Youth Futures: Comparative Research and Transformative Visions

How do young people see the future? Are they optimistic or pessimistic? Do their views vary from culture to culture? Are young people actively engaged in creating their desired futures or are they passively receiving the future? What effect has globalization on youth culture? How is the future taught in schools? These and many other questions are dealt with in this volume of comparative empirical research from around the world on how youth see the future. Generally, youth are considered immature, irresponsible toward the future, cliquish, impressionistic, and dangerous toward self and others. They are considered as a mass market—two billion strong—the passive recipients of globalization. Most recently in OECD nations, youth have become fodder for political speeches—they are the problem that reflects both the failure of the welfare state (dependence on the state), the failure of globalization (unemployment), and postmodernism (loss of meaning and the crisis of the spirit). In the Third World, youth are seen not only as the problem, but equally as the force that can topple a regime (as in Yugoslavia). However, youth can also be seen as carriers of a new worldview, a new ideology. These and other views concerning youth are examined in this volume of comparative empirical research. Studies from around the world provide intriguing answers to questions about how youth see the future and their future roles. This book will be of particular interest to scholars, students, researchers, and policymakers involved with youth issues and future studies.

Table of Contents:
Preface: Youth Futures: The Terrain by Jennifer Gidley and Sohail Inayatullah Mapping Youth Futures Global Youth Culture: A Transdisciplinary Perspective by Jennifer Gidley Youth Dissent: Multiple Perspectives on Youth Futures by Sohail Inayatullah Future Visions, Social Realities, and Personal Lives: Young People and Their Personal Well-Being by Richard Eckersley Partnership Education for the 21st Century by Riane Eisler Cultural Mapping and Our Children's Futures: Decolonizing Ways of Learning and Research by Francis Hutchinson From Youth Futures to Futures for All: Reclaiming the Human Story by Marcus Bussey Youth Essay 1: Optimistic Visions from Australia by Raina Hunter Comparative Research from Around the Globe Japanese Youth: Rewriting Futures in the "No Taboos" Post-Bubble Millennium by David Wright Reflections upon the Late-Modern Transition as Seen in the Images of the Future Held by Young Finns by Anita Rubin Imagining the Future: Youth in Singapore by Alfred Oehlers The Future Orientation of Hungarian Youth in the Years of the Transformation by Eva Hideg and Erzsebet Novaky Citizens of the New Century: Perspectives from the UK by Cathie Holden Longing for Belonging: Youth Culture in Norway by Paul Otto Brunstad Holistic Education and Visions of Rehumanized Futures by Jennifer Gidley Youth Essay 2: Voice of the Future from Pakistan by Bilal Aslam Case Studies: Teaching Futures in Educationl Settings From Rhetoric to Reality: The Emergence of Futures into the Educational Mainstream by Richard Slaughter Re-Imagining your Neighborhood--A Model of Futures Education by Carmen Stewart Learning with an Active Voice: Children and Youth Creating Preferred Futures by Cole Jackson, Sandra Burchsted, and Seth Itzkan I Don't Care About the Future (if I Can't Influence it) by Sabina Head Rural Visions of the Future: Futures in a Social Science Class by Shane Hart Youth, Scenarios, and Metaphors of the Future by Sohail Inayatullah Youth Essay 3: Shared Futures from the Philippines by Michael Guanco Concluding Reflections by Sohail Inayatullah and Jennifer Gidley Selected Bibliography Index

About the Author :
JENNIFER GIDLEY is an Educational Psychologist and Futures Researcher. She has published widely in education and youth futures, most recently co-editing The University in Transformation (Bergin & Garvey, 2000). SOHAIL INAYATULLAH is Visiting Professor, Department of Future Studies, Tamkang University, Taiwan, Visiting Academic, the Communication Center, Queensland University of Technology, and Professor, International Management Centers Association. He is co-editor of the Journal of Futures Studies. Among his books is Macrohistory and Macrohistorians (Praeger, 1997).

Review :
"The Youth Futures book by Gidley and Inayatullah is a very important contribution because there is so little cross cultural material on adolescence. It is a much needed antidote to our ethnocentric presentation of adolescence here in the States."-Professor David Elkind Professor and Chair Eliot Pearson Department of Child Development Tufts University "This exciting and timely book is a milestone, bringing together for the first time international research on youth as both inheritors and creators of the future. Their hopes and fears for tomorrow, as reported here, are central to the future well-being of society - we would do well to listen to them. Essential reading for all those involved with young people, whether in formal or informal contexts, at home, in education or at work."-Professor David Hicks School of Education Bath Spa University College, UK "Young people are increasingly viewed by scholars, practitioners, and policy makers as vital assets in the development of civil society. This book both gives voice to this positive conception of youth, and documents the power of young people to be active agents in actualizing their own healthy futures and in contributing to social justice and equity across the global community. This book is an impressive resource for all people concerned with understanding and enhancing the strengths of youth to build, sustain, and extend the quality of life in all nations of the world."-Professor Richard M. Lerner Bergstrom Chair in Applied Developmental Science Tufts University "This book is astounding. In a time of rapid, world-wide transformation dealing with globalization, genomics, terrorism and much else, constructive and creative views of possible futures are essential. This book makes a monumental contribution on youth futures. While we are accustomed to hearing universal rhetoric on the importance of youth to the future, it seldom goes beyond platitudes. In 20 essays the authors present extensive theory and practice, including up to date trans-disciplinary research from around the world. This remarkable book will be a lasting resource for educators, policy makers, youth workers and all people committed to creating a better, brighter and wiser future for future generations."-Professor David K. Scott Former Chancellor University of Massachusetts Amherst