Eastern European Youth Cultures in a Global Context

In a context of significant and ongoing political change, this collection provides a rich and valuable window on youth cultures in Eastern Europe, with a focus on everyday routines rather than the more spectacular images of a minority that tend to dominate in the western media. Moreover, some of the research presented suggests that aspects of the Eastern experience are becoming increasingly evident in Western Europe. The collection offers a fresh perspective on the experiences of Eastern European youth and provokes thought about the future of the West. This is a book that deserves to be read by anyone with an interest in youth cultures or in the transformations taking place in Eastern Europe.'- Andy Furlong, University of Glasgow, UK

Eastern European Youth Cultures in a Global Context takes this situation as a starting point for an examination of generational change, cultural belongings, political activism and everyday practices of young people in different Eastern European countries from an interdisciplinary perspective.

The demise of state Socialisms caused radical social, cultural and economic changes in Eastern Europe. Since then, young people have been confronted with fundamental disruptions and transformations to their daily environment, while an unsettling, globalized world substantially reshapes local belongings and conventional values. In times of multiple instabilities and uncertainties, this volume argues, young people prefer to try to adjust to given circumstances than to adopt the behaviour of potential rebellious, adolescent role models, dissident counter-cultures or artistic breakings of taboo.

Eastern European Youth Cultures in a Global Context takes this situation as a starting point for an examination of generational change, cultural belongings, political activism and everyday practices of young people in different Eastern European countries from an interdisciplinary perspective. It argues that the conditions of global change not only call for a differentiated evaluation of youth cultures, but also for a revision of our understanding of 'youth' itself – in Eastern Europe and beyond.