Summary
Contents
What is youth? How do we understand youth in its social and cultural context?In this timely and sought-after title, Cieslik and Simpson 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 disciplines 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, this 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. 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 practitioners in area of social work and youth and community development.
The Youth Underclass
The Youth Underclass
The underclass is a contested concept but there is broad agreement over the meaning of the term as a group of people that is in some way outside of the mainstream of society. This group experience poverty or social exclusion so that with time they come to have a culturally distinctive way of life. There are differences over how one might explain the emergence of an underclass – a perspective which accentuates structural factors and a perspective which emphasises cultural factors as the chief reasons for the exclusion of the underclass from the mainstream. There are also those that view the concept as problematic as it hinders the empirical investigation of poverty or social exclusion.
The notion of an underclass ...
