8: Gender and Youth Subculture

Question 1

what were boys more typically invested in

Answer 1

magazine, music and going out leading to the having a higher social capital

Question 2

Willis (Anti School) 1972

Answer 2

-followed group of males in 1970s (participant observation) that rejected school values and focused on leaving school asap
-during school, disrupted lessons, misbehaved etc.
-argued these males developed anti school mindset and raised their self esteem by other means
-Willis addresses weaknesses in Marxist approaches to education which state that schools prepare children for work. He argued that the males he observed were deliberately failing themselves in recognition of the inevitable manual working future that awaited them.

Question 3

evaluate Willis’s research (one + one -)

Answer 3

(+) ethnographic
(-) unethical: witnessed many fights and deviant acts such as vandalism but did nothing to stop it

Question 4

Messerschmidt (1992) Masculinity

Answer 4

-young men want to conform to dominant masculinity ‘hegemonic masculinity’ defined through work and sexually exploiting women
-form of masculinity that is prized and prestigious

Question 5

evaluate Messerschmidt

Answer 5

(+) interpretivist
(+) valid results
(-) deterministic
(-) unreliable as results cant be repeated

Question 6

introduction for females and subcultures

Answer 6

-focus on males
-Thornton: as girls had less disposable income, married early therefore ‘teenage market’ was dominated by men
-girls invested time in school and studies and less time in hobbies
-girls accept lack of subcultural capital

Question 7

girls and mainstream culture

Answer 7

-looked down upon by men
e.g rave culture seen as hip before but once more females joined in it became looked down upon
-feminist argument that things associated with females are characterised as less important

Question 8

Active Girls (McRobbie)

Answer 8

-she accepts girls have become more active in relation to consumer culture e.g teen magazines= more open about sexuality as well as in changing fashion trends

Question 9

Hollands Study on females (1995)

Answer 9

dramatic increase in the numbers of women in the city at night,

Males in the study said that “Geordie men utilise local spaces the most, which places them ahead of local women with respect to overall night out.
Local women are largely absent in community pubs, choosing nights out in the city centre instead.

The females are shown to have exclusively female circles and to insist on their own space independent of men. Examples of ladies only nights, actively designed to exclude men.

Question 10

Evaluate Holland’s Study

Answer 10

(+) supported by Interpretivism

(+)The study is valid as it focuses on women’s increasing outings at night.

(-)unreliable

(-) This research can’t be generalised with the behaviour of other women and men in different areas.