Written by leading scholars in the field, Religion and Youth presents an accessible, yet cutting edge, guide to the key issues in the study of youth and religion, including methodological perspectives. It provides a key teaching text in these areas for undergraduates, and a book of rigorous scholarship for postgraduates, academics and practitioners. Offering the first comprehensive international perspective on the sociology of youth and religion, this book reveals key geographical and organisational variables as well as the complexities of the engagement between youth and religion.

Sylvia Collins-Mayo is one of the leading British researchers in religion and youth, she is Principal Lecturer in Sociology at Kingston University. She has contributed to numerous books and journals including 'Young People's Spirituality and the Meaning of Prayer', Religion and the Individual, Abby Day (ed.) (Ashgate, 2008), 'Raising Christian Consciousness: Creating Place', Journal of Youth and Theology (2007), and Making Sense of Generation Y, Sara Savage, Sylvia Collins-Mayo and Bob Mayo with Graham Cray (2006). She has also co-organised, with Pink Dandelion, the BSA Sociology of Religion Study Group's Annual Conference (2008) which was based on the theme of Religion and Youth. Pink Dandelion is Professor of Quaker Studies at the University of Birmingham and directs the work of the Centre for Postgraduate Quaker Studies, Woodbrooke and the University of Birmingham. He edits Quaker Studies and acts as Series Editor for the Edwin Mellen series in Quaker Studies. His books include The Quakers: a very short introduction (2008), (with Jackie Leach Scully) Good and Evil: Quaker perspectives (2007), Introduction to Quakerism (2007), The Liturgies of Quakerism (2005), The Creation of Quaker Theory (2004), the co-authored Towards Tragedy/Reclaiming Hope (2004) and The Sociological Analysis of the Theology of Quakers: the silent revolution (1996).

Introduction; I: Generations and their Legacy; 1: The Expressive Communalism of Post-Boomer Religion in the USA 1; 2: Religion, Pop Culture and 'Virtual Faith'; 3: Explaining Change over Time in Religious Involvement; 4: 'Generation X' Religion: A Critical Evaluation; II: The Big Picture: Surveys of Belief and Practice; 5: On 'Moralistic Therapeutic Deism' as US Teenagers' Actual, Tacit, De Facto Religious Faith; 6: The Teenage Religion and Values Survey in England and Wales; 7: The Spirituality of Young Australians; III: Expression; 8: What Spirituality Means to Young Adults; 9: Shamanic Practices and Social Capital among Native Youths in the Brazilian Amazon; 10: Teenage Witchcraft in Britain; 11: Exploring Symbolic, Emotional and Spiritual Expression amongst 'Crasher Clubbers'; 12: 'Believing in Belonging': An Exploration of Young People's Social Contexts and Constructions of Belief; 13: The Role of Religion in the Sexual Lives of Teens; IV: Identity; 14: Islamic Revival and Young Women's Negotiations on Gender and Racism; 15: Engaging with Teenage Girls' Understandings of Religion and Gender; 16: British Sikh Youth: Identity, Hair and the Turban; 17: 'A Place to Grow Spiritually and Socially': The Experiences of Young Pilgrims to Lourdes; 18: Religious Socialisation and a Reflexive Habitus: Christian Youth Groups as Sites for Identity Work; V: Transmission; 19: The Role of Families and Religious Institutions in Transmitting Faith among Christians, Muslims, and Hindus in the USA; 20: Growing Up in a Mixed-Faith Family: Intact or Fractured Chain of Memory? 1; 21: Socialisation and Spiritual Capital: What Difference do Clergy Families Make?; 22: Protestant Confirmation in European Perspective; VI: Researching Youth Religion; 23: A Question of Belief; 24: Quantitative Methods; 25: Visual Methods; 26: Gender Matters: Doing Feminist Research on Religion and Youth; 27: Insider-Desire: Coveting Insider Status and Its Consequences; Conclusion; Epilogue