Dear Colleagues, 

Young people in an increasingly globalised society are presented with a diverse range of potential characteristics of identity. Ascribed social identities now appear to be less significant, and achieved identities more possible in many contemporary societies (see, for example, Brubaker’s (2016) Trans: Gender and Race in an Age of Unsettled Identities), using a broad post-structural understanding of identity (Fisher et al. 2020).

This Special Issue seeks to explore how young people negotiate the construction of multiple identities, looking at the processes by which they manage this, rather than the specifics of what they accomplish. We are seeking articles that draw on empirical data from a range of societies, and/or theoretical overviews of the topic. ‘Young people’ are not defined, and may be of any age under approximately thirty. Prospective authors are welcome to correspond with the editor before submitting a proposal, if they wish.

Brubaker, Rogers (2016) Trans: Gender and race in an Age of Unsettled Identities. Princeton  NJ: Princeton University Press

Fisher, Linda,  Michael Evans, Karen Forbes, Angela Gayton & Yongcan Liu (2020) Participative multilingual identity construction in the languages classroom: a multi-theoretical conceptualisation, International Journal of Multilingualism, 17:4, 448-466

Publisher’s statement

Societies (ISSN 2075-4698) is an interdisciplinary journal that brings together different scientific approaches to engage with societal questions to enhance our understanding of the social realm throughout history. The journal publishes original empirical research papers, literature reviews, and conceptual papers. Our aim is to publish papers that are of significant impact on addressing present and emerging societal questions. Therefore, we encourage researchers to publish their results in as much detail as possible. For empirical research papers and literature reviews all experimental details must be provided, so that the results are reproducible. We also encourage the publication of timely theoretical pieces on topics of interest to existing and emerging societal questions.

Contributions have to follow one of the three categories of papers (article, conceptual paper, or review) of the journal and address the topic of the Special Issue.

Timescale

Prof. Dr. Alistair Ross
Guest Editor

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• young people/youth
• identities
• social construction

Title: Identity and multiplicity of belonging in a Europe in search of democracy
Authors: Removed for double-blind peer review
Affiliation: Removed for double-blind peer review
Abstract: The research we present concerns the narratives of political and social identity of young adolescents sampled in Northern, Central, and Southern Italy. Our qualitative analysis is based on constructivism, and aims to enhance narratives by privileging the communication of meanings elaborated by the young people. Consistent with this perspective is our choice of the paradigm of pedagogical personalism, which places the human being as a ‘person’ at the center of reflection. The diverse universe of youth manifests multifaceted aspects that it is possible to bring out using interaction with deliberative, open and non-pre-conceptual discussion. Conversation opens the youth scenario by revealing existential links that revive the most accredited theoretical acquisitions by providing evidence, confirmation and non-confirmation, with respect to a reality that cannot be taken for granted. The identity of the person now is in movement, and particularly so in the identity of adolescents, who question their being part of a state, and even of more than one state, as a moment of transition from unconsciousness to political awareness and social leadership and activism. The link between semantic cores such as democracy, freedom, rights, interculturalism, and citizenship runs through the analyses of the entire research (based on the study by Ross (2019)), examined here specifically in the Italian context. The article presents some contrasting aspects of the way young people living in a Europe - with which they are sometimes unfamiliar - in which they draw their political identity and toward which they harbor uncertainties and discontinuities from the universe of values inherited from previous generations. However, from the tunnel of doubt young people show that they know how to emerge by outlining the forms of a promise of social commitment containing a strong hope for change. In the background, the theme of democracy shows as an aspiration for something still struggling to be born

Title: Epistemic implications of superdiversity: young people in North London on living with 'difference
Authors: Removed for double-blind peer review
Affiliation: Removed for double-blind peer review
Abstract: The North London constituency of Tottenham is perhaps a paradigm example of a ‘super-diverse’ community, an area where no single ethnic group predominates. With more than 200 first languages spoken, few places in the world can boast of a more diverse environment than this corner of London. Drawing on qualitative research with eighteen 15- to 25-year-olds in Tottenham, this paper aims to explore the epistemological implications of recognising ‘difference’ as an everyday component of life. The paper demonstrates that growing up with neighbours representing a range of ethnic and cultural backgrounds does not only lead to an appreciation of diversity, but also a social space that enables young citizens to maintain their distinctive cultural and ethnic identities. Thus, a super-diverse context has the potential to facilitate a sense of belonging in which marginalised groups can claim their multiple identities without being regularly subjected to othering processes.

