Burnt by Democracy
Youth, Inequality, and the Erosion of Civic Life
Seiten
2023
University of Toronto Press (Verlag)
978-1-4875-5164-3 (ISBN)
University of Toronto Press (Verlag)
978-1-4875-5164-3 (ISBN)
Drawing on interviews with young activists and young people who have experienced homelessness, Burnt by Democracy illustrates how growing wealth inequality has weakened democracy across five Western nations.
Burnt by Democracy traces the political ascendance of neoliberalism and its effects on youth. The book explores democracy and citizenship as described in interviews with over forty young people – ages 16 to 30 – who have either experienced homelessness or identify as an activist, living in five liberal democracies: Canada, Australia, New Zealand, the United States, and the United Kingdom.
Highlighting significant cuts to social and affordable housing, astronomical increases in the costs of higher education, and the transformation and erosion of state benefits systems, Jacqueline Kennelly argues that democracy’s decline is not occurring because young people are apathetic, or focused on informal politics, or unaware of their civic duties. Rather, it is because of collective misunderstanding about how democracy is actually structured, how individuals learn to participate, and how growing wealth inequality has undermined the capacity of those at the bottom to meaningfully advocate for changes that might improve their conditions.
Against a vivid and often heart-breaking backdrop of stories from young people struggling to survive and thrive under conditions of ever-expanding state retrenchment and inequality, Burnt by Democracy makes a timely and impassioned plea for protecting and strengthening democracy by truly levelling the playing field for all.
Burnt by Democracy traces the political ascendance of neoliberalism and its effects on youth. The book explores democracy and citizenship as described in interviews with over forty young people – ages 16 to 30 – who have either experienced homelessness or identify as an activist, living in five liberal democracies: Canada, Australia, New Zealand, the United States, and the United Kingdom.
Highlighting significant cuts to social and affordable housing, astronomical increases in the costs of higher education, and the transformation and erosion of state benefits systems, Jacqueline Kennelly argues that democracy’s decline is not occurring because young people are apathetic, or focused on informal politics, or unaware of their civic duties. Rather, it is because of collective misunderstanding about how democracy is actually structured, how individuals learn to participate, and how growing wealth inequality has undermined the capacity of those at the bottom to meaningfully advocate for changes that might improve their conditions.
Against a vivid and often heart-breaking backdrop of stories from young people struggling to survive and thrive under conditions of ever-expanding state retrenchment and inequality, Burnt by Democracy makes a timely and impassioned plea for protecting and strengthening democracy by truly levelling the playing field for all.
Jacqueline Kennelly is a professor in the Department of Sociology and Anthropology and Director of the Centre for Urban Youth Research at Carleton University.
Introduction
1. The growth of inequality across (neo)liberal democracies
2. Democratic dispositions in the twenty-first century
3. Democratic biographies: Pathways towards a democratic disposition
4. Democracy’s failures/failures of democracy
5. The social distribution of democratic knowledge
6. Belonging to the state: Citizenship as symbolic power
Conclusions: When I say the word “democracy,” what comes to mind?
Appendix 1: Youth participants by country (all names are pseudonyms)
Bibliography
Index
| Erscheinungsdatum | 28.12.2023 |
|---|---|
| Zusatzinfo | 2 b&w tables |
| Verlagsort | Toronto |
| Sprache | englisch |
| Maße | 152 x 229 mm |
| Gewicht | 340 g |
| Themenwelt | Sozialwissenschaften ► Soziologie ► Allgemeines / Lexika |
| Sozialwissenschaften ► Soziologie ► Makrosoziologie | |
| ISBN-10 | 1-4875-5164-9 / 1487551649 |
| ISBN-13 | 978-1-4875-5164-3 / 9781487551643 |
| Zustand | Neuware |
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