Mediated Youth Cultures ― The Internet, Belonging and New Cultural Configurations

Andy Bennett and Brady Robards bring together thirteen timely essays from across the globe that consider a range of 'mediated youth cultures', covering topics such as how stories about growing up are mediated on Facebook, the phenomenon of dance imitations on YouTube, the circulation of zines online, the resurgence of roller derby on the social web, drinking cultures, Israeli blogs, Korean pop music, and more. The collection, drawing on research conducted with young people into their social and cultural lives, provides readers with a deep, fine-grained understanding of how youth culture circulates online. It is clear that, although the internet affords young people with new opportunities and risks, many of the youth cultures covered in this collection are not 'new' in themselves, but are instead mediated – played out – in new, and imaginative forms.

Andy Bennett is Professor of Cultural Sociology and Director of the Griffith Centre for Cultural Research at Griffith University, Australia. He is a leading international figure in the study of youth cultures.

Brady Robards is a Lecturer in Sociology at the University of Tasmania, Australia, with an emerging research profile in the study of young people and the social web.