbourhood and in so doing progress what critics have referred to as the languishing state of environmental gerontology. The author examines new cross-national research with older people in deprived urban neighbourhoods and suggests a rethinking and refocusing of the older person's relationship with place. Impact on policy and future research are also discussed. This book will be relevant to academics, students, architects, city planners and policy makers with an interest in environmental gerontology, social exclusion, urban sustainability and design of the built environment.

In a constantly changing world, individuals are forever growing to meet the challenges and developments that emerge around them. In contemporary society, technology is at the heart of change. Literature, too, reflects the evolution of culture and increasingly represents and considers technology. And as children become young adults, their reading helps shape their understanding of the world. This book examines representative works of science fiction, children's literature, and popular culture to show how these works reflect the process of growing up in a technological world. The volume looks at the simple picture books and comic books that appeal to small children; the formulaic adventures that fascinate older children; the films and television programs that are watched by children and young adolescents; the music videos and programming that appeal to young adults; and the popular novels that interest older readers. Included are discussions of Superman, the Hardy Boys, Star Trek, science fiction films, and music videos. The book points to similarities among popular culture, science fiction, and children's literature and demonstrates the relevance of these works to contemporary society.

This International Volume of Sociological Studies of Children and Youth shows the breadth of current empirical research that focuses on children and youth around the world. Coming from a range of methodological and theoretical orientations, this volume showcases the lives of children and the policies that shape children's lives on five continents. Across these research articles, it becomes clear that we cannot continue to assume a certain meaning of childhood, because this concept is bound by both cultural and structural factors. Cultural expectations influence how societies view children and how children view themselves. A handful of these studies show how immigrant children and youth provide particularly interesting insight as they navigate more than one cultural context. Structural factors also become salient, as children come from unequal backgrounds, different levels of economic development, and face varying political concerns. While these papers come from different doorsteps of the world, cultural and structural threads of continuity connect them as meaningful for children. This volume illustrates how international childhood researchers can use current concepts and theories into unlikely contexts exposing their limitations and helping to inform more versatile and robust lines of thinking for children and youth studies.

Educating young people about sex and sexuality remains one of the most controversial and political areas of the school curriculum. Drawing on young people's own understandings of their sexual selves, knowledge and practices "Sexual Subjects" considers the implications for how we conceptualize the effectiveness of sexuality education. Reshaping thinking around youthful (hetero)sexualities "Sexual Subjects" challenges current approaches to teaching about sex and sexuality.

This invaluable addition to Springer s Explorations of Educational Purpose series is a revelatory ethnographic account of the visual material culture of contemporary youths in North America. The author s detailed study follows apparently dissimilar groups (black and Latino/a in a New York City after-school club, and white and Indigenous in a small Canadian community) as they inflect their nascent identities with a sophisticated sense of visual material culture in today s globalized world. It provides detailed proof of how much ethnography can add to what we know about young people s development, in addition to its potential as a model to explore new and significant avenues in pedagogy.

Supported by a wealth of ethnographic evidence, the analysis tracks its subjects responses to strikingly diverse material ranging from autobiographical accounts by rap artists to the built environment. It shows how young people from the world s cultural epicenter, just like their counterparts in the sub-Arctic, construct racial, geographic and gender identities in ways that are subtly responsive to what they see around them, blending localized characteristics with more widely shared visual references that are now universally accessible through the Web. The work makes a persuasive case that youthful engagement with visual material culture is a relational and productive activity that is simultaneously local and global, at once constrained and enhanced by geography, and possesses a potent and life-affirming authenticity. Densely interwoven with young people s perspectives, the author s account sets out an innovative and interdisciplinary conceptual framework affording fresh insights into how today s youth assimilate what they perceive to be significant.

Supported by a wealth of ethnographic evidence, the analysis tracks its subjects responses to strikingly diverse material ranging from autobiographical accounts by rap artists to the built environment. It shows how young people from the world s cultural epicenter, just like their counterparts in the sub-Arctic, construct racial, geographic and gender identities in ways that are subtly responsive to what they see around them, blending localized characteristics with more widely shared visual references that are now universally accessible through the Web. The work makes a persuasive case that youthful engagement with visual material culture is a relational and productive activity that is simultaneously local and global, at once constrained and enhanced by geography, and possesses a potent and life-affirming authenticity. Densely interwoven with young people s perspectives, the author s account sets out an innovative and interdisciplinary conceptual framework affording fresh insights into how today s youth assimilate what they perceive to be significant.

