Contemporary Youth Culture: An International Encyclopedia, Volume I - Hardcover

Shirley R. Steinberg; Priya Parmar; Birgit Richard

9780313337284: Contemporary Youth Culture: An International Encyclopedia, Volume I

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0313337284 ISBN 13: 9780313337284

Publisher: Greenwood, 2005

Youth as a unique group is a 20th century idea. The changes wrought worldwide by WWII, propelled adolescence to a status and identity that coincided with unparalleled economic growth. While developmental psychologists refined their theories of normal growth and maturation, society and the media were at work constructing youth as consumers,thereby liberating them from traditional family controls. An increasingly smaller world impinges mightily on the culture of youth. An international and inter-disciplinary roster of experts shed light by exploring such topics as hip hop culture; punk culture; social justice movements; video games; political activism; language and identity; post-feminism; television; rites of passage; heterosexuality and homosexuality; race and ethnicity; social class; poetry and literature; visual art; conceptions of beauty and body image; academics; sports; drugs; famlies; refugee youth; the internet; youth journalism; fashion; and violence. Accessible and fascinating, adults and adolescents will find this an authoritative and reliable guide.

Youth as a unique group is a 20th century idea. The changes wrought worldwide by WWII, propelled adolescence to a status and identity that coincided with unparalleled economic growth. While developmental psychologists refined their theories of normal growth and maturation, society and the media were at work constructing youth as consumers,thereby liberating them from traditional family controls. An increasingly smaller world impinges mightily on the culture of youth. An international and inter-disciplinary roster of experts shed light on today's youth culture by exploring such topics as hip hop culture; punk culture; social justice movements; video games; political activism; language and identity; post-feminism; television; rites of passage; heterosexuality and homosexuality; race and ethnicity; social class; poetry and literature; visual art; conceptions of beauty and body image; academics; sports; drugs; families; refugee youth; the internet; youth journalism; fashion; and violence. Accessible and fascinating, adults and adolescents will find this an authoritative and reliable guide.

In addition to excellent essays, users will find a timeline of contemporaneous international develpments in youth culture. An introductory essay places youth in historical and contemporary contexts and underscores the notion that despite their power as consumers in a market-oriented world, youth are still seen and see themselves in contradictory ways. In total, this work brings new understanding to the complex and fluid phenomenon of youth culture now.

"synopsis" may belong to another edition of this title.

Book Description:

The idea of youth has changed critically since World War II, and this groundbreaking work chronicles and elucidates how technology, economics, the media and society created a new concept of youth as a unique entity.

Review:

"[C]ontemporary Youth Culture: An International Encyclopedia....[a]ppears in a fine 2-volume set to provide a strong set of essays on the idea of youth culture, a uniquely 20th century culture. From a timeline of international developments and trends affecting youth culture to the growing powers of youth as consumers, as potential political voters, and as activists, Contemporary Youth Culture takes a broad base in considering the group's social influences and trends, language, concerns and more."

–

The Midwest Book Review - California Bookwatch

"About this title" may belong to another edition of this title.