Contemporary Youth Culture: An International Encyclopedia

Contemporary Youth Culture: An International Encyclopedia

Birgit Richard

Publisher: Greenwood PressFormat: Hardcover

Chronicles how technology, economics, the media and society created the modern concept of youth. Youth as a unique group is a 20th century idea. The changes wrought worldwide by WWII, and the unparalleled economic growth of the post-war period, turned adolescence into a status and identity. While developmental psychologists refined their theories of normal growth and maturation, society and the media were at work constructing youth as consumers, thereby liberating them from traditional family controls. Globalisation is creating an international culture of youth. An international and inter-disciplinary group of experts shed light on today's youth culture by exploring such topics as hip hop culture; punk culture; social justice movements; video games; political activism; language and identity; post-feminism; television; rites of passage; heterosexuality and homosexuality; race and ethnicity; social class; poetry and literature; visual art; conceptions of beauty and body image; academics; sports; drugs; families; refugee youth; the Internet; youth journalism; fashion; and violence. Accessible and fascinating, adults and adolescents will find this an authoritative and reliable guide.In addition to excellent essays, users will find a timeline of contemporaneous international developments in youth culture. An introductory essay places youth in historical and contemporary contexts and underscores the notion that despite their power as consumers in a market-oriented world, young people are still seen and see themselves in contradictory ways. This work brings new understanding to the complex and fluid phenomenon of youth culture now. It contains interdisciplinary, up-to-date essays by international scholars; covers larger themes in youth studies, such as class, crime, immigration, and homelessness; and also provides a historical timeline that outlines international developments in youth culture.

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