Supported by a wealth of ethnographic evidence, the analysis tracks its subjects responses to strikingly diverse material ranging from autobiographical accounts by rap artists to the built environment. It shows how young people from the world s cultural epicenter, just like their counterparts in the sub-Arctic, construct racial, geographic and gender identities in ways that are subtly responsive to what they see around them, blending localized characteristics with more widely shared visual references that are now universally accessible through the Web. The work makes a persuasive case that youthful engagement with visual material culture is a relational and productive activity that is simultaneously local and global, at once constrained and enhanced by geography, and possesses a potent and life-affirming authenticity. Densely interwoven with young people s perspectives, the author s account sets out an innovative and interdisciplinary conceptual framework affording fresh insights into how today s youth assimilate what they perceive to be significant."

This timely volume offers an in-depth theoretical analysis of children's experiences growing up with mobile internet technologies. Drawing on up-to-date research, it explores the relationship between childhood as a social and cultural construction and the plethora of mobile internet technologies which have become ubiquitous in everyday life.

The presence of Asian immigrants and citizens has a long history in the United States. Asian American Children: A Historical Handbook and Guide provides insights into the diverse experience of these children and their families from their first appearance here to the present. Essays review topics such as identity, family structures, labor, gender, and class. Selected primary documents review topics such as racial quotas, biculturalism, and refugees. This is the first work to cover the historical and the contemporary experience of these children from a multiplicity of views, using essays and documents. Beginning c. 1850, this work relates the experiences and context in which diverse groups of Asian American children lived their lives. The voices of children, included in the primary documents, provide a vivid narrative of immigrant life over the past 150 years. While the lives of children were generally included in historical narratives of the country, a focus specifically on children allows the reader to more fullyunderstand the central place of family in the economic and social development of a nation.

How do economic conditions such as poverty, unemployment, inflation, and economic growth impact youth violence?Economics and Youth Violenceprovides a much-needed new perspective on this crucial issue. Pinpointing the economic factors that are most important, the editors and contributors in this volume explore how different kinds of economic issues impact children, adolescents, and their families, schools, and communities.Offering new and important insights regarding the relationship between macroeconomic conditions and youth violence across a variety of times and places, chapters cover such issues as the effect of inflation on youth violence; new quantitative analysis of the connection between race, economic opportunity, and violence; and the cyclical nature of criminal backgrounds and economic disadvantage among families. Highlighting the complexities in the relationship between economic conditions, juvenile offenses, and the community and situational contexts in which their connections are forged, Economics and Youth Violenceprompts important questions that will guide future research on the causes and prevention of youth violence.Contributors: Sarah Beth Barnett, Eric P. Baumer, Philippe Bourgois, Shawn Bushway, Philip J. Cook, Robert D. Crutchfield, Linda L. Dahlberg, Mark Edberg, Jeffrey Fagan, Xiangming Fang, Curtis S. Florence, Ekaterina Gorislavsky, Nancy G. Guerra, Karen Heimer, Janet L. Lauritsen, Jennifer L. Matjasko, James A. Mercy, Matthew Phillips, Richard Rosenfeld, Tim Wadsworth, Valerie West, Kevin T. WolffRichard Rosenfeldis Curators Professor of Criminology and Criminal Justice at the University of Missouri - St. Louis.Mark Edbergis Associate Professor at the George Washington University School of Public Health and Health Services.Xiangming Fangis Professor of Economics and Director of the International Center for Applied Economics and Policy in the College of Economics and Management at China Agricultural University.Curtis S. Florenceis the lead health economist for the National Center for Injury Prevention and Control (NCIPC).

This text provides a critical analysis of the social construction of childhood and children's agency. Through an interdisciplinary synthesis combining social theory, social policy and the empirical findings of social science research, it bridges the current gap between theory and practice, offering an incisive theoretical account of childhood that is grounded in substantive areas of children's lives such as health, education, crime and the family. This furthers understanding of the impact of policy on children's everyday lives and social experiences.

Most of the Muslim societies of the world have entered a demographic transition from high to low fertility, and this process is accompanied by an increase in youth vis-a-vis other age groups. Political scientists and historians have debated whether such a "youth bulge" increases the potential for conflict or whether it represents a chance to accumulate wealth and push forward social and technological developments. This book introduces the discussion about youth bulge into social anthropology using Tajikistan, a post-Soviet country that experienced civil war in the 1990s, which is in the middle of such a demographic transition. Sophie Roche develops a social anthropological approach to analyze demographic and political dynamics, and suggests a new way of thinking about social change in youth bulge societies.