Radical Futures?: Youth, Politics and Activism in Contemporary Europe

Radical Futures? Youth, Politics and Activism in Contemporary Europe features a collection of articles originating from the European Commission–funded project MYPLACE (Memory, Youth, Political Legacy and Civic Engagement), which has mapped the relationship between political heritage, current levels and forms of civic and political engagement of young people in Europe, and their potential receptivity to radical and populist political agendas. MYPLACE utilizes interviews and ethnographic and survey data to examine the past, the present and the future in gaining an understanding of the civic and political engagement of today s youth. Themes running through contributions include such questions as: What is politics and why do so many young people say they hate it? How does the past influence the present and shape the future? Are today s youth receptive to populist and radical right political agendas? Reflecting innovative new research approaches and scholarship, Radical Futures? offers illuminating insights into the sometimes challenging thoughts and attitudes of the current generation of young people in Europe and how they might shape the future.

Hilary Pilkington is Professor of Sociology at the University of Manchester, UK. She has been coordinator of a number of large, collaborative research projects including the FP7 MYPLACE project. She has published widely on youth and on post–socialist societies including recently co–authoring Punk in Russia: Cultural Mutation from the Useless to the Moronic (2014) and Russia s Skinheads: Exploring and Rethinking Subcultural Lives (2010). 

Gary Pollock is Professor and Head of Sociology at Manchester Metropolitan University. Focused on youth research for more than 20 years, Pollock s current interests are in utilizing survey data to examine young people in society in terms of their social and political outlook as well as their employment and family trajectories. He is co–editor of Young People in Risk Society (2002).