Rethinking Youth Citizenship

Rethinking Youth Citizenship After the Age of Entitlement provides a primer for exploring hard questions about how young people understand, experience and enact their citizenship in uncertain times and about their senses of membership and belonging. It examines how familiar modes of exclusion are compounded by punitive youth policies in ways that are concealed by neoliberal discourses. It considers the role of key institutions in constructing young people's citizenship and looks at the ways in which some young people are opting out of established enactments of citizenship while creating new ones. Critically reflecting on recent scholarly interest in the geographical, relational, affective and temporal dimensions of young people's experiences of citizenship, it also reinvigorates the discussion about citizenship rights and entitlements, and what these might mean for young people. The book draws on global research and theories of citizenship but has a particular focus on Australia, which provides a unique example of a country that has fared well economically yet is mimicking the austerity measures of the United Kingdom and Europe. It concludes with an argument for a rethinking of citizenship which recognises young people's rights as citizens and the ways in which these interact with their lived experience at a time that has been characterised as 'the end of the age of entitlement'.

Rethinking Youth Citizenship After the Age of Entitlement provides a primer for exploring hard questions about how young people understand, experience and enact their citizenship in uncertain times and about their senses of membership and belonging. It examines how familiar modes of exclusion are compounded by punitive youth policies in ways that are concealed by neoliberal discourses. It considers the role of key institutions in constructing young people's citizenship and looks at the ways in which some young people are opting out of established enactments of citizenship while creating new ones. Critically reflecting on recent scholarly interest in the geographical, relational, affective and temporal dimensions of young people's experiences of citizenship, it also reinvigorates the discussion about citizenship rights and entitlements, and what these might mean for young people. The book draws on global research and theories of citizenship but has a particular focus on Australia, which provides a unique example of a country that has fared well economically yet is mimicking the austerity measures of the United Kingdom and Europe. It concludes with an argument for a rethinking of citizenship which recognises young people's rights as citizens and the ways in which these interact with their lived experience at a time that has been characterised as 'the end of the age of entitlement'.

In youth research, conventional notions of the 'mainstream' and of linear transitions to adulthood forged through a straightforward school to work transition have been usurped by the complex and diverse nature of young people's lives. This has increasingly disengaged young people from formal politics and community activity, resulting in a breakdown in structured pathways to adulthood, diminished relevance of formal institutions and disintegration of traditional civic affiliations. This report summarises the key findings from the Rethinking Youth Citizenship: Identity and Connection project. The aim of the project was to gain a greater understanding of the changing nature of citizenship and identity for young people in Victoria. The key findings are that: young people cannot be expected to engage in traditional ways because of increasing life responsibilities and the absence of structural conditions that would support such affiliations; young people today experience social membership through leisure rather than traditional civic associations; young people's political engagement is about having a say in the places and relationships that have an immediate impact on their wellbeing rather than in traditional forums; young people recognise and are concerned about local, national and global issues but struggle to be heard and act on these; family, friends, school and the internet are increasingly important sites for developing civic and political engagement; new methodologies for gauging and generating youth participation need to be developed.

This book challenges readers to recognise the conditions that underpin popular approaches to children and young people’s participation, as well as the key processes and institutions that have enabled its rise as a global force of social change in new times. The book draws on the vast international literature, as well as interviews with key practitioners, policy-makers, activists, delegates and academics from Japan, South Africa, Brazil, Nicaragua, Australia, the United Kingdom, Finland, the United States and Italy to examine the emergence of the young citizen as a key global priority in the work of the UN, NGOs, government and academia. In so doing, the book engages contemporary and interdisciplinary debates around citizenship, rights, childhood and youth to examine the complex conditions through which children and young people are governed and invited to govern themselves. The book argues that much of what is considered ‘children and young people’s participation’ today is part of a wider neoliberal project that emphasises an ideal young citizen who is responsible and rational while simultaneously downplaying the role of systemic inequality and potentially reinforcing rather than overcoming children and young people’s subjugation. Yet the book also moves beyond mere critique and offers suggestive ways to broaden our understanding of children and young people’s participation by drawing on 15 international examples of empirical research from around the world, including the Philippines, Bangladesh, the United Kingdom, North America, Finland, South Africa, Australia and Latin America. These examples provoke practitioners, policy-makers and academics to think differently about children and young people and the possibilities for their participatory citizenship beyond that which serves the political agendas of dominant interest groups.

This book explores the relationship between children and citizenship, analyzing international perspectives on citizenship and human rights and developing new methods for facilitating the recognition of children as participating agents within society.

This book offers a much-needed analysis of how young people understand and navigate their lives as workers, family members and political actors in an era of uncertainty, Brexit and Trump. Drawing on the latest and most seminal international research and the unique stories of 30 young university students from Australia, France and Britain, it explores the nature of higher education and post-education trajectories for young people facing a ‘post-truth’ world in which opportunities for home ownership, work security and the formation of committed relationships have been thoroughly eroded. It also presents a timely reflection on young people’s hopes and concerns in the wake of global political upheaval, demographic change, financial crises, labour market uncertainties and unprecedented human mobility. Imagining Youth Futures makes a unique contribution to the fields of youth studies, transitions to university, and contemporary youth patterns in the areas of work, family, politics and mobility.

The meaning of citizenship and the way that it is expressed by an individual varies with age, develops over time, and is often learned by interacting with members of other generations. In Generations: Rethinking Age and Citizenship, editor Richard Marback presents contributions that explore this temporal dimension of membership in political communities through a variety of rich disciplinary perspectives. While the role of human time and temporality receive less attention in the interdisciplinary study of citizenship than do spatial dynamics of location and movement, Generations demonstrates that these factors are central to a full understanding of citizenship issues. Essays in Generations are organized into four sections: Age, Cohort, and Generation; Young Age, Globalization, Migration; Generational Disparities and the Clash of Cultures; and Later Life, Civic Engagement, Disenfranchisement. Contributors visit a range of geographic locations—including the U.S., U.K., Europe, and Africa—and consider the experiences of citizens who are native born, immigrant, and repatriated, in time periods that range from the nineteenth century to the present. Taken together, the diverse contributions in this volume illustrate the ways in which personal experiences of community membership change as we age, and also explore how experiences of civic engagement can and do change from one generation to the next. Teachers and students of citizenship studies, cultural studies, gerontology, sociology, and political science will enjoy this thought-provoking look at age, aging, and generational differences in relation to the concept and experience of citizenship.

Wired Citizenship examines the evolving patterns of youth learning and activism in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA). In today’s digital age, in which formal schooling often competes with the peer-driven outlets provided by social media, youth all over the globe have forged new models of civic engagement, rewriting the script of what it means to live in a democratic society. As a result, state-society relationships have shifted—never more clearly than in the MENA region, where recent uprisings were spurred by the mobilization of tech-savvy and politicized youth. Combining original research with a thorough exploration of theories of democracy, communications, and critical pedagogy, this edited collection describes how youth are performing citizenship, innovating systems of learning, and re-imagining the practices of activism in the information age. Recent case studies illustrate the context-specific effects of these revolutionary new forms of learning and social engagement in the MENA region.