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Young people are often at the forefront of democratic activism, whether self-organised or supported by youth workers and community development professionals. Focusing on youth activism for greater equality, liberty and mutual care – radical democracy – this timely collection explores the movement’s impacts on community organisations and workers. Essays from the Global North and Global South cover the Black Lives Matter movement, environmental activism and the struggles of refugees.

At a time of huge global challenges, youth participation is a dynamic lens through which all community development scholars and participants can rethink their approaches.

Young people are often at the forefront of democratic activism, whether self-organised or supported by youth workers and community development professionals. Focusing on youth activism for greater equality, liberty and mutual care – radical democracy – this timely collection explores the movement’s impacts on community organisations and workers. Essays from the Global North and Global South cover the Black Lives Matter movement, environmental activism and the struggles of refugees.

At a time of huge global challenges, youth participation is a dynamic lens through which all community development scholars and participants can rethink their approaches.

Young people’s participation is an urgent policy and practice concern across countries and context. This book showcases original research evidence and analysis to consider how, under what conditions and for what purposes young people participate in different parts of Europe.

Focusing on the interplay between the concepts of youth, inequality and participation, this book explores how structural changes, including economic austerity, neoliberal policies and new patterns of migration, affect the conditions of young people’s participation and its aims.

With contributions from a range of subject experts, including young people themselves, the book challenges current policies and practices on young people’s participation. It asks how young people can be better supported to take part in social change and decision-making and what can be learnt from young people’s own initiatives.

Young people’s participation is an urgent policy and practice concern across countries and context. This book showcases original research evidence and analysis to consider how, under what conditions and for what purposes young people participate in different parts of Europe.

Focusing on the interplay between the concepts of youth, inequality and participation, this book explores how structural changes, including economic austerity, neoliberal policies and new patterns of migration, affect the conditions of young people’s participation and its aims.

With contributions from a range of subject experts, including young people themselves, the book challenges current policies and practices on young people’s participation. It asks how young people can be better supported to take part in social change and decision-making and what can be learnt from young people’s own initiatives.

In recent years there has been significant negative attention towards young British male Muslims, who are perceived to be increasingly dangerous and criminal. However, very little is known about those who offend, as few studies have attempted to understand their lived experience.

After spending four years with a group of young British Pakistani Muslim men who were involved in a range of offending behaviours, Qasim gained unique first-hand insight into their multifaceted lives. In this book he unwraps their lives, taking into account their socio-economic situation, the make-up of their community, cultural and religious influences which impacted on them and their involvement in crime. He explores their identities and explains what role, if any, religion and Pakistani culture play in their criminal behaviour.

With a focus on the apparent link with gun crime and drug dealing, this important book exposes the complex nature of the young men’s pathways into crime.

In recent years there has been significant negative attention towards young British male Muslims, who are perceived to be increasingly dangerous and criminal. However, very little is known about those who offend, as few studies have attempted to understand their lived experience.

After spending four years with a group of young British Pakistani Muslim men who were involved in a range of offending behaviours, Qasim gained unique first-hand insight into their multifaceted lives. In this book he unwraps their lives, taking into account their socio-economic situation, the make-up of their community, cultural and religious influences which impacted on them and their involvement in crime. He explores their identities and explains what role, if any, religion and Pakistani culture play in their criminal behaviour.

With a focus on the apparent link with gun crime and drug dealing, this important book exposes the complex nature of the young men’s pathways into crime.

The current economic crisis with its gloomy implications for lost generations leaves many disadvantaged young people with ever-diminishing opportunities. The Youth Empowerment Partnership Programme (YEPP) is a fully evaluated on-going international programme focused on disadvantaged areas in eight European countries. It aims to empower young people and the communities in which they live by making them central to new decisionmaking processes involving partnerships between public, private and independent sectors.

This book provides the theoretical context for the programme, gives a full account of the process and outcomes of over 10 years of joint effort in its unique development and research process and reflects on the lessons learnt for future policy. It will appeal to practitioners, researchers, policy-makers and decision-makers in foundations.

The current economic crisis with its gloomy implications for lost generations leaves many disadvantaged young people with ever-diminishing opportunities. The Youth Empowerment Partnership Programme (YEPP) is a fully evaluated on-going international programme focused on disadvantaged areas in eight European countries. It aims to empower young people and the communities in which they live by making them central to new decisionmaking processes involving partnerships between public, private and independent sectors.

