Charalambos Tsekeris - Böcker

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.

Within only a few years, Facebook, Wikipedia, Twitter, You Tube and other social media have become an intimate part of everyday life. Web 2.0, the collective term for all forms of interactive online communication, is characterized by the overwhelming ability of users to collaboratively create content. The implications of Web 2.0 have become a central focus for interdisciplinary social science research. This book comprehensively addresses the profound impact of Web 2.0 on contemporary society and its dynamics in a multiplicity of fields. The chapters, authored by world-leading experts, vividly demonstrate that Web 2.0 is a dynamic basis for collective action and an unlimited source of societal destabilisation and revolutionary change, for better or for worse. Various aspects of the radical transformative potential of Web 2.0 are imaginatively and critically discussed in the analytical context of quantitative approaches, qualitative works and case studies. This book provides key insights into the wide-reaching implications of recent technological developments, casting new light into an area which may potentially contribute to a more peaceful and sustainable future.This book was originally published as a special issue of Contemporary Social Science: Journal of the Academy of Social Sciences.

Who am I? Or, even more curiously, who are you? These are questions about the self – that aspect of who we are that we believe defines, or at least describes, each of us. The self is not merely an internal creation, however. Family, friends, colleagues, and acquaintances all contribute to who we are, and more importantly, they help to shape who we think we are. In this innovative and thought-provoking book, the various social aspects of the self and its construction are imaginatively explored. Such explorations can seem abstractly academic, but they carry great significance. Knowledge of how the self is constructed has many implications for most social processes, for example, understanding the volatility of the notion of self that can provide the basis for terrorist radicalisation, can generate destructive suicidal tendencies, or can foment aggressive national identities. This interdisciplinary collection is relevant not only for theoretical and methodological elaborations, but also for more practical considerations. The chapters in this book were originally published as a special issue of Contemporary Social Science, and two articles from Self and Identity.

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.

Within only a few years, Facebook, Wikipedia, Twitter, You Tube and other social media have become an intimate part of everyday life. Web 2.0, the collective term for all forms of interactive online communication, is characterized by the overwhelming ability of users to collaboratively create content. The implications of Web 2.0 have become a central focus for interdisciplinary social science research. This book comprehensively addresses the profound impact of Web 2.0 on contemporary society and its dynamics in a multiplicity of fields. The chapters, authored by world-leading experts, vividly demonstrate that Web 2.0 is a dynamic basis for collective action and an unlimited source of societal destabilisation and revolutionary change, for better or for worse. Various aspects of the radical transformative potential of Web 2.0 are imaginatively and critically discussed in the analytical context of quantitative approaches, qualitative works and case studies. This book provides key insights into the wide-reaching implications of recent technological developments, casting new light into an area which may potentially contribute to a more peaceful and sustainable future.This book was originally published as a special issue of Contemporary Social Science: Journal of the Academy of Social Sciences.