TikTok and Youth Cultures

Crystal Abidin
Emerald
Emerald

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Paperback / softback
9781801175319
25 November 2025
$24.99
eBook (PDF)
9781801175289
04 November 2025
$24.99
eBook (ePub)
9781801175302
04 November 2025
$24.99

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  • Description
  • Contents
  • About

While cohorts of Gen Z have flocked to TikTok, some governments are fighting to have it banned. But where has it come from and what has enabled its incredible market penetration across various countries and demographics?

Crystal Abidin draws on original empirical work, news reports, and industry interviews to help readers understand TikTok as it has developed among youth cultures. Using anthropological methods to produce deep and insightful ethnographies about TikTok and its core users, TikTok and Youth Cultures will help readers develop a critical understanding of TikTok’s impact on society, its place in the social media landscape, and its cultural relevance around the world.

Chapter 1. Origin stories & Platform wars

  • Chapter 2. Visibility & Engagement
  • Chapter 3. Memes & Capital
  • Chapter 4. Creators & Genres
  • Chapter 5. Small businesses & Marketplace cultures

Crystal Abidin is Director of the Influencer Ethnography Research Lab (IERLab) and Professor of Internet Studies at Curtin University, Australia. She founded the TikTok Cultures Research Network (TCRN) in 2020, spearheading longitudinal ethnographic research on TikTok in the Asia Pacific. Crystal has been named on notable industry lists including The Australian Top 40 Early Career Researchers, ABC TOP 5 Humanities Fellows, Forbes 30 Under 30 Asia, and Pacific Standard 30 Top Thinkers Under 30.