Disposable Youth, Racialized Memories, and the Culture of Cruelty

Facing a crisis unlike that of any other generation, young people are caught between the discourses of consumerism and a powerful crime-control-complex, and are viewed increasingly as commodities or are subjected to the dictates of an ever expanding criminal justice system.Drawing upon critical analyses, biography, and social theory, Disposable Youth explores the current conditions of young people now face within an emerging culture of privatization, insecurity, and commodification and raises some important questions regarding the role that educators, young people, and concerned citizens might play in challenging the plight of young people while deepening and extending the promise of a better future and a viable democracy.

Henry A. Giroux currently holds the Global TV Network Chair Professorship at McMaster University in the English and Cultural Studies Department. His most recent books include: Youth in a Suspect Society: Democracy or Disposability? (2009); Zombie Politics and Culture in the Age of Casino Capitalism (2011); On Critical Pedagogy (2011), and Education and the Crisis of Public Values (2012). His website can be found at www.henryagiroux.com.