On the public roads boy racers are a foreboding presence, viewed with suspicion and derision by the respectable motorist. The problem of the young (male) driver is one which has plagued authorities and governments due to youths acclaimed propensity to engage in deviant and dangerous driving behaviours.

"Boy Racer Culture" sheds light on the boy racer phenomenon through ethnographic research with the notorious Bouley Basher culture in the city of Aberdeen, Scotland, and the moral panic on the part of outside groups including the local community, police, politicians and media. This book...

Females with large muscles evoke strong reactions from men and women, often involving disgust, discomfort, anger and threat. The controversial nature of female bodybuilding has caused a significant rupture on feminist ground. Whilst proponents claim that female bodybuilding is a way of empowering and liberating women, others see it as a form of corporeal entrapment. This book investigates the controversy. Do women who pump iron resist physical restrictions of imposed femininity, or are they engaged in an ultimately oppressive quest for perfect bodies ?

In an original two year...

Cape Town has some of the highest figures of violent crime in the world but how is it that young men avoid and enact physical aggression and navigate stressful and dangerous situations?

This book offers an ethnographic study of young men in Cape Town and considers why violence occurs so often in South Africa. Lindegaard breaks away from previous studies looking at inequality and differences and instead focuses on practices and interaction between the young men she studied. The book focuses on commonplace forms of violence such as fights and street stabbings and demonstrates how...

Young people in London have contributed to the production of a distinctively British rap culture. This book moves beyond accounts of Hip-Hop's marginality and shows, with an examination of the production, dissemination and use of rap in London, how this cultural form plays an important role in the everyday lives of young Londoners and the formation of identities. Through in-depth interviews with a range of leading and emerging rap artists, close analysis of rap music tracks, and over two years of ethnographic research of London's UK Hip-Hop and Grime scenes, Bramwell examines how black and...

This ethnographic exploration of contemporary spaces of homelessness takes an expanded view of homeless space, threading together experiences of organizational spaces, routes taken through the city and the occupation of public space. Through engaging with participants' accounts of movement and place, the book argues that young homeless people become fixed in mobility, a condition that impacts on both everyday life and possible futures. Based on an innovative multi-method study of a day centre in London for young homeless people, the book contextualizes spaces of homelessness...

In 2010, it was estimated that there were 214 million international migrants in the world, representing an increase of almost 40 million in the first decade of the 21st century. One in three of these migrants are young adults. This booker argues that the regulation of youth migration is producing new hierarchies of belonging that order and rank the life chances of a mobile generation. Based on original ethnographies of young adult migrants in London and written by leading experts in the field, the book connects young migrants' private struggles to the public issues at stake in the way...

Geoffrey Pearson, who died in 2013, was one of the outstanding social scientists of the post second world war era. His work spanned social work, social theory, social history, criminology and sociology. In particular, his work has had a huge impact upon studies of youth, youth culture and drugs.

This collection is made up of contributions from scholars producing empirical work on some of the key areas upon which Geoff Pearson established his reputation. All of the writers in this collection have been profoundly influenced by his scholarship. This collection focuses on urban...

'What is the real hip hop?'

'To whom does hip hop belong?'

'For what constructive purposes can hip hop be put to use?'

These are three key questions posed by hip hop activists in Hip Hop Versus Rap, which explores the politics of cultural authenticity, ownership, and uplift in London's post-hip hop scene. The book is an ethnographic study of the identity, role, formation, and practices of the organic intellectuals that populate and propagate this 'conscious' hip hop milieu. Turner provides an insightful examination of the work of artists and practitioners who...