youth books

The volume is organized in two parts. Following the Introduction, six chapters make up Part One, 'Empirical Studies'. Two quantitative analyses lead off: first an examination of residential mobility, peer networks and life-course transitions; second, a look at adolescents' participation in a particular social movement. Two ethnographic studies follow - here the foci are 'Zero Tolerance' school discipline policies, and female athletes' construction of femininity. A comparative content analysis of teen magazine advice columns, and a qualitative study of construction of 'adoptive family' identities, round out Part One. Three chapters constitute Part Two, 'Innovations in Theory and Research Methods'.The first offers an analysis of two films that explore childrens' struggle for agency and control. The next chapter develops a typology of children's participation in social movements, employing fascinating first-person narrative accounts. The final chapter demonstrates the unique ability of group interviews to capture processes through which adolescents accomplish group talk, develop shared perspectives, and construct gender identities.

In this volume, guest editor Qvortrup brings together contributions representing structural, historical, and comparative perspectives on the study of children and youth. Here, childhood is conceived as a structural feature of society, subject to the stable and changing forces of the larger social context, and comparable across time and cultures. Such perspectives have been relatively under-represented in the "New Sociology of Childhood," which has tended both to stress children's agency, and to favour ethnographic methods of inquiry. The series editors are pleased to expand and enliven the foci of Sociological Studies of Children and Youth with this volume edited by the internationally renowned Danish Sociologist Jens Qvortrup, the first non-U.S. editor in the series' history.

This volume is comprised of empirical research and theoretical papers within three key areas, namely children's well being, children and youth peer cultures, and the rights of children and youth. These empirical studies include children's voices and experiences from four continents (Asia, Europe, North America and South America) and a range of methodological and theoretical orientations. A clear connection to social policy at a national and international level is made in many of these studies. Topics are wide-ranging and include: Praetorian militarization; school mobility; math and reading achievement gaps; dating and the developmental discourse in a summer camp; and, school and social exclusion for urban young people. Altogether, these studies highlight how structure and culture both limit and enable the life chances of children, how children interpret and construct their social relations and environments, and how children view themselves as well as how others view the rights of children. This volume is a further example of how the "Sociological Studies of Children and Youth" series successfully showcases major strands of current thinking on children and youth in our world today.

In recent years, civic and political institutions have stepped up their efforts to encourage youth participation: schools promote volunteerism, non-profits provide opportunities for service, local governments create youth councils, and social movement organizations discuss the need to encourage a new generation of activists. This volume adopts a critical approach to the civic and political socialization projects which aim to transform children and youth into upstanding citizens. By synthesizing the study of young people's civic and political socialization under the rubric of "Youth Engagement", the interplay of the civic and the political throughout young people's lives is considered. Chapters critically examine the multiple and contested meanings of ideal citizenship and reveal how children and youth craft active citizenship as they encounter and respond to the various institutions and organizations designed to encourage their civic and political development.