American Youth Cultures
Format:Paperback
Publisher:Edinburgh University Press
Published:30th Apr '04
Currently unavailable, and unfortunately no date known when it will be back
Surfing, punk rock, Dawson's Creek, teen movies, MTV and S. E. Hinton's The Outsiders are among the many popular cultural landmarks examined in American Youth Cultures. It considers themes such as race, class, gender, power, sexuality and authority and presents innovative and challenging analyses of texts from the post-war period. Key questions are raised about the significance of youth within American culture. Contributing to the necessary and important debate over the meanings of youth representation within American culture, the ideological nature of youth and its centrality to a complex reading of popular culture are emphasised. In particular the issues of gender, race and sexuality are considered as central to the construction of youth identity and to other significant relationships between youth and authority. The contradictions in youth representation are asserted, denying any easy definitions that might serve to compound stereotypes or sustain vested interests. The authors show how the cultural politics of youth are no longer only about being young but rather associated with both personal and public values, aspirations and ideologies that extend way beyond any simple consideration of the self. Key Features: * The only available book on the subject * Youth is shown to be central to contemporary American culture * Contributors bring a range of approaches to bear on representations of youth in American culture
The style is lucid and concise, introducing a good deal of material in an engaging and straightforward manner without losing sight of the complexities and difficulties this material exposes. Major schools of thought and individual theorists (Chicago School, Birmingham cultural studies, Gramsci, Foucault, etc) are introduced and key terms explained with admirable lightness of touch and generosity toward the uninitiated! the volume is very coherent, accessible and topical. -- John Beck, University of Newcastle ' strongly support the immediate paperback release of Neil Campbell's American Youth Culture. This text has been known to me, as a hardback book carried by my own institution's library, but its reissue in paper is sure to make the book one instructors will order for undergraduate and graduate coursework. -- Krista Comer, Rice University The style is lucid and concise, introducing a good deal of material in an engaging and straightforward manner without losing sight of the complexities and difficulties this material exposes. Major schools of thought and individual theorists (Chicago School, Birmingham cultural studies, Gramsci, Foucault, etc) are introduced and key terms explained with admirable lightness of touch and generosity toward the uninitiated! the volume is very coherent, accessible and topical. ' strongly support the immediate paperback release of Neil Campbell's American Youth Culture. This text has been known to me, as a hardback book carried by my own institution's library, but its reissue in paper is sure to make the book one instructors will order for undergraduate and graduate coursework.
ISBN: 9780748619337
Dimensions: 234mm x 156mm x 23mm
Weight: 419g
272 pages