This book explores young people’s civic experiences in contemporary American society, and how they navigate the political world in an era defined by digital media. Drawing on the experiences of young people before they have reached voting age, the book provides vital perspectives on citizenship and civic engagement of a part of the population that is often overlooked. The author engages with the tensions young people encounter in their everyday personal and civic lives, particularly in their understanding and experience of civic identity in ways that are shaped by society’s (mis)perceptions of youth. The book introduces a new framework of civic identity that has been directly informed by the lived civic experiences of young people themselves. The findings will be of great interest to researchers and students working in political science, sociology, youth studies, education studies, and media studies, as well as policy-makers, practitioners, and parents of young people.

This book explores alternative approaches for engaging and understanding young people’s political activity and looks at the adoption of information and ICTs as a means to facilitate the active engagement of young people in democratic societies.

Technology has become ubiquitous to everyday life in modern society, and particularly in various social aspects. This has significant impacts on adolescents as they develop and make their way into adulthood. Identity, Sexuality, and Relationships among Emerging Adults in the Digital Age is a pivotal reference source for the latest research on the role of digital media and its impact on identity development, behavioral formations, and the inter-personal relationships of young adults. Featuring extensive coverage across a range of relevant perspectives and topics, such as self-comparison, virtual communities, and online dating, this book is ideally designed for academicians, researchers and professionals seeking current research on the use and impact of online social forums among progressing adults.

Engaging Children and Young People in Planning places planners’ skills for engagement with children and young people centre stage by discussing several projects delivered or supported by planning students to young people in the Northeast of England. Urban or town and country planning is a largely unfamiliar concept to children and young people. Moreover, in England, the environment in which young people live, play and go to school is shaped by a local planning process which lacks their input. This book explores the nature of the gap between that planning process and the voice of the younger members of the community, as well as the barriers that impede this engagement. It highlights why an engagement process is beneficial for those young people, for the wider community and for the planning process itself. At a time when our relationship with and impact on, the environment is being re-examined, this book challenges the planning professional to identify, develop and reflect upon the engagement skills that will help to transform planning into a more inclusive practice. It will be of use to scholars and practitioners in urban planning, community planning, engagement and children’s rights, whilst supporting their academic and professional development pathways.

The book explores the relationship among young people, politics and the media. It presents a novel multidimensional analytical framework – The Circle Line Media Model, which accounts for the importance of a range of processes, actors and social structures in the political socialisation process. By defining political socialisation as a lifelong interactive process that develops civic cultures, collective identities and citizenship, underpinned by social structures, nationality and generational order, the author draws attention to its manifestation in acts of political participation and interactions with authoritative actors such as school/teachers, family, the media and friends/peers. The volume’s longitudinal study on young people, Europe and the media spanning 13 years of research in two very different countries also makes recommendations for more effectively engaging young people with politics and political media based on Generation Z’s own views about current deficiencies in their relationship with news media. Shedding new light on the changing nature of young people’s engagement with politics, this book will be of interest to researchers, lecturers/professors and upper level undergraduate and postgraduate students in the fields of media studies, communication and journalism studies as well as politics and sociology.

The concept of belonging has been increasingly understood as the missing piece in diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts in higher education. This book explores the need to recognize and account for institutional-level factors that shape academic belonging, thereby improving student experience and outcomes. Though recent scholarship has identified several factors that are associated with student belonging in academics, there is little research that addresses what faculty can do in concrete terms to promote belonging, particularly in the domains where they have the most influence. The 12 chapters in this volume introduce readers to an array of collaborative, cutting-edge efforts to develop pedagogies, programs, strategies, and environments that help students develop academic belonging; that is, a sense of connection, competence, and confidence in academic domains. This book is written for higher education faculty, administrators, and researchers who wish to enhance their students’ sense of academic belonging by taking informed, practical measures to make them feel valued and supported.

Digital media are increasingly interwoven into how we understand society and ourselves today. From lines of code to evolving forms of online conduct, they have become an ever-present layer of our age. The rethinking of education has now become the subject of intense global policy debates and academic research, paralleled by the invention and promot

The internet has grown to become one of the largest communication hubs in history. With its ability to share content and create community bonds, it has seen many fandoms and online social communities develop within the past decades. While there are some detriments to these communities, there are also many benefits and potential uses for the betterment of society. The Research Anthology on Fandoms, Online Social Communities, and Pop Culture explores the ways in which the internet has presented itself as a platform for communities to gather. This essential reference source discusses the engagement of these communities, social media use, and the uses of these communities for education. Covering topics such as digital communities, transmedia language learning, and digital humanities, this book is a vital tool for educators of K-12 and higher education, digital folklorists, sociologists, communications researchers, online administrators, community leaders, and academicians.

This book examines how emerging forms of citizenship are shaped by young people in digital spaces as way of making sense of contemporary Chinese society, forming new identities, and negotiating social and political participation. By focusing on Chinese young adults' everyday online practices, the book offers a unique treatment of the topic of young people and the Chinese Internet that navigates between the dominant focus on censorship on the one hand and protest and politicized action on the other. The book brings the focus of research from highly visible or spectacular forms of collectivity, belonging, and identification exhibited in young people's online practices to young people's everyday social and cultural engagement through new media. It brings new insights by understanding the meanings of young people's mundane and everyday online engagement for their citizenship learning, identity performance, and their formation of political subjectivity. Readers will gain insights into citizenship in China, and young people and the Chinese Internet.

The COVID-19 pandemic was a forceful reminder that education plays an important role in delivering not just academic learning, but also in supporting physical and emotional well-being. Balancing traditional “book learning” with broader social and personal development means new roles for schools and education more generally.