XIX ISA World Congress of Sociology (July 15-21, 2018)

613

Violences: Global Youth Encounters with Physical, Symbolic and Structural Violence

RC34 Sociology of Youth (host committee)

Language: English

Frequently when we speak of youth and violence we limit the conversation to physical violence. In sociology the concepts of symbolic violence (Bourdieu) and structural violence (Wacquant) are well established but suffer from a dearth of empirical studies to illustrate its effects as well as document strategies used to resist or oppose it.  This session invites submission from scholars from around the globe who research young people’s experiences of symbolic and structural violence, as well as physical violence, and document or theorise their abilities to withstand, oppose or resist these violences and their effects. It is particularly interested in research from specific geographical, ideological or categorical contexts, in both the Global North and the Global South, that are able to speak across these boundaries, in order to enrich our understanding of youth agency and inform a need for policy shifts. Examples of contemporary physical violences include responding to police brutality, gang-related and gendered violence. Symbolic violence may include resisting racism, ethnic marginalisation and overcoming inferiority/superiority binaries. Overcoming structural oppressions may include new youth social movements, alternative ways in which youth access services and ensure rights, and craft emerging forms of livelihood. This roundtable will be especially interesting in hearing the voices of Arab, African, Indian, Asian and Latin American youth, alongside those from the Global North, and those from the South who are in the Global north by choice, displacement and immigration.