Political Socialization of Youth

"This volume explores how matters of community, identity, and geopolitics intervene in landscapes of education, media, and nationalism in young people's lives. It is a must read for anyone interested in childhood and youth, geopolitics and political participation, and agency and activism." (Peter Hopkins, Newcastle University, UK) "Habashi highlights the precarious circumstances of young human beings, who have been betrayed by representatives of the adult-led macro-polities. She demonstrates how, why, and what happens when established socialisation models neglect or obscure the agency she finds at the centre of young Palestinians' everyday lives. The repercussions of her findings are not limited to the occupied territories; they deserve to challenge worldwide discussions of the political development and agency of young people." (Dr Erik Amna, Professor in Political Science at Orebro University, Sweden) "Janette Habashi uses the words of youth growing up in the Palestinian territories to describe their political coming of age, or how they endow daily events with political meaning. As these youth construct their identities, Palestinian history, culture, religion, and the weight of Israeli occupation are ever present. ... Habashi strategically builds this portrait with compelling richness and intensity. At the same time, traditional concepts of political socialisation that Habashi presents fairly are exposed as culturally limited to Western, middle-class youth living in a secure world in which politics is filtered, distant, and safe. This insight cannot be escaped, and neither can the seriousness with which Palestinian youth struggle to define who they are, who the other is, and ideals which allow them to persevere." (James Youniss, James and Wylma Curtin Professor of Psychology, Emeritus, The Catholic University of America, USA)

This book increases the awareness of youth political agency and how it relates to adults, governments, communities, and local and global discourse.This book increases the awareness of youth political agency and how it relates to adults, governments, communities, and local and global discourse. It reveals the complexity of youth’s political lives as it intersects with social identifiers such as location, gender, and political status, and interacts with neoliberal discourse embedded in media, local politics, education, and religious idioms. This book fills a gap in existing research to provide a body of literature on the political socialization and its manifestation in youth political agency. The research findings aid in understanding the abilities of youth to reason, reflect upon, articulate, and act upon their political views. This research is not only pertinent to children in Palestine, but can also be applied to children living everywhere as global discourse of oppression is not limited to a location, age or a group.