Young People Re-Generating Politics in Times of Crises

by Sarah Pickard (Editor), Judith Bessant (Editor)

Overview

This book provides insight into the diverse ways young people from around the world are regenerating politics in innovative and multifaceted ways. The authors, who include academics and activists, challenge claims that young people are apolitical, apathetic and living up to the ‘me generation’ stereotype. Contributions cover a rich body of case examples of traditional and new forms of youth politics in response to situated injustices and political and socio-economic crises. Significant and optimistic, the collection presents strong evidence from across the globe that these developments are not isolated incidences, but are in fact part of a systemic, large-scale transformation leading to a regeneration of the political landscape by young people. The book is aimed at students and scholars in the fields of politics, sociology, policy studies and youth and childhood studies.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9783319582498
Publisher:	Springer International Publishing
Publication date:	07/31/2017
Series:	Palgrave Studies in Young People and Politics
Edition description:	1st ed. 2018
Pages:	410
Product dimensions:	5.83(w) x 8.27(h) x (d)

About the Author

Sarah Pickard is Senior Lecturer and Researcher, Université Sorbonne Nouvelle, Paris, France. Her research on contemporary youth studies focuses on the interaction between youth policy and youth politics from sociological and political perspectives. She publishes primarily on the relationship between young people and political participation.

Judith Bessant is Professor in the School of Global, Urban and Social Studies at the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (RMIT) University, Melbourne, Australia. She publishes in the areas of sociology, youth studies, politics, policy and history, and also works as an advisor to governments and to non-government organisations.

Table of Contents

1 Introduction; Sarah Pickard and Judith Bessant.- Part I Young People and Student Activism.- 2 Young People and the #Hashtags That Broke the Rainbow Nation; Kgotsi Chikane.- 3 Students Taking Action in Los Angeles Schools: An Ethnographic Case Study of Student Activism in the United States; Analicia Mejia Mesinas.- 4 Professional Students Do Not Play Politics? Students Sense of Environmental Politics in Kenya; Grace Muthoni Mwaura.- 5 The Good, the Bad and the Useless: Young People’s Political Action Repertoires in Quebec; Nicole Gallant.- Part II Young People and Online Political Action.- 6 The Crisis of Democracy in Hong Kong: Young People’s online Politics and the Umbrella Movement; Rob Watts.- 7 Momentum and the Movementist ‘Corbynistas’: Young People Regenerating the Labour Party in Britain; Sarah Pickard.- 8 Right-wing Populism and Young ‘Stormers’: Conflict in Democratic Politics; Judith Bessant.- 9 ‘How Not to be a Terrorist’: Radicalisation and Young Western Muslims’ Digital Discourses; Andrew Hope and Julie Matthews.- 10 Young People’s Political Participation in Europe in Times of Crisis; Maria T Grasso.- Part III Young People, Collective Identity and Community Building.- 11 The Gezi Resistance of Turkey as Young People’s Counter-Conduct; Nilay Çabuk Kaya and Haktan Ural.- 12 Off the Radar Democracy: Young People’s Alternate Acts of Citizenship in Australia; Lucas Walsh and Rosalyn Black.- 13 (Re)Politicising Young People: From Scotland’s Indyref to Hong Kong’s Umbrella Movement; Alistair Fraser and Susan Batchelor, Leona Li Ngai Ling and Lisa Whittaker.- 14 New Forms of Solidarity Among and for Young People: An Ethnography of Youth Participation in Italy; Nicola de Luigi, Alessandro Martelli and Ilaria Pitti.- 15 Youth Heteropolitics in Crisis-ridden Greece; Alexandros Kioupkiolis and Yannis Pechtelidis.- Part IV Young People and Protest as Politics.- 16 Youth-led Struggles Against Racialized Crime Control in the United States; Tim Goddard and Randolph R Myers.- 17 Youth Work, Agonistic Democracy and Transgressive Enjoyment in England; Graham Bright, Carole Pugh and Matthew Clarke.- 18 Political Participation and Activism in the Post15m Era: An Ethnography About Youth Political Identifications in Lleida, Catalonia; Eduard Ballesté Isern and José Sánchez García.- 19 New Modes of Youth Political Action and Democracy in the Americas: From the Chilean Spring to the Maple Spring in Quebec; Ricardo Peñafiel and Marie-Christine Doran.- 20 Youth Participation in the Age of Austerity in Eastern Europe; Marko Kovacic and Danijela Dolenec.

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

“An excellent collection brimming with insights about the dynamism and variety of young people’s political participation and expression. Covering an impressive range of national, social and political contexts, this book is a must read for anyone concerned about contemporary political dynamics and the central role young people are playing in reshaping our political practices.” (Dr Nathan Manning, Lecturer, Department of Sociology, University of York, UK)

“Young people remaking politics, restoring hope, and showing new ways of engaging the world and living lives of meaning. In Young people re-generating politics in times of crises Pickard and Bessant have gathered together a wide array of scholars, many of whom are themselves young, and have shown how a new generation are remaking the political order through their brave, defiant and creative strategies and theorising. The 34 contributors – from Europe, the US and Australia but also South Africa, Turkey, Croatia, Kenya and Chile– address all of the pressing issues of our time: authoritarianism, repression, austerity, marketization, environmental degradation, unemployment, racism, decolonisation…. This is an expansive, up to date expose, critique and agenda for action – all in one place. It is the reset button for youth activism and the new lens for viewing youth political engagement we have long needed.” (Professor Sharlene Swartz, Associate Professor Sociology, University of Cape Town, South Africa; Director: Human and Social Development, Human Sciences Research Council)

“This powerful and inspiring collection of essays should finally lay to rest the idea that youth and political apathy are one and the same. If you want to comprehend the forces that will shape politics in the years to come, this book is absolutely essential reading.” (Shiv Malik, journalist and author of Jilted Generation: How Britain Bankrupted its Youth)

Editorial Reviews

The editors, Sarah Pickard and Judith Bessant, have produced a remarkable volume of studies on young political activity. … It will be a useful resource for those working in the field of young people’s politics, but the power and scope of the book mean it would suit reading lists on social movements, direct action, the contemporary politics of democracy and so forth.” (Benjamin Bowman, Information, Communication & Society, Vol. 21, February, 2018)

From the Publisher