Introduction: Making Sense of Young People Today
Foundational Concepts, Issues and Debates
Defining Youth
Youth Transitions
Youth Cultures
Young People and Social Policies
Working with Young People
Researching Youth
Theorizing Youth
The History of Youth
Young People, Divisions and Inequality
Representations of Youth
Major Concepts, Issues and Debates
Leisure
Crime
Youth Training
Housing
Social Networks and Social Capital
Well-Being
Gender
Sexualities
Education
The Body
¿Place¿ and Belonging
Religion
Music
¿Race¿ and Ethnicities
Informal Learning
Social Class
Politics, Protest and Social Movements
Work and Employment
Globalization
Disability
Consumption
The Youth Underclass
Homelessness

What is youth? How do we understand youth in its social and cultural context?

Mark Cieslik and Donald Simpson here provide a concise and readily accessible introduction to the interdisciplinary field of youth studies. Drawing upon the latest research and developments in the field, as well as discussing the fundamental ideas underlying the discipline as a whole, it offers a comprehensive yet unpacked understanding of youth as a social phenomenon.

Illuminating the many abstract and contested concepts within youth studies, the book offers explanations to questions such as:

• How might we define youth?


• How can we understand young people in relation to their social identities and practices?


• What is the relationship between youth and social class?


• How do youth cultures develop?


• How can we understand youth in a globalized perspective?
  

Key Concepts in Youth Studies stands out as a natural companion for students on youth studies, sociology, criminology and social science programmes. It will also be useful for youth practitioners such as social workers and teachers.

Dr. Mark Cieslik is a senior lecturer in sociology at the Department of Social Sciences, Northumbria University, Newcastle Upon Tyne, UK. Mark has researched young people, learning, and literacies as well as aspects of well-being and happiness. He established the British Sociological Association Happiness Study Group in 2009. He is the author of The Happiness Riddle and the Quest for a Good Life (2017) and coauthored with Donald Simpson, Key Concepts in Youth Studies (2013). He is conducting research into mindfulness as well as cross-national comparative projects into happiness/well-being.