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United States of Adolescence?

Reconsidering US Youth Culture Studies

University of California, Davis, lissa{at}berkeley.edu

Elisabeth Soep

University of California, Berkeley, smaira{at}ucdavis.edu

This article offers an analytic review of US youth culture studies, which is defined as research that recognizes the agency of youth - their meaning-making, cultural productions, and social engagements - in relationship to cultural and political contexts. The article focuses on four selected areas of research that are influential in US youth culture studies: developmental research, the ‘youth crisis’ literature, educational research, and subcultural and cultural studies. The discussion of each of the four areas is focused on one or two major theorists and a particularly illuminating question or problem that speaks to the larger question of how theory, methodology, and national context are intertwined. In conclusion, we attempt to develop a framework of ‘youthscapes’ to provide an analytic and methodological link between youth culture and nationalizing or globalizing processes, using our own research as examples. We envision a youthscape as a way of thinking about youth culture studies that revitalizes discussions about youth cultures and social movements, while simultaneously theorizing the political and social uses of youth.

Key Words: crises discourse • cultural studies • developmental psychology • education • USA • youth cultures • youth research • youthscapes

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