Ben Kirshner's book entitled, Youth Activism in an Era of Education Inequality (NYU Press, 2015) has been selected to receive a Social Policy Award for “Best Authored Book” from the Society for Research on Adolescence (SRA) and will be honored at an awards ceremony in March.
Published on June 15, 2015, this book gives readers insight into the political power today’s youth have come to acquire in an era of racial inequality, diminished educational opportunity and an atrophied public square. This is revealed through several examples, including one in which local youth organizers negotiate new school discipline policies to end the “school-to-jail” track, discussed further in this blog post by Kirshner and Ricardo Martinez.
These examples, based on ten years of youth development research, explore how young people from marginalized communities interpret their sociopolitical context, learn to exercise collective political agency, and how activism contributes to youth development.
Shawn A. Ginwright of San Francisco State University describes this study as “a powerfully rich analysis of youth activism, and youth participatory research across a variety of settings.”
Find more information or purchase Youth Activism in an Era of Education Inequality.
Related Faculty: Ben Kirshner