Functionalism And The Fromation Of Youth Culture Flashcards
What is the functionalist view on youth culture?
That youth culture promotes social integration for young people and serves as a transitory phase between childhood and adulthood
What does Abrams (1959) state?
He stated that social changes of the time era (1960s) enables the creation of youth culture, through increased spending power and consumer economy targeting the youth culture/ youth market
It was around this time (1960s) the youth became an important part of the economy
What does Parsons (1954) state?
He argued that youth culture provides a bridge between childhood and adulthood and the transition to full maturity. ‘Rite of passage’
He argues youth culture believes this transitional rage enables young people to become more detached from their parents and become more independent. For example, many young people take on a part-time job to start to become more financially independent
What does Leech (1976) state?
Leech states that as young people become more affluent and adopt their own style of dress, behaviour and music, a culture gap between young people and their parent will emerge which would cause a ‘youthquake’ to occur.
ways in which culture gap emerges due to differences between the generations include: youth having less responsibilities than their parents, youth seeking for rebellion and fun, youth look for leisure and fun more than their parents
What does Eisenstadt (1956) state?
He suggested that youth culture is important for binding people together and for young people to feel a sense of community and togetherness as they would share the same norms, values
He also states that youth culture provides an outlet for tensions young people may face during the transition between childhood to adulthood
- is a homogenous transitory phase thats important for binding young people together in order for them to fit in and socially integrate
Some people may feel stuck between childhood and adulthood and they become an ‘anomie’ in which they experience confusion and uncertainty by the social behaviour expected of them. An example of anomies are young people who turn to crime and drug culture as an outlet for their tensions and as a result of their social uncertainty - these are known as ‘rooadmen’
Criticism of functionalist view on youth culture?
- Marxists disagree with their view as they ignore social class differences within society that my cause the differences between youth uncultured e.g. hippies are middle class and skin heads are working class
- functionalists can be criticised as they don’t consider youth as a sate of mind and dont take into account adults who may enjoy ‘youth-related activities’ such as raving
- feminists criticise functionalism as they don’t take into account gender related issues like the isolation of females in youth subcultures e.g. teddy boys also refers to the males and doesnt take into account ‘teddy girls’
Positive evaluation on functionalist ideas
- recognised how youth culture affects functionalism and social integration for a functionalist society
