Sign up to save your podcasts
Or
Share Using Social Media to Avoid Violent Encounters, with Forrest Stuart
Share to email
Share to Facebook
Share to X
Share to email
Share to Facebook
Share to X
Or
Using Social Media to Avoid Violent Encounters, with Forrest Stuart
‘Social media drives violence.’ It’s a common claim, but is it true? Forrest Stuart, Professor of Sociology at Stanford University, paints a more nuanced picture. Drawing on his time with teenage gang members on the South Side of Chicago, he explores the tension between young people using social media to provoke, stay safe and seek validation, their posts being used against them in court, and the increased risks of victimisation for those living in urban poverty.
Links & Resources
Website: Stanford Ethnography Lab
Book: Ballad of the Bullet: Gangs, Drill Music, and the Power of Online Infamy by Forrest Stuart
Book: Down, Out, and Under Arrest: Policing and Everyday Life in Skid Row by Forrest Stuart
Research: Children, violence and vulnerability 2025 | The scale of violence affecting children
Research: School climate and the impact of neighborhood crime on test scores
The Youth Endowment Fund believes that no child should be affected by violence.
We research violence to understand it; we find, fund and test what works to prevent it; and we are building a movement to end it.
To find out more, visit YEF's website.
Follow us on Instagram: @youthendowfund
Tell us what you think in this short survey
Host: Ciaran Thapar, Youth Endowment Fund
Series Producer: Meera Kumar
View all episodes
By Youth Endowment Fund‘Social media drives violence.’ It’s a common claim, but is it true? Forrest Stuart, Professor of Sociology at Stanford University, paints a more nuanced picture. Drawing on his time with teenage gang members on the South Side of Chicago, he explores the tension between young people using social media to provoke, stay safe and seek validation, their posts being used against them in court, and the increased risks of victimisation for those living in urban poverty.
Links & Resources
Website: Stanford Ethnography Lab
Book: Ballad of the Bullet: Gangs, Drill Music, and the Power of Online Infamy by Forrest Stuart
Book: Down, Out, and Under Arrest: Policing and Everyday Life in Skid Row by Forrest Stuart
Research: Children, violence and vulnerability 2025 | The scale of violence affecting children
Research: School climate and the impact of neighborhood crime on test scores
The Youth Endowment Fund believes that no child should be affected by violence.
We research violence to understand it; we find, fund and test what works to prevent it; and we are building a movement to end it.
To find out more, visit YEF's website.
Follow us on Instagram: @youthendowfund
Tell us what you think in this short survey
Host: Ciaran Thapar, Youth Endowment Fund
Series Producer: Meera Kumar