3: Marxism and Youth Culture Flashcards
what is marxism?
a conflict approach which sees society as being based on the exploitation of the working class by capitalists.
what is hegemony?
when youths values are dominated by the media and education, and ideas are transmitted by the upper classes. youth subcultures are a reaction to this conflict.
what are spectacular youth subcultures?
subcultures in which they are successful in commanding loyalty of their followers. each member is part of a dedicated single distinct subculture with its own norms, values and dress.
who are the CCCS and what did they say?
centre for contemporary cultural studies.
they argued that social class differences between groups of young people explained the emergence of subcultures. they were critical of functionalist views that social class differences were irrelevant in subcultures.
what did jefferson (1976) say?
he was part of CCCS. he stated that working class young people formed the weakest point in the ruling class control of society. he said that youth culture was a form of resistance against capitalism. it was an inarticulate way of resolving the problems faced by working class youth.
what is exaggeration?
an attempt by the working class to react to the capitalists control of them. subcultures exaggerate the behaviours that define them, in order to oppose capitalist control.
what did clarke (1976) say?
he studied skinhead culture and discovered they were an exaggerated version of working class masculinity. they dressed in a distinct style and their group was territorial. he believed that skinheads used their style to recreate traditional working class community and recover it from extinction.
give an example of a spectacular subculture.
skinheads
what was the magical solutions theory (brake 1984)?
he suggested that youth subcultures provide “magical solutions” to the lives of their members. he said that in reality young people can “do nothing” to alter power differences in society. however, joining a subculture convinces them that they can invoke change.
why is the theory called “magical” solutions?
it is called magical because it is simply an illusion (a trick that won’t be sustained in reality).
what is incorporation?
youth subcultures eventually decline and are then replaced by others. this concept has been used to describe the way in which new styles eventually find their way into high street stores.
give five evaluation points for marxism views on youth cultures.
- muggleton argued that much of CCCS work assumed that subcultures were mainly from the working class. hippies were a middle class subculture, so marxist theories provide little explanation for why these groups arose. (-)
- been criticised for ignoring importance of ethnicity in their study of youth subcultures. class isn’t the only form of inequality and certain ethnicities have formed subcultures as a reaction to inequalities. (-)
- mcrobbie argued that critical sociologists such as marx and neo marxists have largely ignored the role of girls in subcultures. (-)
- functionalists would argue that marxists exaggerate the concept of resistance. they agree that youth join subcultures for a reason, but eisenstadt says this reason is just an attempt to carve out an identity. (-)
- CCCS can be praised for conducting research on youth in a holistic way. they study youth from cultural analyses, style and relation between classes. (+)
who was gramsci?
a neo (or new) marxist
what did gramsci believe?
he further developed the idea of hegemony. he observed that the ruling class domination operates at the level of thinking in society. the youth can be fooled into thinking society is fair by the ruling class. this links to the marxist idea of ideology. this allows ruling class capitalist power to continue.
what is the marxist idea of ideology?
it describes a false set of ideas that are used by the ruling class to hide the true nature of inequality and exploitation.