Title: How young Italians negotiate and redefine their identity in the mobility experience
Authors: Removed for double-blind peer review
Affiliation: Removed for double-blind peer review
Abstract: pending

Title: Educating for citizenship in Southern Europe: what can we learn from young people’s sociocultural construction of identity?
Authors: Removed for double-blind peer review
Affiliation: Removed for double-blind peer review
Abstract: Citizenship education as a formal subject area promoted in schools has always been a field of tension, with disputed views about its role, goals and strategies (e.g., Ribeiro et al., 2017). Devoted to supporting students in becoming active, informed and responsible citizens, willing, and more importantly, able to take responsibility for themselves and for their communities (EC/EACEA/Eurydice, 2017), citizenship education has been targeted mainly with reference to the curriculum and to issues of teacher preparedness. In this article, we aim at tackling the importance of such domain and related contents by examining the processes of identity construction as experienced by young people (e.g., Ross, 2020; 2015). For this, we draw on a set of data collected through deliberative discussions with 378 young people (12 to 20 years old) from four Southern European countries, namely, Portugal, Spain, Italy and Cyprus. Overall, these small group discussions confronted youth about their identification with their country and with Europe, allowing room for a spontaneous debate on values (human dignity, freedom, solidarity, equality, etc.). Through thematic and descriptive analysis, we investigate the nature and relationships established by young people from Southern European countries with these values in order to build on identity construction as influenced by the sociocultural sphere. Our initial results demonstrate that young people in different regions of Europe, including regional and national levels, appear to discuss different values. Therefore, we clarify the directions they take, hypothesize the reasons why and, at a final stage, discuss the way young people’s identity construction can inform citizenship education as a subject area in schools. EC/EACEA/Eurydice (2017). Citizenship Education at School in Europe – 2017. Eurydice Report. Luxembourg: Publications Office of the European Union. Ribeiro, N., Neves, T., & Menezes, I. (2017). An Organization of the Theoretical Perspectives in the Field of Civic and Political Participation: Contributions to Citizenship Education. Journal of Political Science Education, 13(4), 426-446. Ross, A. (2015). Understanding the Constructions of Identities by Young New Europeans:Kaleidoscopic selves. London: Routledge. Ross, A. (2020). Young Europeans’ constructions of a Europe of human rights. London Review of Education, 18(1), 81–95.

Title: Young people developing their identity perception and values: How can school support such a process by bringing in controversial issues?
Authors: Removed for double-blind peer review
Affiliation: Removed for double-blind peer review
Abstract: This article draws upon group conversations with young people (11-19 years-old) from Europe. The participants’ identity perception showed more aspects as the deliberative, non-structured conversations advanced. From initially showing limited aspects of identity as being related to geographical and temporal aspects, a broader comprehension of identities as constructed, multiple and at times subject to negotiation and change came to the fore during the discussions. Examples given, showed an awareness that people, such as older relatives or immigrants, develop diverse ways of thinking and acting due to historical and cultural contexts. Understanding that there is an intersection between psychosocial, post structural and sociocultural explanations for how identity formation progress, and that school has an important role to play as part of society, we propose pedagogical actions working with controversial issues and values (Hartsmar & Liljefors Persson, 2013; Saetra 2021), raising critical consciousness of the context (Freire, 2021). During the conversations, a majority expressed that controversial issues were not something they dealt with at school. By working with controversial issues, the content of conflicts is made visible, and the possibility for students to recognize and respect each other’s diverse identities and perceptions increase. The goal of bringing controversial issues into education and conducting good discussions in the classroom is to help students develop and assess their opinions, gain an increased understanding, and consider new perspectives on various issues. Freire, Paulo. (2021) Education for critical consciousness. Bloomsbury Academic. Hartsmar, Nanny and Bodil Liljefors-Persson (2013) Medborgerlig bildning: demokrati och inkludering för ett hållbart samhälle. Lund: Studentlitteratur. Sætra, Emil (2021) Discussing Controversial Issues in the Classroom: Elements of Good Practice, Scandinavian Journal of Educational Research, 65(2), 345-357.

