XVIII ISA World Congress of Sociology (July 13-19, 2014)

July 13 - 19, 2014

JS-16

Constructing Gender within Youth Activism

RC34 Sociology of Youth (host committee)
RC32 Women in Society

Language: English and Spanish

The papers in this session will address the construction of gender within young people’s activism, including the intersection of gender with other social hierarchies (class, race/ethnicity/nationality, age). Youth civic engagement has occupied the attention of researchers and policymakers globally during recent decades. Today, young people practice and imagine civic engagement differently than in previous generations. They embrace activism through social movements, voluntary services, social media, identity organizations, cultural production, and even militant movements. They find less appeal in institutional or formal politics. Activism appears to be among the key forms of political socialization, the process whereby young people learn political culture and develop ideas about political issues, including gender justice. Yet less attention has been paid to relationships between young people’s activism and gender as a social hierarchy. Potential topics for exploration include how young people contest gender injustice or reproduce existing inequalities as they develop strategies, ideologies, identities, organizations and alliances. Youth activism involves gender performances and engagement with/in gendered social structures. And they will typically carry into adulthood values and ideas adopted during youth activism. Papers that explore the session topic are welcome from a variety of research focuses, theoretical perspectives, conceptual tools and empirical cases.