Youth Participation and Learning: Critical Perspectives on Citizenship Practices in Europe

This book contributes to the studies on learning processes occurring outside "traditional" socialization settings such as family and school, by analysing civic and political participation and learning experiences. In this perspective, the book delves into the connections between the concepts of learning and participation and, in various ways and from different perspectives, critically interrogates learning and participation as interrelated phenomena, with the aim of revealing complexities implicated in pathways to adulthood.

Being interdisciplinary in its nature (contributors come from disciplinary backgrounds such as educational sciences, child and youth studies, social work, sociology and political science), the volume provides an up-to date analysis of contemporary issues connected to youth participation and learning. The work taps into central areas of everyday life of young people and youth meaning-making and generates and presents qualitative knowledge about what it means to be young in Europe today.

Zulmir Bečevic, PhD, is Senior Lecturer in Social Work at the University of Gothenburg, Sweden. His research is about young people's living conditions in a broad sense, with specific focus on issues relating to citizenship and rights, participation and exclusion, and social, economic, and racial inequalities. His most recent book publication is Children and Young People in Vulnerable Life Situations - Perspectives from Research and Practice (Liber, 2020, together with Linnéa Bruno.

Björn Andersson has a PhD in Social Work and is Associate Professor at the Department of Social Work, University of Gothenburg, Sweden. Much of his research concerns the social life of young people, especially the formation of relations in urban public space and youth participation. He has written on outreach approaches in social work and some of his latest research concerns social sustainability in urban planning as in his recent book Architecture for Residential Care and Ageing Communities (Routledge, 2021, with Sten Gromark)