Chapter 10: Youth Oppression and Elder Oppression

Youth Oppression

1. Burman, E. (1994). Deconstructing developmental psychology. New York: Routledge.

This book addresses how shifts in advanced capitalism have produced new understandings of children, and a new (and more punitive) range of institutional responses to children. It engages with the paradoxes of childhood in an era when young adults are increasingly economically dependent on their families, and in a political context of heightened insecurity. The new edition includes an updated review of developments in psychological theory (in attachment, evolutionary psychology, theory of mind, and cultural-historical approaches), as well as updates and reflects upon the changed focus on fathers and fathering. It offers new perspectives on the connections between Piaget and Vygotsky and now connects much more closely with discussions from the sociology of childhood and critical educational research. Coverage has been expanded to include more material on child rights debates, and a new chapter addresses practice dilemmas around child protection, which engages even more with the "raced" and gendered effects of current policies involving children.

2. Cammarota, J., & Fine, M. (2008). Youth participatory action research: A pedagogy for transformational resistance. In J. Cammarota & M. Fine (Eds.), Revolutionizing education: Youth in participatory action research in motion (pp. 1–12). New York: Routledge.

Puts young people at the center of their own lives and communities and supports young people to engage as researchers and change makers.

3. Clay, A. (2012). The hip-hop generation fights back: Youth, Activism and post-civil rights politics.New York: NYU Press.

From youth violence, to the impact of high stakes educational testing, to editorial hand-wringing over the moral failures of hip-hop culture, young people of color are often portrayed as gang-affiliated, “troubled,” and ultimately, dangerous. This book examines how youth activism has emerged to address the persistent inequalities that affect urban youth of color. Based on two years of fieldwork with youth affiliated with two non-profit organizations in Oakland, California, The Hip-Hop Generation Fights Back shows how youth integrate the history of social movement activism of the 1960s, popular culture strategies like hip-hop and spoken word, as well as their experiences in the contemporary urban landscape, to mobilize their peers. Ultimately, Clay’s comparison of the two youth organizations and their participants expands our understandings of youth culture, social movements, popular culture, and race and ethnic relations.

4. Crenshaw, K. W., Ocen, P., & Nanda, J. (2015). Black girls matter: Pushed out, overpoliced and underprotected. African American Policy Forum and Columbia Law School’s Center for Intersectionality and Social Policy Studies. Retrieved from http://portside.org/2015-02-04/black-girls-matter-pushed-out-overpoliced-and-underprotected

Crenshaw, a leading authority in how law and society are shaped by race and gender, argues that an intersectional approach encompassing how related identity categories such as race, gender, and class overlap to create inequality on multiple levels is necessary to address the issue of school discipline and the school-to-prison pipeline.

Elder Oppression

1. Calasanti, T. M., & Slevin, K. F. (2001). Gender, social inequalities and aging. Walnut Creek, CA: AltaMira Press.

This book looks at ways in which age intersects with gender as well as race, class, and sexual identity. It examines such areas as work and retirement, body image, sexuality, health, family relationships, and informal care.

5. Nelson, T. E. (Ed.) (2002). Ageism: Stereotyping and prejudice against older persons. Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press.

This book summarizes research in gerontology, psychology, sociology, and communication related to ageism, and covers the origins and effects of ageism, including stigmatization and marginalization. It also offers suggestions for reducing ageism.

6. Palmore, E. B., Branch, L., & Harris, D. K. (Eds.) (2005). Encyclopedia of ageism. New York: The Haworth Press, Inc.

This comprehensive review contains more than 125 entries on ageism, from abuse in nursing homes to voice quality. Topics cover concepts, theories, and facts about the ways the elderly, and in particular older women, are stereotyped and mistreated. It includes Palmore’s “Facts on Aging Quiz,” a two-part assessment composed of 50 true-and-false statements that “can be used as an indirect measure of both negative and positive ageism.”