This book provides an engaging and informative insight into the
experiences, dreams and hopes of children and teenagers in contemporary
Ireland. O'Connor analyses a unique data set: a random sample of 4,100
texts drawn from roughly 34,000 texts written by young people aged 10-12
years and 14-17 years, in response to a nationwide invitation to
describe themselves and the Ireland they inhabit. The young people's
voices give the book a vivid reality, which is illuminated by the
application of sociological concepts including global and local,
individualization, and ways of 'doing boy/girl'.
The study leads us towards a better understanding of contemporary social
problems by locating these young people's accounts within the broader
context of cultural change where collective identities have become
weaker; where the local is enmeshed with the global; where children
anticipate a predictable future and teenagers focus on an extended
present; where gender is no longer salient but yet in many ways remains
a submerged framework mapping their life styles, life choices and
relationships.
Written in an accessible style, the book presents a picture that is
sometimes challenging, sometimes reassuring but always informative.
Containing extensive quotations, it will be of interest not only to
students and lecturers in sociology, education, child and youth studies,
Irish studies and psychology but to thoughtful parents and teachers at
first and second level, and especially those whose students took part in
the Write Now project.
