Most theories of psychological development refer to a crisis taking place in adolescence due to physical, cognitive and psychosocial changes. Little research has however explored how young people experience this psychological crisis in the context of today’s broader financial, socio-political and ecological crises. While a crisis indicates a period of intense difficulty, it can also be understood as the turning point when a difficult or important decision must be made; this involves the possibility for the emergence of radical novelty. Drawing on post-vygotskian and post-structuralist grounds, I aim to explore in my presentation the challenges and possibilities for youth development in this frame. I will propose differentiating between two modes of human development: development of concrete skills (potential development) and development of new societal relations (virtual development, which is at the same time individual and collective). I will reflect on the significance of this differentiation by exploring research materials from my recent projects with disenfranchised youth in Greece, Germany, US and Brazil. Last but not least, I will expand on the notion of virtual development to consider recent technological developments that enable the multimodal communication and transnational collaboration among young people from diverse linguistic and geographical contexts.

Dr Michalis Kontopodis accomplished his PhD at the Free University Berlin and is currently working as a Senior Lecturer at the School of Education, University of Sheffield. He has been a visiting professor at the City University of New York; Moscow State University, Pontifícia Universidade Católica de São Paulo, and Jawaharlal Nehru University in India. His research explores the differences and similarities in the everyday lives of today’s young people in a variety of off-/ online, urban or countryside, educational and community settings around the globe. His various projects have led to a long list of publications in English, German, French, Portuguese and Russian including the book “Neoliberalism, Pedagogy & Human Development” (Routledge) as well as the co-edited volumes: “Facing Poverty & Marginalization: 50 Years of Critical Research in Brazil” (Peter Lang) and “Children, Development and Education” (Springer). For updates and recent publications see: http://mkontopodis.wordpress.com