Transitions in post-Soviet Uzbek society: a study of youth culture.

Young people’s cultures and their various aspects of living conditions has long been subject to sociological analysis, interpretations, debates and discussions. Relatively recently such discursive interpretations of youth have been widely influenced by sociological preoccupations with individualisation and its social and political implications. In many respects these theoretical developments give an impression that young people world-wide share the same challenges, interests and concerns, remark on the commonality of experience. Adopting an alternative starting point, the present work seeks to analytically explore and examine the phenomena of youth culture in post-soviet Uzbekistan. The aim of the study is to contribute to a contextualised understanding of youth culture and youth transitions. Beginning with a critical appraisal of the contemporary sociological conceptualisations around the study of social transformations and youth culture and youth transitions, the thesis suggests that new theoretical positions, mnemonically indicated by the prefixes post, reflexive, late and liquid tend to challenge the adequacy of classical notions about youth culture and youth transitions. Indeed, “youth” is conceptualised as one identity amongst many, which may be adopted or dropped at will- something highly contested and fluid, rather than static and given. Specifically within this discourse, youth cultures are by and large seen as fluid, fragmented and multifaceted, with consumption rather than resistance as the hallmark of analysis.Digital copy of Ph.D thesis.University of Kashmir