Youth Collectivities

"Youth Collectivities sets a bold new agenda for youth cultural researchers: the challenge of bringing the collective back in. A timely work of deep scholarship, it offers new insights into the project of understanding the nature of youth cultures, including the legacy of the Birmingham School, a consideration of the undeveloped nature of Maffesoli’s concepts of collectivity and new work that recognises collective, reciprocal relations and assemblages of the material and human worlds in youth cultures. These central questions are explored in depth by leading youth researchers from around the world, to give new life to theories of collectivity and collective material culture in young people’s lives."

Johanna Wyn,Redmond Barry Distinguished Professor, The University of Melbourne

"This is an important and illuminating collection. In their concern with the collective aspects of youth and subculture, which are rightly argued to have been neglected, the contributors help to refocus our attention on issues of practice, experience and affect - the doing of youth and subculture, rather than just their symbolic effects. In so doing, they also highlight the range of actors involved, including the objects with which youth and subculturalists engage, and, in drawing on Durkheimian and actor network approaches amongst others, help to advance relevant theoretical debates, moving us beyond important but over rehearsed debates about subculture and post-subculture and into increasingly interesting and innovative terrain."

Dr Paul Sweetman, Senior Lecturer in Cultural & Creative Industries, King's College London

"The scapegoating of youth as individualistic and selfish is commonplace in media representations, but this distortive figure is sometimes imbued in research on young people. As this lively collection demonstrates, the reality is much different: young people find being part of collectivities inspiring and valuable, expressing a desire to be part of something much bigger than themselves. Whether it is the creative practices of various youth cultures, art movements and fandom, or participating in political activities such as climate activism, youth are struggling to transform the world to create a livable future. Presenting cutting edge research from Europe and Australia and bringing together a wide range of theoretical perspectives, Youth Collectivities: Cultures and Objects will appeal youth studies researchers committed to bridging the gap between cultures and transitions and to all those interested in how collective practices make the world."

Steven Threadgold, University of Newcastle, Australia