Study-Unit Description

Study-Unit Description


CODE YTH5003

 
TITLE The Sociology of Youth

 
UM LEVEL 05 - Postgraduate Modular Diploma or Degree Course

 
MQF LEVEL 7

 
ECTS CREDITS 10

 
DEPARTMENT Youth and Community Studies

 
DESCRIPTION This study-unit shall provide in-depth and critical examination of the key concepts that have vied for prominence in the sociology of youth from the discipline’s rise in the context of the post-war years to the present day. Emphasis shall also be made on charting the impact of sociology’s foundational works and theorists on different strands of thought in the sociology of youth. More specifically, the Course shall focus on the concepts of youth culture and youth subculture, and the dialogue between youth cultural and youth subcultural theorists. In the process, diverse contributors and schools of thought such as the cultural deviance perspective and the Contemporary Centre of Cultural Studies (Birmingham, UK) shall be discussed and appraised. In conclusion, detailed reference shall be made to post-modernist theories of youth and the concepts that this corpus of knowledge has forwarded in an attempt to supplant the dominance of the post-war subculture concept.

Throughout the process continual reference will be made to the Maltese and pan-European social contexts with the aim of shedding light on the challenges facing youth in contemporary Maltese society through a comparative perspective. This shall entail examining how current youth trends in Malta may be interpreted through, inter alia, the gloss of social movement theory, sexuality theory, risk theory, the modernity/post-modernity dichotomy, McDonaldisation and neo-Weberian theory, secularization/de-secularization in modern society, moral panic theory and the criminalization of young people, and contemporary youth subculture or “neo-tribe” theory.

Study-unit Aims

This Study-unit is aimed at;
(a) building course participants' knowledge and understanding of the sociology of youth and assisting their familiarisation with authors who have contributed towards the development of the discipline particularly in relation to theorists that shed light on social processes that relate directly to the experiences of contemporary youth both in the local and global context;
(b) helping course participants to reflect critically upon contemporary social processes that impinge on modern-day youth including leisure, globalisation and secularisation; and,
(c) assist course participants' critical engagement and analysis of contemporary social issues in such a way as to de-problematise the conceptualisation and understanding of young people and youth transitions.

Learning Outcomes

1. Knowledge & Understanding: By the end of the study-unit the student will be able to:

(a) understand the key concepts and authors that have informed and continue to inform the sociology of youth;
(b) understand the importance of sociological theorising and logic for the critical conceptualisation of youth in modern society;
(c) discern the intimate ties between youth, leisure and popular culture;
(d) recognise the important role that youth culture/subcultures play in contemporary society and their nexus to social movements that instill social change; and,
(e) understand the importance of sociology as a potent tool for critical reflexivity and emancipatory youth work practice.

2. Skills: By the end of the study-unit the student will be able to:

(a) engage, analyse and reflect upon the subject matter critically;
(b) synthesise and trace the links between related concepts and critically appraise the contributions of authors/schools of thought toward their development;
(c) apply contemporary sociological theory to the understanding of youth-related issues in the local social context;
(d) foreground and identify developments in youth policy and youth work practice in the light of contemporary sociological knowledge;
(e) identify and critically reflect upon the moral panic processes that often propel popular conceptualizations of youth culture/s; and,
(f) critique popularistic assumptions on the subject matter.

Main Text/s and any supplementary readings

Main Texts:

- Bennet, A.,and K.Kahn-Harris. (eds.). 2004. After Subculture: Critical Studies in Contemporary Youth Culture. Basingstoke, Hampshire and New York: Palgrave Macmillan. [available].
- Brake, M. (1985). Comparative Youth Culture: The Sociology of Youth Culture and Youth Subculture in America, Britain and Canada. London: Routledge and Kegan Paul. [available].
- Cohen, S. (1993). Folk Devils and Moral Panics: The Creation of the Mods and Rockers. Oxford, England: Blackwell Publishers. First published 1972. [available].
- Gelder, K. and S. Thornton. (eds.) (2005). The Subcultures Reader. London: Routledge. [available].
- Ritzer, George. (2008). Sociological theory. (7th ed.) New York: McGraw-Hill Ryerson. [available].


Supplementary Readings:

- Chaney,D. (2002). Cultural Change and Everyday Life. Basingstoke:Palgrave [available].
- Cohen, A.K. (1955). Delinquent Boys: The Culture of the Gang. Chicago: Free Press. [available].
- Garcìa Canclini, N. [1990] 1995. Hybrid Cultures: Strategies for Entering and Leaving Modernity. Translated by Chiappari, C.L., and S.L. Lòpez. Minneapolis, MN: University of Minnesota Press. [available].
- Harvey, D. 1995. The Condition of Postmodernity: An Enquiry into the Origins of Cultural Change. Oxford: Blackwell. [available].
- Hebdige, D. (1979). Subculture: The Meaning of Style. London and New York: Routledge. [available].
- Jenks, C. 1998. Core Sociological Dichotomies. London: Sage. [available].
- Jenks, C. (2005). Subculture: The Fragmentation of the Social. London: Sage. [available].
- Lash, S. & Urry, J. 1994. Economies of Signs and Space. London: Sage. [available].
- MacDonald, R. (ed.). 2003. Youth, the Underclass and Social Exclusion. London: Routledge. [available].
- Miles, S. 2000. Youth Lifestyles in a Changing World. Buckingham: Open University Press. [available].
- Muggleton, D. (2000). Inside Subculture: The Postmodern Meaning of Style. Oxford:Berg [available].
- Muggleton, D., and R. Wienzierl. (eds.). (2004). The Post-Subcultures Reader. Oxford:Berg [available].
- Ritzer, G. 1996. The McDonaldization of Society: An Investigation into the Changing Character of Contemporary Social Life. Thousand Oaks, Calif.: Pine Forge Press. [available].
- Ritzer, G. (2007). Contemporary sociological theory and its classical roots: The basics. (2nd ed.) Toronto: McGraw-Hill Ryerson. [available]

 
STUDY-UNIT TYPE Lecture

 
METHOD OF ASSESSMENT
Assessment Component/s Assessment Due Sept. Asst Session Weighting
Examination (3 Hours) SEM2 Yes 100%

 
LECTURER/S Andreana Friggieri
Maria Pisani

 

 
The University makes every effort to ensure that the published Courses Plans, Programmes of Study and Study-Unit information are complete and up-to-date at the time of publication. The University reserves the right to make changes in case errors are detected after publication.
The availability of optional units may be subject to timetabling constraints.
Units not attracting a sufficient number of registrations may be withdrawn without notice.
It should be noted that all the information in the description above applies to study-units available during the academic year 2023/4. It may be subject to change in subsequent years.

https://www.um.edu.mt/course/studyunit