This book confronts the issues young people face growing up in the confusion and anxiety of today’s highly global society. Young people face their futures consumed with feelings of doubt, uncertainty and ambivalence. The Global Financial Crisis and the rise of the Islamic State means young people are transitioning into adulthood in a time that we call an age of anxiety. They may be the first generation to have fewer opportunities than their parents yet, despite this, they are learning to imagine other kinds of futures. These are futures where economic collapse provides opportunities for entrepreneurialism and innovation, where Islamic State does not need to pose a clear and present danger, and where political action provides hope for a better world. Dealing with the current political and economic climate and progressive campaigns such as Black Lives Matter, Howie and Campbell tackle some of the biggest threats to the future of society. An innovative and wide-reaching study, this book will be of particular interest to scholars of human geography, disaster studies, politics, and sociology.
This book confronts the issues young people face growing up in the confusion and anxiety of today’s highly global society. Young people face their futures consumed with feelings of doubt, uncertainty and ambivalence. The Global Financial Crisis and the rise of the Islamic State means young people are transitioning into adulthood in a time that we call an age of anxiety. They may be the first generation to have fewer opportunities than their parents yet, despite this, they are learning to imagine other kinds of futures. These are futures where economic collapse provides opportunities for entrepreneurialism and innovation, where Islamic State does not need to pose a clear and present danger, and where political action provides hope for a better world. Dealing with the current political and economic climate and progressive campaigns such as Black Lives Matter, Howie and Campbell tackle some of the biggest threats to the future of society. An innovative and wide-reaching study, this book will be of particular interest to scholars of human geography, disaster studies, politics, and sociology.
Leads an interdisciplinary debate on how global events have irreparably altered young peoples’ futures Identifies young people's feelings of doubt when faced with current global events, and argues for a different future Deals with anxiety in the contexts of the disasters of the 21st century – the GFC and rise of ISIS
Luke Howie
Anxiety Youth GFC terrorism ISIS entrepreneurialism Precarious Futures Occupy Black Lives Matter Pop-culture globalisation climate change urban poverty us politics urban geography and urbanism
“Howie and Campbell present an excellent interdisciplinary critical analysis of the 'big moments' that have been foundational in the production of what they rightly call the 'anxiety-provoking twenty-first century'. Something of a rarity, the text is as authoritative as it is wide ranging, drawing on with multiple theoretical perspectives and grappling with literatures beyond the academy that researchers far too often seem to ignore. The authors' accounts of their various research projects illuminates a tangible sense of life at the sharp end of this age of anxiety, but still paints a picture of a future where anxiety need not be the base line.” (Dr Steven Roberts, School of Social Sciences, Monash University, Australia)