Abstract: In this new study of high school-aged youth in the early 70's, the author reveals subtle yet significant changes in the style of deviance in adolescent culture. The argument is made that a new peer-group pluralism emerged from the 60's which is characterized by a deviance defined less by persistent violations of the law than by disengagement from traditional images of success and civic responsiblity. This work is based on an ethnographic study of six communities located in a midwestern agricultural and industrial state. This study will be of interest to individuals involved in the fields of adolescence, education, delinquency and deviance, community life, and the texture of life and values among high school youth.

Provides an introduction to the study of gangs how we define them, what we know and not know about gangs. This title offers both a domestic and international view of processes of delinquency and gang formation and identity. It is suitable for criminal justice, sociology and social work, parole practitioners, and public defenders.

The literature on rural America, to the extent that it exists, has largely been written by urban-based scholars perpetuating out-of-date notions and stereotypes or by those who see little difference between rural and agricultural concerns. As a result, the real rural America remains much misunderstood, neglected, or ignored by scholars and policymakers alike. In response, Emery Castle offers The Changing American Countryside, a volume that will forever change how we look at this important subject. Castle brings together the writings of eminent scholars from several disciplines and varying backgrounds to take a fresh and comprehensive look at the "forgotten hinterlands." These authors examine the role of non-metropolitan people and places in the economic life of our nation and cover such diverse issues as poverty, industry, the environment, education, family, social problems, ethnicity, race, religion, gender, government, public policy, and regional diversity The authors are especially effective in demonstrating why rural America is so much more than just agriculture. It is in fact highly diverse, complex, and interdependent with urban America and the international market place. Most major rural problems, they contend, simply cannot be effectively addressed in isolation from their urban and international connections. To do so is misguided and even hazardous, when one-fourth of our population and ninety-seven per cent of our land area is rural. Together these writings not only provide a new and more realistic view of rural life and public policy, but also suggest how the field of rural studies can greatly enrich our understanding of national life.

What do effective youth organizations offer inner-city youngsters that schools do not? This book suggests that educators can learn much from inner-city social and youth organizations, which reach at-risk youngsters by developing a sense of family that many of them fail to get at home. Addressing a variety of issues—collaboration across organizations, the role of gangs in social control, the historical roles of ethnicity and gender in youth organizations—Heath and McLaughlin describe frames for identity that extend beyond ethnicity and gender.

When the U.S.-Korea military alliance began to deteriorate in the 2000s, many commentators blamed "anti-Americanism" and nationalism, especially among younger South Koreans. Challenging these assumptions, this book argues that Korean activism around U.S. relations owes more to transformations in domestic politics, including the decentralization of government, the diversification and politics of civil society organizations, and the transnationalization of social movements.

First published in 2001