Class & Youth Subculture

Question 1

Who discusses ‘resistance through rituals’?

Answer 1

Hall & Jefferson

Question 2

Who discussed Skinheads?

Answer 2

Clarke

Question 3

How are skinheads related to class?

Answer 3

• Presented an exaggerated version of working class masculinity.
• They wore manual worker clothes like rolled up jeans and big boots. They were macho and racist.
• They felt their working class identity was under threat due to the economic conditions.

Question 4

Who said the skinheads felt threatened by the decline in working class industries and immigration?

Answer 4

Cohen

Question 5

Who discussed Teddy Boys?

Answer 5

Jefferson

Question 6

How do teddy boys link to class?

Answer 6

• Emerged at a time of high employment and relative affluence.
• They were excluded from this as they didn’t do well in school and had dead end futures.
• They wore Edwardian style bright coloured jackets which symbolises how were trying to be like middle class superiors.

Question 7

Who discussed mods?

Answer 7

Hebdige

Question 8

How do mods relate to class?

Answer 8

They used their money to create a style in resistance against the middle class, showing they could be smart and cool with their Italian suits.

Question 9

Who discussed Punk culture?

Answer 9

Hebdige

Question 10

How do punks link to social class?

Answer 10

• It emerged in resistance to mainstream media and fashion industries which were telling youths how to be.
• It attracted the working class and disaffected youth.
• They had a political element as they listened to songs about smashing the system. (The sex pistols) (the clash)

Question 11

What were spectacular subcultures, researched by the CCCs, resisting to?

Answer 11

Feelings of depiction and frustration caused by the economic situations and capitalism.

Question 12

What term did Hebdige use to describe how subversive styles are often taken over by the media and fashion industries, so use their edge and rebellion?

Answer 12

‘Incorporation’

Question 13

How are the ideas of the CCCS challenged?

Answer 13

• Thornton (Postmodernist) challenges the significance of social class as an element of youth subcultures. In her work on club cultures, she argued the vast majority do enjoy disposable income from any background and a short period free from adult responsibilities. All but very poorest can participate

Question 14

Who discusses a ‘sociology of vindictiveness’ when describing the New Right View?

Answer 14

Young

Question 15

What society does Young say we live in?

Answer 15

A ‘bulimic society’ where citizens are encouraged to worship money, status and success but many are excluded from this.

Question 16

What does Young say is felt by the underclass?

Answer 16

An ‘intensity of exclusion’ incorporating feelings of resentment, humiliation and anger fuelled by economic insecurity and deprivation.

Question 17

What does Young see working class youth deviance as an emotional response to?

Answer 17

Social exclusion, which is about rebellion, risk taking, anger, and exclusion, but is also driven by a strong sense of inclusion.

Question 18

Who discusses pushes and pull factors in gang membership?

Answer 18

Decker & Van Winkle

Question 19

What are ‘pulls’ when it comes to gang membership?

Answer 19

The attractiveness of the gang. They can provide status, excitement, and money making opportunities for working class youths.

Question 20

What are ‘pushes’ when it comes to gang membership?

Answer 20

• Social, economic and cultural disadvantages
• Feelings of exclusion and marginalisation may push youths from the underclass towards status and identity that gangs can provide
• It can also provide safety and closeness from those of dysfunctional families. Fear of violence

Question 21

What did White find about gang conditions?

Answer 21

• They tend to link to ‘underclass’ conditions of poverty and social exclusion.
• Gangs provide a sense of security for vulnerable groups of young people to help people cope with their oppressive environments.

Question 22

Why do anti school subcultures form among working class pupils?

Answer 22

It’s a way of protecting self esteem and from failure. Also in resistance against school authority and the middle class education system.

Question 23

Who conducted the ‘learning to Labour’ study?

Answer 23

Willis

Question 24

What was the ‘learning to labour’ study?

Answer 24

• Willis studied working class youths in an all boys school in Birmingham. He found the ‘lads’ saw themself as school failures but turned into a good thing.
• They bullied the middle class boys who they saw as not ‘macho’. They spent most of their time at school ‘having a laff’
• They all knew they would get jobs in the local factory like their fathers so didn’t value education.
• When Willis followed them up in the factory little had changed.

Question 25

How can Willis’ study be critiqued?

Answer 25

It’s outdated as it only focuses on men who had an assured route into manual work, which is rarely the case today.

Question 26

What three responses to education did Brown find among working youths ?

Answer 26

• ‘Getting in’ - low achievers who wanted to join manual occupations.
• ‘Getting out’ - high achievers who wanted to use education to improve their social position.
• ‘Getting on’ - ordinary working class youths who just got on with it and complied with the demands and rules.

Question 27

What did browns’ study suggest?

Answer 27

There were quite subtle differences between these groups based on academic ability rather than success.

Question 28

What did Mac and Ghaill find in his study of ‘Parnell School’?

Answer 28

• There were a number of ‘fluid’ groups with different responses to school.
• Ordinary lads: not academic and were indifferent to school
• Academic achievers: pro school and worked hard
• ‘Macho lads’: valued ‘acting tough’ and saw academic work as effeminate and referred to the academic pupils as ‘dickhead achievers’

Question 29

What interactionist perspective can be seen as a factor in explaining anti school subculture membership?

Answer 29

Lacey’s study on a secondary school

Question 30

What did Lacey’s study show?

Answer 30

• Pupils arrived with pro school values, but setting them on terms of ability and an ethos emphasising competition led to demoralisation among those identified as having a lower ability who tended to come from lower class backgrounds.
• Developing anti school subcultures as a response to this.

Question 31

What does Reay discuss when talking about educational failure?

Answer 31

Education is seen as a competition working class white boys feel they cannot win, but within their subculture they can create their own competitions based on macho and deviant behaviour.