Regulating Lifestyles in the Welfare State 2009. Theme: Youth

Lectures

• Tue 14-16, 8.9. - 20.10.
• Tue 14-16 3.11.- 1.12.
• University Main Building, Room 13
• If you only want to attend individual lectures you can make use of the "lecture pass" which can be obtained from the Department of Sociology office
  Seminar groups (in Finnish and in English)
• Tue 16-18, 8.9. – 13.10 and 3.11. - 1.12. There will be three seminar groups
• Group I: University Main Building, Room 19
• Group II: 8.9.-20.10. Unioninkatu 40, Room 38 and 3.11.-24.11. Unioninkatu 38 F205
• Group III: Unioninkatu 30, Room 30.
• Mentors of the seminars will be Jaakko Ruotsalainen, Elsa Saarikkomäki and Niina Vuolajärvi.
  Final Examination
• Tue 1.12. 14-18 Unioninkatu 40, Room 6

Compensations

• Unit 75130. Sociological research and socio-political discussion 5 credits (lectures) or 9 credits (lectures and seminar)
• Unit 75427. Special areas in sociology I: Law, control and society 5 credits (lectures) or 9 credits (lectures and seminar)
• Unit 75827. Special areas in sociology II: Law, control and society 5 credits (lectures) or 9 credits (lectures and seminar)

Target group/Course level

This course is intended for all students of sociology or the , both minor and major, at all levels including PhD students. Also those who already have taken a course in the series “Regulating Lifestyles in the Welfare State” are welcome to attend. The lectures are given each year by experts on the basis of their recent research, and therefore both advanced and less advanced students will profit from them. Students of the REMS program are encouraged to take part in lectures and seminar.

Objectives

Many sociologists think, following the work of Philippe Ariès, that youth as an age period between childhood and adult sovereignty is a modern social construction. With increased levels of education even young adults are often thought to live in a period of transition from dependency to full autonomy. Youth is a period of freedom and choice, but also paradoxically the period in life in which social structures are reproduced and consolidated. It is a period of care and support by adults but also a period of great risks. This course covers the theme of youth from the perspective of social theory as well as from the point of view of social structure, social control, welfare and health.

Content

Regulating Lifestyles in the Welfare State 2009

• Theme: Youth

Programme

8.9. Angus Bancroft (University of Edinburgh): Framing young people as risk takers and risk makers - agency and sensual trangressions
15.9. Michael Egerer: Youth and eating disorders
22.9. Pekka Sulkunen: Youth and modernity
29.9. Robin Room (Centre for Social Research on Alcohol and Drugs, Stockholm): Coming of age - variations in the "social clock" for different contested behaviours
6.10. Claude Fischler (EHESS, Paris): Topic to be confirmed
13.10. Tarja Tolonen: Young people, lifestyles and social class
20.10. Examination
27.10. NO LECTURE (autumn break)
3.11. Jaana Lähteenmaa (Academy of Finland/University of Tampere): The pictures of young people in substance-use prevention programmes and in activating labor-market policies: surprising similarities
10.11. Anu Katainen: Young people, identity and marginalization
17.11. Petra Kouvonen: Governing youth behavior- dilemmas of freedom and control
24.11. Matilda Hellman (Nordic Centre for Alcohol and Drug Research): Substance use and media images
1.12. Final Examination

Completion

The course consists of the lectures and associated readings (5 CPs ). There will be two “open examinations” where all course materials can be brought and used.

Voluntary group work gives additional CPs. It consists of writing Expert Committee Reports on given topics related to the lectures and the reading material.