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Urban Youth’s Perspectives on Flash Mobs
Houston, J. Brian Seo, Hyunjin Knight, Leigh Anne Taylor Kennedy, Emily J.
Houston, J. Brian
Seo, Hyunjin
Knight, Leigh Anne Taylor
Kennedy, Emily J.
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Abstract
Flash mobs are new, emerging, and evolving social phenomena that have recently been associated with youth violence in U.S. cities. The current study explores how youth understand flash mobs through focus groups conducted in Kansas City, Missouri (a site of violent youth flash mobs). Results indicate that youth have varying familiarity with flash mobs and define them in different ways; that youth perceive youth boredom to be the most frequent cause of problems with flash mobs; that youth connect ongoing social disorder with the violence associated with flash mobs; and that while social media are facilitators of flash mobs, flash mobs have their roots in youth activities that have been going on for generations (e.g., hanging out in groups, cruising).
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This is the author's final draft. Copyright 2013 Taylor & Francis.
Date
2013-07-01
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Taylor & Francis
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Keywords
Flash mobs, Youth, Violence, Social media, Social disorder
Citation
Houston, J. B., Seo, H., Knight, L. T., Kennedy, E., Hawthrone, J., & Trask, S. L. (2013). Urban youth’s perspectives on flash mobs. Journal of Applied Communication Research, 41(3), 236-252. DOI: 10.1080/00909882.2013.825728.