This book provides an updated and fresh introduction to recent theoretical developments in youth studies. It expands upon these developments and introduces new discussions and perspectives. It presents three central theoretical traditions in youth studies, and explores the possibilities of redefining some of the central concepts, but also of combining different theoretical perspectives. After depicting the theoretical landscape of youth studies, the book explores generations and new subjectivities. Next, it examines subcultures and transitional spaces, mediatization and learning processes. One chapter is set aside for a discussion on the body, the self and habitus, and this is followed by a chapter on postcolonial spaces. Before presenting its conclusions, the book delves into the development of youth studies, theory and everyday life. All together the book taps into what is happening in the everyday lives of young people, and employs a methodology that can be used to create bridges between young people’s voices and experiences on the one hand and societal and cultural transformations on the other.

This book contributes to the studies on learning processes occurring outside “traditional” socialization settings such as family and school, by analysing civic and political participation and learning experiences. In this perspective, the book delves into the connections between the concepts of learning and participation and, in various ways and from different perspectives, critically interrogates learning and participation as interrelated phenomena, with the aim of revealing complexities implicated in pathways to adulthood. Being interdisciplinary in its nature (contributors come from disciplinary backgrounds such as educational sciences, child and youth studies, social work, sociology and political science), the volume provides an up-to date analysis of contemporary issues connected to youth participation and learning. The work taps into central areas of everyday life of young people and youth meaning-making and generates and presents qualitative knowledge about what it means to be young in Europe today.

This book provides the first comprehensive sociological study of the contemporary National Socialist movement in Sweden, including how it has developed since the 1990s until the present. It covers the ideas and political aspects of the movement, as well as the subjective and very personal stories told by young men and women who in some cases have left the movement and in others remained. Through a large number of detailed stories of the movement’s violence, hatred, and ideology, as well as stories of the life plans and dreams involved in re-entering society, the study on which the book is based provides knowledge, hope and new directions for studies on the National Socialist movement. Additionally, the book provides innovative research on the relation between the life trajectories of National Socialists and their significant others, allowing us to establish better and more scientific strategies for preventing radicalization and promoting de-radicalization. The book is aimed at students of sociology, social science and researchers studying hate movements and violent extremism. It is also meant for professionals such as teachers, social workers and youth workers who may encounter radicalization in their work as well as being a vital contribution for policymakers within the field.

The book provides an advanced, accessible text for childhood studies, which is suitable and challenging for those coming from practice, different parts of the world and from a range of disciplines. Key ideas within childhood studies are introduced, from agency to intersectionality to children's rights. Addressing children and young people under the age of 18, the book combines concepts from seminal texts with challenging, critical views and alternatives, to stimulate readers to develop their own analysis and apply the results to their own interests. It reveals how childhood studies draws on a rich and diverse range of perspectives from child development, educational studies, history, human rights, media studies, philosophy, public health, race and ethnicity studies, to social anthropology. The book is organised around five sections: Foundations of Childhood Studies Childhood Studies Meets Other Disciplines Childhood Studies Meets Children's Rights Studies Intersectional Perspectives on Childhood Childhood Studies in Practice Each section includes commentaries from international experts based in Australia (Amanda Third), Brazil (Irene Rizzini), the UK (Erica Burman), the USA (Sarada Balagopalan) and Zimbabwe (Tendai Charity Nhenga). The book has a range of pedagogical features including guiding questions and challenge tasks, quotes from students and other experts, and a glossary of terms. The book has a companion website with videos from authors, students and those working in practice and policy, interactive tasks and other resources.

In February 2021 the Canadian government published a considerably expanded list of domestic terrorist entities. While some, such as Blood and Honour, were already known, others – such as Atomwaffen Division, the Base, the Proud Boys, and the Russian Imperial Movement – emerged from the shadows. Until then many considered far-right groups in Canada a negligible phenomenon, at worst a local police matter. The Great Right North charts the growth of these groups, illuminating how official and unofficial government attention generates the context in which they build their movements. The result of seven years of research – including social media scraping, analysis of print and video sources, and interviews with scores of leaders and adherents – it examines how far-right organizations operate, recruit, and finance their activities and explores why individuals choose to join. Breaking new ground by revealing the ideological underpinnings and fragmentation within these groups, the authors also highlight the role of digital platforms in their proliferation. Most politicians have been quiet about the phenomenon of far-right extremism in Canada, insisting it is imported activism financed elsewhere. The Great Right North provides an essential primer – for journalists, those working in policy institutes and think tanks, and students and scholars – for understanding its vast and urgent homegrown challenges.