Title: International by Law, Local by Heart: Fluid Identities and Minoritized Students in Hong Kong
Authors: Removed for double-blind peer review
Affiliation: Removed for double-blind peer review
Abstract: Growing up as a minoritized student in Hong Kong is to be torn between a formal international citizenship and a yearning to be accepted locally and acknowledged as a Hongkonger. In interviews conducted with different samples of students multiple ways have been identified to be so recognised: speaking the local language, supporting popular political goals, engaging in local events, working hard for educational success and questioning family and religious values. In other words, being minoritized requires assimilation with local values. Yet it is more than simple assimilation. Each of these modes of local recognition represents a new identity and moving from one to another requires transitions. Identities are fluid in this context, whether marked by language, politics or simply working hard. This paper will draw on a range of interviews showing how minoritized students negotiate an alien context. It will show how these students are conscious of their heritage yet seek to belong locally and how they creating identities for the different contexts in which they find themselves.

Title: Estonia - identity and juvenile delinquency
Authors: Removed for double-blind peer review
Affiliation: Removed for double-blind peer review
Abstract: Identity formation has been studied primarily with students in school environments, and very little is known about how students in other institutions – such as secure institutions, perceive themselves. Understanding different identities – personal and social - is important in shaping young people's citizenship in order to teach them in different educational contexts. Secure institutions setting presents a structural challenge to the vision of citizenship education as a vehicle for social inclusion and stigmatizing of youth. This research examined how 16 young male juvenile offenders viewed their personal and social identities. The research used a qualitative methodology. The individual interview procedure was conducted with participants aged 14-17 years in two state training schools in secure institutions in Estonia. Quantitative content analysis of responses to two open-ended interview questions was conducted. First, males were asked to describe themselves, as a measure of personal identity; and secondly, social identity was defined as how the respondents perceived how their friends saw them (based adapted methodology: Alarid & Vega, 2010). Research results reflected that male juvenile offenders had negative personal and social identity from various aspects as they tended to view themselves negatively in relation to the emotional attitude towards themselves. The positive descriptions covered one aspect of the identities – their physical appearance, whereby social identity was at one side connected with positive social actions (like sport, working), but at the other side with antisocial acts with peers and conformity. Identity inconsistencies were particularly evident in descriptions of personal identity: positive versus negative personal traits; positive versus negative emotions; and connections with criminal and antisocial behaviour versus negative attitudes toward these behaviours. Based on the theoretical lines of the Criminal Social Identity (Boduszek & Hyland 2011) inconsistencies between self-views and perceptions of others’ views of self are considered stressors that can compromise well-being. Alarid, L. F., & Vega, O. L. (2010). identity construction, self perceptions, and criminal behavior of incarcerated women. Deviant Behavior, 31, 704–728. Boduszek D, Hyland P (2011) The theoretical model of criminal social identity: psycho-social perspective. International Journal of Criminology and Sociological Theory 4(1):604–615.

Title: Finnish youth's perceptions of their national identity and Europeanness
Authors: Removed for double-blind peer review
Affiliation: Removed for double-blind peer review
Abstract: This article examines how young people in the era of European integration construct their national cultural identity, being both Finnish and European. Content analytically processed research data has been gathered in small-group interviews, in lower secondary and upper secondary schools in three locations. Discussions were attended by 67 young people, of whom nearly one third had transnational backgrounds. Nationality is not included in immediate self-identification of young people, but they find their Finnishness clearly the primary comparator to Europeans. Transnational young people saw themselves with individual emphases, on the basis of one or two of their nationalities or of their global identity. Cultural characteristics of Finnishness are linked to social conditions of the era, and the young show a clear difference between their generation and older generations, for example, by challenging stereotypes. The Finnishness of young people consisted of openness, internationality and experience from a multicultural context, including the phenomenon of racism. In their schools, young people expect more multi-perspective and conversational approaches in social topics and issues. The data was acquired as part of the International Young Europeans' constructions of identity and citizenship research project.

