(Re)Imagining Youth: A Comparative Sociology of Youth Leisure in Scotland and Hong Kong

(Re)Imagining Youth analyses youth leisure in Scotland and Hong Kong in historical and cross-cultural perspective, drawing on a qualitative, comparative case-study design. Building on landmark sociological research from the 1960s (Jephcott 1967, 1971), the study explores socio-cultural meanings and changing experiences of youth leisure in two case-study locations, with a particular focus on themes of youth transition, leisure space and ‘risky’ behaviours. Approximately 150 young people aged 16-24 years participated in the project and methods utilised include ethnographic observations, stakeholder interviews, focus group discussions and oral history interviews with young people, visual methods (drawing and photography) and on-line interviews (utilising digital and social media).

Project Dates
1 September 2013 to 31 August 2015

Funders
Economic and Social Research Council (£99,983)
Research Grants Council, Hong Kong (HK$349,998)

Links
Project website: http://reimaginingyouth.wordpress.com
Twitter: @imaginingyouth

Publications

Batchelor, S. A. (2018) In the footsteps of a quiet pioneer: Revisiting Pearl Jephcott’s work on youth leisure in Scotland and Hong Kong. Women’s History Review,(doi:10.1080/09612025.2018.1472893) (Early Online Publication)

Batchelor, S. , Fraser, A., Ling, L. L. N. and Whittaker, L. (2017) (Re)Politicising young people: from Scotland’s Indyref to Hong Kong’s Umbrella Movement. In: Pickard, S. and Bessant, J. (eds.) Young People Re-Generating Politics in Times of Crises. Series: Palgrave studies in young people and politics. Palgrave Macmillan. ISBN 9783319582498

Batchelor, S. , Whittaker, L., Fraser, A. and Ling, L. (2017) Leisure lives on the margins: (re)imagining youth in Glasgow East End. In: Blackman, S. and Rogers, R. (eds.) Youth Marginality in Britain: Contemporary Studies of Austerity. Policy Press: Bristol. ISBN 9781447330523

Fraser, A., Batchelor, S. , Ling, L. L. N. and Whittaker, L. (2017) City as lens: (re)imagining youth in Glasgow and Hong Kong. Young: The Nordic Journal of Youth Research, 25(3), pp. 235-251.(doi:10.1177/1103308816669642)