Publisher's Synopsis
This is a lively account of post–war British youth, combining history, theory and debate. It examines the emergence of youth as a social category which came to embody the hopes and fears of British society in the decades after 1945. It also seeks to contextualize changes in young people′s responses within the wider transformation of British social, economic and political life.
The book covers the period from the 1940s, as youth became a "spectacle" simultaneously with the rise of consumer culture, splintering into counter–cultural and more mainstream groups. It offers a well–rounded narrative of changing socio–economic trends affecting British youth since World War II and the role played by the various images and notions of young people in social and political debate throughout the period.
Youth in Britain Since 1945 provides an ideal introduction for all students of sociology, cultural studies, and contemporary history.