Youths in Challenging Situations

This book investigates and explores the complex dynamics of youth in contemporary society, especially in troubled and crisis-ridden contexts. On the one hand, teenagers and young adults experience social suffering, marginalisation, gender and ethnic bias, and an increased risk to be radicalised and involved in extremism and related violence. On the other hand, it is shown that young people are resilient, and they have a remarkable ability to adapt and cope with extremely difficult situations.

This interesting ambivalence is vividly illustrated by a number of studies in countries as varied as Ethiopia, Zambia, South Africa, Botswana, Brazil, Hong Kong, Kuwait, India, Israel, Britain, Italy, Malta, Spain, Portugal and Cyprus. Each of the 16 chapters throws a different light on the impact of destabilising circumstances and how youths cope with them in order to gain positive self-esteem and sense of a meaningful life. Overall, the experiences of young people are a distillation of the particular traumas and challenges that their society faces. Understanding those experiences and how they are coped with helps to make sense of all societies. This book was originally published as a special issue of Contemporary Social Science.