Abstract
This book emerges in a context of intense debates on youth studies, embedded in a contemporary fragmented sociology opposing structuralist and postmodernist perspectives. The transitions’ approach has been associated to quantitative research on transitions to adulthood and paths of exclusion and inclusion, highlighting social structure and inequalities. The cultural perspective has been related to qualitative approaches on youth subcultures, lifestyles and identities, highlighting creativity and social change.
The book is edited by Dan Woodman, internationally recognized for his work on youth generational and social change, and the reputed cultural and youth sociologist Andy Bennett. Several other known youth scholars participated, but significant plurality of perspectives was not achieved. On one hand, almost all contributors have worked on youth culture, lifestyles and identities (except Furlong), and authors known for their contribution to the transitions’ approach are missing (e.g., S. Roberts, K. Roberts, A. Bynner). On the other hand, although a need to cover greater diversity of realities is recognized, a great majority of the authors in the book (15 out of 18) are from Anglo-Saxonic universities.
Departing from the ‘twin tracks’ of youth research, as well as the social, economic, political and ecological changes young people are facing, the aims of this book are to show how the transitions and culture approaches, and its division, are increasingly not in conformance with the lives of young people and to argue for a need of new and broader conceptualizations.
In the introduction, the editors present the dominant perspectives in youth studies, and how they can be misleading. The first set of chapters refer to theoretical discussions. Furlong (Chapter 2) suggests analyzing social phenomena as a process to avoid the individual–society binary. Wyn and White (Chapter 3) advocate for a framework (‘triple helix’) that emphasizes the analysis on individual transitions, social transformations and identity. They suggest using ‘belonging’ to underline the importance of place, diverting the focus on transitions of society instead of transitions of self and stressing the importance of starring all youth voices rather than concentrating on the more disadvantaged. Bennett (Chapter 4) argues that youth studies need to cover the various and overlapping degrees of ‘spectacular’ and ‘mundane’ forms of cultural youth practices and that the continued nature of these across the life course needs to be recognized without compromising to age definitions. Woodman and Leccardi (Chapter 5) stress the importance of analyzing three articulated temporalities: everyday life, life course and generations.
The remaining chapters range from more conceptual to empirical-based approaches to combine youth cultures and transitions. The empirical examples resort to qualitative data, revealing a lack of methodological pluralism, although covering both the Western north as well as other regions. Hollands’ nightlife studies (Chapter 6) highlight the relevance of structural factors in cultural practices and also their complex formation and consequences, and the importance of studying ordinary and stratified experience. Harris (Chapter 7) explores the concept of citizenship to note the need to go beyond ‘spectacular’ and Anglo-centred paradigms. The structural, cultural and ordinary everyday aspects of youth criminal pathways in the UK are shown by Bottrell and France (Chapter 8). With an ethnographic study with bloggers from the USA, Australia, Canada and the UK, Allaste and Tiidenberg (Chapter 9) stress how selfie shooting and blogging is a form of expression and exploring identity, but can also be important for self-identified personal transitions. Haenfler (Chapter 10) shows how youth subcultures explore new masculinities, shaping transitions to adulthood and challenging patriarchal and hegemonic perspectives. Vandegrift’s (Chapter 11) research on how young people in Venezuela engage with politics challenges the boundaries between cultural practice and structural change and highlights the importance of decentring Western norms to interpret youth. Threadgold and Nilan (Chapter 12) also address the values and challenges of applying Western theory to Indonesian youth. Based on an analysis of the movements of the Occupy Wall Streets (USA) and the Indignados (Spain), Talburt and Lesko (Chapter 13) consider youth as affective assemblages at specific times and places. A concluding chapter briefly sums up connection points between the perspectives and urges for a new conceptual ground.
Several and important points to consider in youth studies, and that extend divisions, are stressed throughout the book: firstly, the importance of reflecting on how theories and concepts make up research objects, by evidencing or covering up certain aspects of reality; secondly, the relevance of exceeding an individual level of analysis and focusing on the surrounding social, geographical and historical context. Related to this, frequently the importance of considering place and time is recalled. Furthermore, including life course, as well as the everyday life, was noted. Thirdly, connecting different life spheres is also considered crucial, being inseparable from a cultural identity; and finally, the importance of tackling youth in its diversity, instead of treating it as a homogenous cohort or focusing on certain groups.
However, important issues are underexplored. Firstly, one of the underlying propositions of the book is about social change and how youth studies need to adapt. However, this change is not accounted or discussed; generational shift is an acquired fact and the ‘new’ and ‘old’ components of remaking social inequalities are not questioned. Secondly, a focus on transitions and quantitative approaches is lacking. Related to this, the conciliation between quantitative and qualitative methods was neglected. Thirdly, although discarding old concepts is rejected, not enough credit is given to their potentials. Moreover, maintaining concepts and theories is essential to assess social change. Lastly, clues are summed up, but a transversal solution is not. So, to what extent will proceeding with dispersed conceptualizations link youth perspectives, or create further divisions?
This book gathers, in a very concise manner, a good account of the current potentials and limitations of youth studies’ approaches. Additionally, several interesting and original conceptual alternatives are presented, though many examples are centred on cultural perspectives. I recommend it to scholars, researchers and students working on youth studies, as it inspires and promotes a reflexive and critical approach to widespread youth studies’ frameworks, theories, concepts and interpretations.