Violence, Victimisation and Young People: Education and Safe Learning Environments

Ylva Odenbring · Thomas Johansson

Jul 2021 · Young People and Learning Processes in School and Everyday Life Book 4 · Springer Nature

About this ebook

This edited collection focuses on different aspects of everyday violence, harassment and threats in schools. It presents a number of in-depth studies of everyday life in schools and uses examples and case studies from different countries to fuel a discussion on national differences and similarities. The book discusses a broad range of concepts, findings and issues, under the umbrella of three main themes: 1) Power relations, homosociality and violence; 2) Sexualized violence and schooling; and 3) Everyday racism, segregation and schooling. Specific topics include sexuality policing, bullying, sexting, homophobia, and online rape culture.

The school is young people’s central workplace, and therefore of great importance to students’ general feeling of wellbeing, safety and security. However, there is no place where youth are at greater risk of being exposed to harassment and violations than at school and on their way to and from school. Threats are a relatively common experience among school students, but some aspects of these mundane and frequent harassments and violations are not taken seriously and are, therefore, not reported. Harassment and violations often have negative effects on youth and children, and increase their risks of such adverse outcomes as school dropout, drug use, and criminal behaviour. Contemporary research has shown that gender is of great importance to how students handle and report, or do not report, various violent situations. Studies have also revealed how the notions of masculinity and of being a victim can be conflicting identities and affect how students handle situations of threat, violence and harassment. The importance of gender is also particularly evident with regard to sexual harassment. Female students generally report greater exposure to sexual harassment than male students do.

About the author

Ylva Odenbring, holds a PhD in Education and is Professor of Education at the Department of Education, Communication and Learning, University of Gothenburg, Sweden. Focus of her research is in the field of sociology of education and she is interested in the construction of gender, social class, student welfare, violence in school, processes of inclusion and exclusion in education as well as in the everyday lives of children and adolescents. She has published extensively around these issues. Currently, she is the convener of the Nordic Educational Research Association’s Gender and Education Network and member of the editorial board of Nordisk tidskrift for ungdomsforskning. Thomas Johansson’s PhD thesis is on youth, lifestyles and media culture (1992). Johansson has a background as a clinical psychologist and psychotherapist. He was promoted to a docent in Sociology (associate professor) in 1997, and to professor in social psychology in Skövde, in 2001. In 2010 he became professor of pedagogy at the faculty of education, University of Gothenburg, Sweden. He has published extensively in journals such as: Men and Masculinities, Young, Acta Sociologica, Journal of Men’s Studies, Ethnicities, Popular Music & Society, International Journal of the Sociology of the Family, Journal of Family Communication, Critical Social Work, International Review of Sociology, Journal of Gender Studies, The Urban Review, Power and Education, Pedagogy, Culture & Society, Leisure Studies, Sport in Society, Journal of Homosexuality, Qualitative Social Work, Sport, Education & Society, Body & Society.