This book provides the theoretical context for the programme, gives a full account of the process and outcomes of over 10 years of joint effort in its unique development and research process and reflects on the lessons learnt for future policy. It will appeal to practitioners, researchers, policy-makers and decision-makers in foundations.

This interdisciplinary collection charts the experiences of young people in places of spatial marginality around the world, dismantling the privileging of urban youth, urban locations and urban ways of life in youth studies and beyond.

Expert authors investigate different dimensions of spatiality including citizenship, materiality and belonging, and develop new understandings of the complex relationships between place, history, politics and education. From Australia to India, Myanmar to Sweden, and the UK to Central America, international examples from both the Global South and North help to illuminate wider issues of intergenerational change, social mobility and identity.

By exploring young lives beyond the city, this book establishes different ways of thinking from a position of spatial marginality.

Chapter 10 is available Open Access under CC-BY-NC-ND licence

This report presents the findings from the first national, representative survey of public attitudes to youth crime and youth justice in England and Wales.

Significantly, it highlights that most people are demonstrably ill-informed about youth crime and youth justice issues. It also carries clear policy implications in relation to both public education and reform of the youth justice system.

Youth crime and youth justice is essential reading for academics, researchers, policy makers and practitioners in the fields of criminal justice, criminology, social policy, social work and probation.

Researching Criminal Justice series

Crime and justice are issues of central political and public concern in contemporary Britain. This exciting new series presents top quality research findings in the field. It will contribute significantly to policy and practice debates and aims to improve the knowledge base considerably. The series will be essential reading for politicians and policy makers, academics, researchers and practitioners.

For other titles in this series, please follow the series link from the main catalogue page.

Sport-based crime prevention programmes are becoming increasingly popular worldwide but until now there has been very little research on the effectiveness of such approaches.

Bringing together authoritative evidence from existing programmes, the authors identify and analyse emerging successful practices. Covering mentoring and coaching, particularly as they relate to Positive Youth Development (PYD) programmes, the authors explore how the development of core life skills can improve individual resilience and decrease the risk of criminal involvement. The book conceptualizes the links between criminological theory and PYD and gives recommendations for future policy and practice.

After the financial crisis of 2008 youth unemployment soared across Europe, leaving a generation of highly qualified young people frustrated in their search for secure, meaningful work.

With contributions from over 90 authors and more than 60 individual contributions this collection summarises the findings of a large-scale EU funding project on Strategic Transitions for Youth Labour in Europe (STYLE).

Including the often overlooked and unheard voices of young people themselves, this eclectic range of contributions discuss the distinctive characteristics of the current phase of youth employment.

It provides a comprehensive analysis of the causes of European youth unemployment and assesses the effectiveness of labour market policies across the region.

Policy development and implementation has a pivotal role in the youth justice system, profoundly impacting professionals and the children they work with. This imaginative book challenges limited explanations of policy-making as linear and government-dominated through original research into the practices, identities and relationships of a wide range of stakeholders working in multiple policy- making contexts in England and Wales.

The result is a detailed expert analysis of the contexts and mechanisms of youth justice policy-making. This book is key reading for researchers, professionals and students seeking effective understandings and responses to the long term social problem of youth offending.

Policy development and implementation has a pivotal role in the youth justice system, profoundly impacting professionals and the children they work with. This imaginative book challenges limited explanations of policy-making as linear and government-dominated through original research into the practices, identities and relationships of a wide range of stakeholders working in multiple policy- making contexts in England and Wales.

The result is a detailed expert analysis of the contexts and mechanisms of youth justice policy-making. This book is key reading for researchers, professionals and students seeking effective understandings and responses to the long term social problem of youth offending.

This book examines youth justice in a UK and international context, while drawing on the author's experience in Scotland to highlight the challenge facing all jurisdictions in balancing welfare and justice. It explores the impact of political ideas and influences on both the structural and practical challenges of delivering youth justice and practice initiatives including early intervention, restorative justice, structured risk assessments, intensive supervision, maintaining change over time, and practice evaluation. The theoretical framework draws on social learning theory and the tradition of socio-education/social pedagogy as reflected in the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child.

This is the only book to focus specifically on the application of evidence to service delivery within youth justice. It will be an essential text for social work students undertaking university-based modules or practice-based learning in services which address youth crime and youth justice, as well as other students interested in the application of criminology and youth justice principles. It will also be valuable for practitioners involved in delivering youth justice services, including those on post-qualifying social work training courses.

