Approaching Youth Studies

This concise yet thorough introduction to the sociological study of young people exposes students to the historical and mythic foundations of the discipline before looking at the cultural and educational aspects of youth today. With an exploration of methodology and sociological theories,along with interdisciplinary research evidence, the text wards off the stereotype of the 'stormy youth' while providing context and analytical commentary on the most critical and interesting issues in the field. Unique in its approach and with the most up-to-date research and analysis available,Approaching Youth Studies offers a distinctly Canadian perspective on the study of youth.

This collection of fifteen methodological texts by a group of thirty international youth and social researchers is a polyphony of scholarly voices advancing the field of qualitative inquiry in youth studies. The book homes in on ways of adapting, remixing and reconsidering qualitative methods in order to better serve youth researchers in the twenty-first century. The texts included in this collection offer honest and open accounts of searching for, assembling, testing, and rejecting creative, well-known, or unconventional techniques from various methodical homes. As is emphasized in the title, this is not so much an overview as an inquiry into conducting youth research in an environment that is constantly transforming. Researchers are always seeking out the best ways to capture and (co)-produce meaning that can be used for the greater good. This book offers fresh interpretations of, and feedback on, inventive combinations of methods, research questions and theoretical frameworks. It will be of interest to all who work in youth studies and sociology, and particularly useful to postgraduate students, junior scholars, and established researchers seeking to branch out into new terrain.

This book takes a global perspective to address the concept of belonging in youth studies, interrogating its emergence as a reoccurring theme in the literature and elucidating its benefits and shortcomings. While belonging offers new alignments across previously divergent approaches to youth studies, its pervasiveness in the field has led to criticism that it means both everything and nothing and thus requires deeper analysis to be of enduring value. The authors do this work to provide an accessible, scholarly account of how youth studies uses belonging by focusing on transitions, participation, citizenship and mobility to address its theoretical and historical underpinnings and its prevalence in youth policy and research.

With recent attention to issues such as youth social exclusion, poverty, school underachievement, school violence, gang activity, sexuality, and youth’s interactions with media and the internet, youth studies has emerged as a significant interdisciplinary field. It has moved beyond its roots in subcultural studies to encompass a diverse array of disciplines, subfields, and theoretical orientations. Yet no volume exists that systematically presents and puts into dialogue the field’s areas of focus and approaches to research. 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. Contributors include internationally-renowned field experts who trace the origins, movements, and uses and meanings of "keywords" such as resistance, youth violence, surveillance, and more. The blending of section essays with focused keywords offers beginning and advanced readers multiple points of entry into the text and connections across concepts. A must-read for graduate students, faculty, and researchers across a range of disciplines, this extraordinary new book promotes new interdisciplinary approaches to youth research and advocacy.

How should a six year-old be approached for an interview? What questions and topics are appropriate for 12 year olds? Do parents need to give their approval for all studies? This work features essays on the subject of youth that address these concerns, providing scholars with practical answers to their many methodological concerns.

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.

Within contemporary youth research there are two dominant streams - a 'transitions' and a 'cultures' perspective. This collection shows that it is no longer possible to understand the experience of young people through these prisms and proposes new conceptual foundations for youth studies, capable of bridging the gap between these approaches.

This is the book that youth workers who want to put into practice their desire to "meet youth where they’re at" have been waiting for. Narrative Approaches to Youth Work provides hope-filled and fresh conversational practices anchored in a critical intersectional analysis of power and a relational ethic of care. These practices help youth workers answer the all-too-common question, what do I do when I do youth work? The concepts and skills presented in this book position youth workers to do youth work in ways that honor youth agency and resistance to oppression, invite a multiplicity of possibilities, and situate youth and youth workers alike within broader social contexts that influence their lives and their relationship together. Drawing on the author’s 30-plus years of working alongside young people and training youth workers in contexts ranging from recreation centers to homeless shelters, this book provides a rich and deliberate mix of theoretical grounding, practical application, real-life vignettes, and questions for in-depth self-reflection. Throughout Narrative Approaches to Youth Work, readers hear from a wise and thoughtful squad of youth workers talking about how they strive to do socially just, accountable, critical youth work.