ABSTRACT

This book integrates four distinct topics: young people, citizenship, new media, and learning processes. When taken together, these four topics merge to define an arena of social and research attention that has become compelling in recent years.

The general international concern expressed of declining democratic engagement and the role of citizenship today becomes all the more acute when it turns to younger people. At the same time, there is growing attention being paid to the potential of new media – especially internet and mobile telephony – to play a role in facilitating newer forms of political participation. It is clear that many of the present manifestations of ‘new politics’ in the extra parliamentarian domain, not only make sophisticated use of such media, but are indeed highly dependent on them.

With an impressive array of contributors, this book will appeal to those interested in a number of spheres, including media and cultural studies, political science, pedagogy, and sociology.

chapter 1|18 pages

Introduction

Youth, civic engagement, and learning via new media

part I|59 pages

Youth, media, and democracy: Late modern landscapes

chapter 2|19 pages

From big brother to Big Brother

Two faces of interactive engagement

chapter 3|17 pages

Changing life courses, citizenship, and new media

The impact of reflexive biographization

chapter 4|19 pages

Civic learning in changing democracies

Challenges for citizenship and civic education

part II|85 pages

Situating young citizens' media use

chapter 5|21 pages

Young people's identity construction and media use

Democratic participation in Germany and Austria

chapter 6|22 pages

Interactivity and participation on the Internet

Young people's response to the civic sphere

chapter 8|17 pages

Finding a global voice?

Migrant children, new media, and the limits of empowerment

part III|83 pages

Media, engagement, and daily practices

chapter 10|18 pages

An indispensable resource

The Internet and young civic engagement

chapter 11|21 pages

Mobile monitoring

Questions of trust, risk and democracy in young Danes' uses of mobile phones