This edited collection focuses on different aspects of everyday violence, harassment and threats in schools. It presents a number of in-depth studies of everyday life in schools and uses examples and case studies from different countries to fuel a discussion on national differences and similarities. The book discusses a broad range of concepts, findings and issues, under the umbrella of three main themes: 1) Power relations, homosociality and violence; 2) Sexualized violence and schooling; and 3) Everyday racism, segregation and schooling. Specific topics include sexuality policing, bullying, sexting, homophobia, and online rape culture. The school is young people’s central workplace, and therefore of great importance to students’ general feeling of wellbeing, safety and security. However, there is no place where youth are at greater risk of being exposed to harassment and violations than at school and on their way to and from school. Threats are a relatively common experience among school students, but some aspects of these mundane and frequent harassments and violations are not taken seriously and are, therefore, not reported. Harassment and violations often have negative effects on youth and children, and increase their risks of such adverse outcomes as school dropout, drug use, and criminal behaviour. Contemporary research has shown that gender is of great importance to how students handle and report, or do not report, various violent situations. Studies have also revealed how the notions of masculinity and of being a victim can be conflicting identities and affect how students handle situations of threat, violence and harassment. The importance of gender is also particularly evident with regard to sexual harassment. Female students generally report greater exposure to sexual harassment than male students do.

The concept of ’subculture’ is an invaluable tool to frame the study of non-normative and marginal cultures for social and cultural scholars. This international collection uncovers the significance of meaning-making in the processes of defining, studying and analyzing subcultural phenomena. Examining various dimensions of interpretivism, the book focuses on overarching concerns related to interpretation as well as day-to-day considerations that affect researchers’ and members’ interpretations of subcultural phenomena. It reveals how and why people use specific conceptual frames or methods and how those shape their interpretations of everyday realities. This is an unprecedented contribution to the field, explaining the interpretive processes through which people make sense of subcultural phenomena.

This book offers an in-depth study of personal accounts of men and women who have at one time entered, participated in and ultimately exited the neo-Nazi movement, with a focus on advanced Western states. Through detailed stories of the movement’s violence, hatred, and ideology, coupled with narratives of the individuals’ life plans and dreams when entering the movement and reintegrating into society, the work provides knowledge, hope and new directions for readers to better understand and react to a reinvigorated extreme right across Western nations. The book provides innovative research on the relationship between the life trajectories of neo-Nazis and their significant others, enabling better and more evidence-based strategies for preventing radicalization and promoting deradicalization. The extensive case studies include the voices of those who returned to the movement, or never left at all, providing a rare opportunity to compare active, former and returned right-wing extremists. The main contribution of the book is to provide an innovative approach to the oral history of young men and women who have participated in different national and local neo-Nazi movements in Western countries, namely Sweden and the United States. In order to understand the current trends within the movement and their relationship to the surrounding society, this shift calls for in-depth analyses based on social-psychological and sociological perspectives. Stressing the importance of having a gender theory, sociocultural, historical and both a national and contextual perspective on the neo-Nazi movement, this book contributes new knowledge to this field of research. This book will be of much interest to students of political extremism, radicalization, terrorism studies and social psychology.

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 book investigates how schools deal with racism and extremism, focusing on everyday life, students, and the surrounding community and geographical area. There is a lack of clarity on how racism and extremism should be managed in schools. Through extensive ethnographical data, interviews, and focus group interviews with students and school staff in mill towns and racist strongholds in Sweden, this book focuses on how racism and right-wing extremism are enacted, played out, and dealt with. It draws on theories of everyday and institutional racism as well as institutional ethnography. Formal and informal school strategies and pedagogical interventions intended to manage recurring problems in schools are discussed. The text offers a deeper insight into how racism and right-wing/neo-Nazism extremism are enacted and confronted in a rural Swedish school context and beyond. This book will be of interest to students of Terrorism Studies, Sociology, Cultural Studies, and Security Studies.