New Dimensions of Social Inequality - Events

Youth and social change across borders: emerging identities and divisions in Eastern and Western Europe

St Antony’s College, University of Oxford, 27^th – 28^th March 2009

Full programme

Call for papers (now closed)

Youth studies has traditionally provided a rich, interdisciplinary forum for the exploration of a range of social identities and divisions rooted in class, gender, ethnicity and place. It has also been the site on which contemporary social theory – pointing in recent years to late-modern processes of globalisation, individualisation and risk – have received some of their most illustrative applications, as well as their most incisive critiques. This conference asks what the study of young people in and from post-Socialist Eastern Europe can tell us about the emerging dimensions of social inequality and social change both in Eastern and Western European societies.

Building on youth studies’ long standing critique of popular discourses constructing youth ‘as/in trouble’, the conference wishes to move debate decisively away from the common perception of young people in post-Socialist countries as a ‘lost generation’. Instead, we invite papers focusing on the active ways in which young people negotiate transitions and ‘careers’ in a variety of life domains –in education, work, migration, family, housing, leisure and sexuality – while at the same time being sensitive to the structural and cultural processes shaping the resources and subject positions available to different young people in different times and places. In the context of a wider Europe, it is particularly timely to address questions about the lives of young Eastern Europeans, not only in new EU member states and in countries bordering the EU, but also in those Western European states which are a common destination for migrant workers and students.

Practical information for participants

Participation

The conference is free both to speakers and to those who wish simply to attend. However, please register your intention to attend with the conference organisers at ceelbasyouthconference@googlemail.com

Location

The conference will be based at St. Antony’s College, University of Oxford. See location and directions

Accommodation

There are a limited number of rooms in St Anne’s college (adjacent to St Antony’s) that can be booked by contacting ana.bacharach@st-annes.ox.ac.uk. Please see details of accommodation and prices and a credit card payment form. Alternatively, there are many private hotels and bed and breakfasts close to St. Antony’s College. 

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