This article offers an analytic review of US youth culture studies, which is defined as
research that recognizes the agency of youth ? their meaning-making, cultural productions,
and social engagements ? in relationship to cultural and political contexts. The
article focuses on four selected areas of research that are influential in US youth culture
studies: developmental research, the ?youth crisis? literature, educational research, and
subcultural and cultural studies. The discussion of each of the four areas is focused on
one or two major theorists and a particularly illuminating question or problem that
speaks to the larger question of how theory, methodology, and national context are
intertwined. In conclusion, we attempt to develop a framework of ?youthscapes? to
provide an analytic and methodological link between youth culture and nationalizing
or globalizing processes, using our own research as examples.We envision a youthscape
as a way of thinking about youth culture studies that revitalizes discussions about youth
cultures and social movements, while simultaneously theorizing the political and social
uses of youth. |