Roots of Civic Identity: International Perspectives on Community Service and Activism in Youth [Hardcover]

An international collection of chapters about the participation of youth in community, civic and political activities.New empirical data are used to present portraits of youth's political socialization in Canada, former West Germany, former eastern bloc Soviet nations, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Palestine, Scandinavia, Taiwan, the United Kingdom, and the United States. The chapters focus on the community service and civic activities which encourage youth to reflect societies' complexities, tensions, and ideals and can potentially promote active citizenship. In contradiction to images such as 'generation X', the chapters show contemporary youth from a range of countries grappling to understand the workings of their society and desiring to participate meaningfully in helping society to achieve its ideals- two requisites of healthy civic identity.New empirical data are used to present portraits of youth's political socialization in Canada, former West Germany, former eastern bloc Soviet nations, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Palestine, Scandinavia, Taiwan, the United Kingdom, and the United States. The chapters focus on the community service and civic activities which encourage youth to reflect societies' complexities, tensions, and ideals and can potentially promote active citizenship. In contradiction to images such as 'generation X', the chapters show contemporary youth from a range of countries grappling to understand the workings of their society and desiring to participate meaningfully in helping society to achieve its ideals- two requisites of healthy civic identity.This book brings together an international collection of essays that describes the state of community participation among the world's youth. Authors from around the globe use fresh empirical data to present portraits of contemporary youths constructing their civic identities through such means as community service and political activism. The image of Generation X as socially disconnected and a