Homologies of (Youthful) Habitus: Mapping Theory and Method Beyond the Metropole

Abstract

In recent years, there has been a firm recognition among youth scholars of the need for comparative, transnational research; particularly that which moves beyond knowledge created in the global North. However, production of this knowledge remains clustered in a relatively narrow range of geographical sites—and understandings of youthful lifestyles and identities in the South too often defined through the lens of the North. As processes of globalization confound and disrupt the traditional dualisms of East/West and North/South, there is a pressing need to develop ‘thinking tools’ for research that are sensitised to this complexity. In this paper, I map out an exploratory theoretical and methodological agenda that seeks to approach the study of youthful habits and lifestyles in a way that is grounded yet comparative. Drawing on two studies – one on youth gangs and ‘global exchange’ in Glasgow and Chicago, the other on youth leisure in Hong Kong and Scotland – the paper will discuss the potentialities in Bourdieu’s social theory for conceptualising youth studies ‘beyond the metropole’.