Neurodivergent Youthhoods

Adolescent rites of passage are ubiquitous sociocultural processes that feature across all manner of social activity. As transitional healthcare becomes an increasing fixture within paediatric and adolescent healthcare, this book captures how normative, biomedical and psychologised understandings of youth development permeate social life. Through an in-depth institutional ethnography of a UK teenage epilepsy clinic, Shelda-Jane Smith shows how the prevailing social expectation of transforming from a dependent child into an independent, self-sufficient adult becomes the organising principle of clinical care. Interrogating the everyday work of the clinic and the experiences of parental and professional caregivers, Smith explores how the move from paediatric to adult healthcare gets renegotiated in the context of severe and profound learning disabilities, questioning what happens to transitional processes when young people do not conform to the social standards and expectations of youthhood that are placed upon them. From exploring the fervent application of neuro-psychological developmental models to interrogating expectations of individual independence, Smith draws from the disciplines of Science and Technology Studies, Critical Psychology and Disability Studies and Medical Anthropology to provide an invaluable lens for unpacking the underlying assumptions and tensions of care provision when young people do not emerge into adulthood in socially expected ways.

This book analyses young people’s societal participation as a central dimension of their well-being and as vitally important to secure the sustainable future of humankind and the whole eco-social system. It develops a theoretical framework for analysing youth participation holistically, embedded in its everyday context, and as a relational phenomenon, underpinned by universal human needs. It introduces innovative methodological approaches to study youth engagements in society. This book will appeal to scholars and students of youth studies, sociology, sustainable development, youth participation and education. It also offers new knowledge and theoretical readings for policy experts on youth and sustainable development, as well as for NGOs working with youth. The Open Access version of this book, available at http://www.taylorfrancis.com, has been made available under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives (CC-BY-NC-ND) 4.0 license.

This book examines the social construction and representation of ‘youth on the move’ in the context of the migration process, using El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras as a case study to reinterpret the immigration process under the frameworks of coloniality and epistemologies of the South. The discussion surrounding Central American migrants has increased exponentially with the emergence of the caravans and the increased security measures along Mexican and US borders. Explicitly focused on the plight of children and young people, the examination of migration includes exploring the global context and dynamics that influence migratory trends and framing Central American migrant processes and youth strategies of survival and resistance. Contributing to existing conversations about the migration of people from Central America, this text seeks to understand the phenomenon’s roots. This book will interest scholars and students across the social sciences, particularly those studying the global dynamics of power, and migration and governance, as well as practitioners involved in decision-making with governments and international organizations.

This book explores how the youth experience, viscerally felt and deeply ingrained at a time of substantial physical, psychological and emotional changes, serves to authenticate that youth experience to the exclusion of that of ensuing youth generations. Using Cohen’s concept of moral panic to frame the intergenerational conflict, notions of generational exclusivity and authenticity are explored through Bourdieu’s concept of habitus – how each generation privileges its own youth experience as the ‘standard’ by which other youth generations can be judged. Shared authenticated ‘generational understandings’ act as the benchmark by which ensuing youth generations can be assessed and found wanting. Intergenerational conflict has been brought into sharp focus by the emergence of the Millennial generation, digital natives, with their obsession with digital technology and particularly mobile phones. The book will be of interest for the field of youth studies in general, particularly upper-level undergraduate youth studies courses and postgrads and social scientists. In addition, it will be of interest for scholars interested in the work of Pierre Bourdieu and Stanley Cohen and subject areas: intergenerational conflict, social change, popular culture, music, media and cultural studies, and social theory.

How the new brain sciences are transforming our understanding of what it means to be human The brain sciences are influencing our understanding of human behavior as never before, from neuropsychiatry and neuroeconomics to neurotheology and neuroaesthetics. Many now believe that the brain is what makes us human, and it seems that neuroscientists are poised to become the new experts in the management of human conduct. Neuro describes the key developments—theoretical, technological, economic, and biopolitical—that have enabled the neurosciences to gain such traction outside the laboratory. It explores the ways neurobiological conceptions of personhood are influencing everything from child rearing to criminal justice, and are transforming the ways we "know ourselves" as human beings. In this emerging neuro-ontology, we are not "determined" by our neurobiology: on the contrary, it appears that we can and should seek to improve ourselves by understanding and acting on our brains. Neuro examines the implications of this emerging trend, weighing the promises against the perils, and evaluating some widely held concerns about a neurobiological "colonization" of the social and human sciences. Despite identifying many exaggerated claims and premature promises, Neuro argues that the openness provided by the new styles of thought taking shape in neuroscience, with its contemporary conceptions of the neuromolecular, plastic, and social brain, could make possible a new and productive engagement between the social and brain sciences. Copyright note: Reproduction, including downloading of Joan Miro works is prohibited by copyright laws and international conventions without the express written permission of Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York.

The Romantic period coincided with revolutionary transformations of traditional political and human rights discourses, as well as witnessing rapid advances in technology and a primitivist return to nature. As a broad global movement, Romanticism strongly impacted on the literature and arts of the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries in ways that are still being debated and negotiated today. Examining the poetry, fiction, non-fiction, drama, and the arts of the period, this book considers: Important propositions and landmark ideas in the Romantic period; Key debates and critical approaches to Romantic studies; New and revisionary approaches to Romantic literature and art; The ways in which Romantic writing interacts with broader trends in history, politics, and aesthetics; European and Global Romanticism; The legacies of Romanticism in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. Containing useful, reader-friendly features such as explanatory case studies, chapter summaries, and suggestions for further reading, this clear and engaging book is an invaluable resource for anyone who intends to study and research the complexity and diversity of the Romantic period, as well as the historical conditions which produced it.

A guide to modern times that explores the challenges living in the 21st century can pose to our mental wellbeing. The modern world has brought us a range of extraordinary benefits and joys, including technology, medicine and transport. But it can also feel as though modern times have plunged us ever deeper into greed, despair and agitation. Seldom has the world felt more privileged and resource-rich yet also worried, blinkered, furious, panicked and self-absorbed. How to Survive the Modern World is the ultimate guide to navigating our unusual times. It identifies a range of themes that present acute challenges to our mental wellbeing. The book tackles our relationship to the news media, our ideas of love and sex, our assumptions about money and our careers, our attitudes to animals and the natural world, our admiration for science and technology, our belief in individualism and secularism – and our suspicion of quiet and solitude. In all cases, the book helps us to understand how we got to where we are, digging deeply and fascinatingly into the history of ideas, while pointing us towards a saner individual and collective future. The emphasis isn’t just on understanding modern times but also on knowing how we can best relate to the difficulties these present. The book helps us to form a calmer, more authentic, more resilient and sometimes more light-hearted relationship to the follies and obsessions of our age. If modern times are (in part) something of a disease, this is both the diagnostic and the soothing, hope-filled cure.

In this reappraisal of public health and health promotion in contemporary societies, Deborah Lupton explores public health and health promotion using contemporary sociocultural and political theory, particularly that building on Foucault′s writings on subjectivity, embodiment and power relations. The author examines the implications of the new social theories for the study of health promotion and health communication to analyze the symbolic nature of public health practices, and explores their underlying meanings and assumptions.