Youth Studies and Generations

Dear Colleagues,

Nowadays, the discourse on generations is prolific and widespread in the public sphere. Generational categories as “millennials”, “digital natives”, “net” or “lost” generation, generation “m”, “x”, “y” or “z”, among many other labels, are very often used by mass media and popular press to underline particular social orientations (values, attitudes, ethics or beliefs) or practices attributed to contemporary young people. They are measured up against older age cohorts—also identified by generational categories (“baby boomers”, “silent” or “traditionalist” generation)—in order to emphasize intergenerational gaps, conflicts or flows within very diverse life domains. However, this pervasiveness of generational discourses in the media is not accompanied by in-depth analytical engagement and scientific research. A great deal of speculation and overstatement is based in fragmented evidence, mainly produced by market and marketing companies, taking for granted that different age cohorts have generational equivalence and giving pop labels to consumer profiles.

Resting on the field of youth studies, the purpose of the Special Issue “Youth Studies: Values, Practices and Discourses on Generations” is to engage in a conceptual and critical discussion on different generational approaches, based in quantitative and/or qualitative empirical evidence on topics as diverse as life ethics, behaviours and discourses on work and employment, politics and citizenship, consumption, body, sexuality, technology, family, religion, spirituality, etc. For this purpose, Societies invites manuscripts of original research and conceptualization addressing different dimensions of values, practices and discourses on generations from the multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary field of youth studies.

Dr. Vitor Sérgio Ferreira
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All papers will be peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a double-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Societies is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.