Young people in Britain are frequently portrayed as being more tolerant, inclusive and cosmopolitan than their elders. In this webinar, Professor Janmaat and Dr Keating will problematise this claim by presenting data from two recent publications. First, Professor Janmaat will show that while attitudes towards racial, cultural and social ‘Others’ have become more inclusive in many respects, prejudice and exclusionary views have not disappeared from youth attitudes altogether. For a sizeable minority of youth, it has merely shifted its focus to immigration; contemporary youth are less welcoming of immigrants than previous generations of young people. 

In the second presentation, Dr Keating will take a closer look at youth attitudes towards mobility, and will argue that some young Britons engage in a contradictory form of cosmopolitanism; that is, these youth want (and assume) freedom of movement for themselves but are opposed to freedom of movement when it involves immigrants coming to Britain.  This tendency, she suggests, should be seen as a one-way form of cosmopolitanism that is not just contradictory, but also a reflection of the mixed messages young people in Britain receive about mobility, migration, multiculturalism, citizenship and individualism. 

Prof Jan Germen Janmaat is a Professor of Political Socialization at UCL Institute of Education and Deputy Director of the ESRC funded LLAKES research center. He is interested in the role of education, broadly conceived, in fostering civic values, such as political engagement, tolerance, equal treatment and trust, and has published widely in this area. His latest book is Education, Democracy and Inequality: Political Engagement and Citizenship Education in Europe (Palgrave, 2019), co-authored with Bryony Hoskins. He is currently working on a Nuffield funded project on post-16 educational trajectories and social inequalities in political engagement. 

Dr Avril Keating is an Associate Professor of Comparative Social Science at UCL Institute of Education and the Director of the UCL Centre for Global Youth. Her recent research has examined the role of citizenship education in shaping youth civic engagement; the roots and function of youth optimism; and the complex relationship between race, exclusion, and youth attitudes towards cultural Others. Currently, Avril is conducting research on the impact of place (namely coastal towns) on youth life chances.

To register for this event please visit: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/centre-seminar-contesting-the-myth-of-youth-cosmopolitanism-tickets-250026645427?utm-campaign=social&utm-content=attendeeshare&utm-medium=discovery&utm-term=listing&utm-source=cp&aff=escb