This book examines youth justice in a UK and international context, while drawing on the author's experience in Scotland to highlight the challenge facing all jurisdictions in balancing welfare and justice. It explores the impact of political ideas and influences on both the structural and practical challenges of delivering youth justice and practice initiatives including early intervention, restorative justice, structured risk assessments, intensive supervision, maintaining change over time, and practice evaluation. The theoretical framework draws on social learning theory and the tradition of socio-education/social pedagogy as reflected in the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child.

This is the only book to focus specifically on the application of evidence to service delivery within youth justice. It will be an essential text for social work students undertaking university-based modules or practice-based learning in services which address youth crime and youth justice, as well as other students interested in the application of criminology and youth justice principles. It will also be valuable for practitioners involved in delivering youth justice services, including those on post-qualifying social work training courses.

Tabloid headlines such as ‘Anti-social Feral Youth,’ ‘Vile Products of Welfare in the UK’ and ‘One in Four Adolescents is a Criminal’ have in recent years obscured understanding of what social justice means for young people and how they experience it. Youth marginality in Britain offers a new perspective by promoting young people’s voices and understanding the agency behind their actions. It explores different forms of social marginalisation within media, culture and society, focusing on how young people experience social discrimination at a personal and collective level.

This collection from a wide range of expert contributors showcases contemporary research on multiple youth deprivation of personal isolation, social hardship, gender and ethnic discrimination and social stigma. With a foreword from Robert MacDonald, it explores the intersection of race, gender, class, asylum seeker status and care leavers in Britain, placing them in the broader context of austerity, poverty and inequality to highlight both change and continuity within young people’s social and cultural identities.

This timely contribution to debates concerning youth austerity in Britain is suitable for students across youth studies, sociology, education, criminology, youth work and social policy.

Tabloid headlines such as ‘Anti-social Feral Youth,’ ‘Vile Products of Welfare in the UK’ and ‘One in Four Adolescents is a Criminal’ have in recent years obscured understanding of what social justice means for young people and how they experience it. Youth marginality in Britain offers a new perspective by promoting young people’s voices and understanding the agency behind their actions. It explores different forms of social marginalisation within media, culture and society, focusing on how young people experience social discrimination at a personal and collective level.

This collection from a wide range of expert contributors showcases contemporary research on multiple youth deprivation of personal isolation, social hardship, gender and ethnic discrimination and social stigma. With a foreword from Robert MacDonald, it explores the intersection of race, gender, class, asylum seeker status and care leavers in Britain, placing them in the broader context of austerity, poverty and inequality to highlight both change and continuity within young people’s social and cultural identities.

This timely contribution to debates concerning youth austerity in Britain is suitable for students across youth studies, sociology, education, criminology, youth work and social policy.

This book examines the factors affecting the health and wellbeing of young people as they transition to adulthood under the shadow of migration control. Drawing on unique longitudinal data, it illuminates how they conceptualize wellbeing for themselves and others in contexts of prolonged and politically induced uncertainty.

The authors offer an in-depth analysis of the experiences of over one hundred unaccompanied young migrants, primarily from Afghanistan, Albania and Eritrea. They show the lengths these young people will go to in pursuit of safety, security and the futures they aspire to.

Interdisciplinary in nature, the book champions a new political economy analysis of wellbeing in the context of migration and demonstrates the urgent need for policy reform.

This book examines the factors affecting the health and wellbeing of young people as they transition to adulthood under the shadow of migration control. Drawing on unique longitudinal data, it illuminates how they conceptualize wellbeing for themselves and others in contexts of prolonged and politically induced uncertainty.

The authors offer an in-depth analysis of the experiences of over one hundred unaccompanied young migrants, primarily from Afghanistan, Albania and Eritrea. They show the lengths these young people will go to in pursuit of safety, security and the futures they aspire to.

Interdisciplinary in nature, the book champions a new political economy analysis of wellbeing in the context of migration and demonstrates the urgent need for policy reform.

How do young people participate in democratic societies? This book introduces the concept of ‘doing society’ as a new theory of political action. Focused on Finnish youth, it innovatively blends cutting-edge empirical research with agenda-setting theoretical development. Redefining political action, the authors expand beyond traditional public-sphere, scaling from formal to informal and unconventional modes of engaging.