Title: Young Black identities in London
Authors: Removed for double-blind peer review
Affiliation: Removed for double-blind peer review
Abstract: Pending

Title: Researching young people’s political identities in post-structural contexts: methodological issues
Authors: Removed for double-blind peer review
Affiliation: Removed for double-blind peer review
Abstract: This article will explore some of the epistemological problems in researching the various identities that young people might express. Issues around questionnaires, interviews and discussions are addressed, particularly arising from Bourdieu’s (1973) concern with the nature of ‘opinion’ and Appadurai’s (1996) and Decimo & Gribaldo’s (2017) disquiet about ‘national identities’. These will be illustrated with analyses of young European’s (10 to 20 years old) discussion of their multiple senses of identity, using a post-structural model of identity. It will be argued that a social constructionist approach to the concept of identity is particularly appropriate to this. Appadurai, A. (1996). Number in the colonial imagination. In C. Breckenridge & P. van er Veer (Eds.), Orientalism and the postcolonial predicament: Perspectives on South Asia (pp 314-339). Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press Bourdieu, P. (1973). L’opinion publique n’existe pas. Les Temps Moderne, 318, pp 1292-1309 Decimo, F. and A. Gribaldo (2017). Nation, migration and kinship through identity categorization, in F. Decimo and A. Gribaldo (Eds.), Boundaries within: Nation, kinship and identity among migrants and minorities (pp 3-21). Cham: Spinger.

Title: Elements of personal historical identity construction of Finnish speaking young people: a case study
Authors: Removed for double-blind peer review
Affiliation: Removed for double-blind peer review
Abstract: In this paper we analyse the constructions of personal historical identity in the case of two Finnish-speaking young people. They participated in a larger study that focused on historical narratives and identities, carried out in 2020 in two schools in Finland and one school outside Finland in Europe. In the mixed-method study 61 young people were interviewed and given writing and drawing assignments. The aim was to generate better understanding of how people at 14-16 years visualise and articulate constructions of their personal historical identity and which elements they use in negotiating their identity. The results suggest that the students integrated personal and historical social narratives in many ways but found it challenging to build connections between personal family history and wider official history. The students in the focus in this paper have been selected so as to highlight differences in the approaches to the construction of personal historical identity among young people.

Title: Reflecting on transnational background youth’ linguistic identities and sense of belonging in Catalonia, Spain
Authors: Removed for double-blind peer review
Affiliation: Removed for double-blind peer review
Abstract: This article explores linguistic and cultural identities and senses of being and belonging as they emerge in ethnographic data from plurilingual children and youth with transnational backgrounds in Catalonia, Spain. The particular sociolinguistic and multicultural context where these young people currently live and study, characterized by the coexistence of local, national and foreign languages with unequal social status, as well as their own trajectories and experiences of mobility, implies that they often forge complex ‘in between’ linguistic and cultural identities and senses of belonging. As children navigate through different contexts in their daily lives, these hybrid affiliations emerge either as an asset or – often - as a problematic stance

Title: Youth political identity and democratic disaffection: Active citizenship and participation to counteract populism and polarization
Authors: Removed for double-blind peer review
Affiliation: Removed for double-blind peer review
Abstract: Globally, youth satisfaction with democracy is declining – not only in absolute terms, but also relative to how older generations felt at the same stages in life. Young people’s political identity is lower than any other age group. By their mid-thirties, 55% of global millennials say they are dissatisfied with democracy (Foa, 2020). One can point to concrete factors to explain such declines -ranging from the growth of youth unemployment to the persistence of corruption and poverty in new democracies (Foa, 2020) and construction of new identities (Bauman, 2005). Growing discontent with living conditions is taken advantage of by populist leaders, who exacerbate polarization, cultivate a climate of animosity and dismantle democratic institutions (Boese, et al., 2022). This populist rule—whether from the right or the left—has a highly negative effect on political identities (specially on youth) and leads to a significant risk of democratic erosion (Kyle, 2018). On the other hand, we find examples on how youth participation in civil organizations and social movements is increasing, as shown in teenage support to Black Lives Matter movement (Pew Research Center, 2022) or Fridays for Future, a youth-led and -organised global climate strike movement. Combining quantitative and qualitative research methods according to Creswell’s mixed approach, this article aims to explore the significance of youth identification with democracy, and their participation approaches as an alternative to the decline of democratic quality in Spain.