The book captures diverse engagement from memes to social movements, from participatory budgeting to street parties and from sleek politicians to detached people in the margins. In doing so, it provides a holistic view of the ways in which young people participate (or do not participate) in society, and their role in cultural change.

How do young people participate in democratic societies? This book introduces the concept of ‘doing society’ as a new theory of political action. Focused on Finnish youth, it innovatively blends cutting-edge empirical research with agenda-setting theoretical development. Redefining political action, the authors expand beyond traditional public-sphere, scaling from formal to informal and unconventional modes of engaging.

The book captures diverse engagement from memes to social movements, from participatory budgeting to street parties and from sleek politicians to detached people in the margins. In doing so, it provides a holistic view of the ways in which young people participate (or do not participate) in society, and their role in cultural change.

In a period where social unrest manifests itself by coinciding with young people's dissatisfaction with formal political involvement and the diversification of protest movements across the globe, the question of youth participation is at the forefront of democratic societies. 

This timely book offers a fresh look at youth participation: examining official and unofficial constructions of participation by young people in a range of socio-political domains, exploring the motivations and rationales underlying official attempts to increase participation among young people, and offering a critique of their effectiveness. Based on original research data, Youth participation in Europe provides a thorough analysis of participation initiatives at the implementation level and gives a transversal approach to various areas of youth participation. Drawing on examples from different European countries, it analyses the results of structure on youth participation and the effects of youth agencies on types of mobilisation.

In an age when the next generation have worse prospects than those of their parents, this book appraises the challenges young people face resulting from the instability of their lives.

Based on youth experience of education, employment and political participation in England and Germany, the book examines the impact of digitalisation in the context of rising inequality, accelerating technological transformation, fragile European institutions, growing nationalism and mental and economic stress arising from the COVID-19 pandemic.

The insights gained point to young peoples’ agency as central to acquiring the skills and resources needed to shape their future in the digital society.

In an age when the next generation have worse prospects than those of their parents, this book appraises the challenges young people face resulting from the instability of their lives.

Based on youth experience of education, employment and political participation in England and Germany, the book examines the impact of digitalisation in the context of rising inequality, accelerating technological transformation, fragile European institutions, growing nationalism and mental and economic stress arising from the COVID-19 pandemic.

The insights gained point to young peoples’ agency as central to acquiring the skills and resources needed to shape their future in the digital society.

Youth unemployment and work insecurity have been prevailing issues for governments across Western Europe since the 2008 financial crisis. These issues have intensified after Brexit and the pandemic, with young people consistently overrepresented in the gig economy and all forms of work insecurity.

Against a backdrop of increasingly mixed economies of welfare in the UK’s liberal welfare regime and work first policy narrative, this book explores civil society responses to youth unemployment in England, Scotland and Wales. Using original, empirical research to challenge the privileging of methodological nationalism in the study of welfare regimes, it analyses the scale and nature of policy and civil society responses to youth unemployment and work insecurity between three nations of the UK from the perspectives of policy makers, strategic thinkers and case workers delivering to young people on the ground.

This book considers young people’s conceptions and experiences of social justice through key transitions in their lives. It examines the factors shaping and constraining young people’s actions for a fairer society in a time when real world and virtual social spaces have become fragmented.

Considering questions of race, gender and class the collection includes globally diverse research perspectives, including those from Indonesia, Kenya, Nigeria, South Africa and Brazil. The book offers inspiring insights on the approaches researchers, youth practitioners and young people are finding to challenge the injustices they face and be a positive force in promoting social justice.

In the past, youth has been seen as a transition into the labour market, but today young people’s identities are increasingly wrapped up in their value as workers.

In this book, young people describe the meaning of work in their own words. Drawing on these narratives, the author reveals how their identities are intertwined with the dynamics of labour and value in post-Fordist capitalism and how social inequalities are manifested through the practices and ethics that young people draw upon to cultivate an economically productive self.

Illuminating the rapidly changing social conditions that mould youth identities, this book represents a paradigm shift in our understanding of youth and work.

In the past, youth has been seen as a transition into the labour market, but today young people’s identities are increasingly wrapped up in their value as workers.

In this book, young people describe the meaning of work in their own words. Drawing on these narratives, the author reveals how their identities are intertwined with the dynamics of labour and value in post-Fordist capitalism and how social inequalities are manifested through the practices and ethics that young people draw upon to cultivate an economically productive self.

Illuminating the rapidly changing social conditions that mould youth identities, this book represents a paradigm shift in our understanding of youth and work.