Studies on theory!

Question 1

Parsons (1954) Functionalist

Answer 1

argued that youth provides a bridge between childhood and adulthood. This transitional stage enabled young people t become more detached from their parents

Question 2

Eisenstadt (1956) Functionalist

Answer 2

suggests that youth culture is a way of binding young people into society, through fostering and adopting a shared way of life with their peers, young people would develop feelings of community and togetherness.

Question 3

Abrams (1959) Functionalist

Answer 3

argued social changes of the time enabled the creation of youth culture, through increased spending power and a consumer economy targeting the youth market.

Question 4

Hall and Jefferson (1976) Marxist

Answer 4

RESISTANCE argued that youth subcultures react against what is seen as a crisis of capitalism, with high unemployment, low wages, inner-city declines and racist oppression.through subcultural style, resisting of dominant hegemonic culture. The concept of ‘bricolage’ explains how groups re-ordered/arranged style to communicate new meanings.

Question 5

Clarke (1976) Marxist

Answer 5

EXAGGERATION studied skinhead culture, cultural style based on exaggerated version of WC masculinity. Around in 1960s and early 1970s, stressed violence ‘aggro’ and fighting. Distinct style of manual workers (beaver boots, rolled up jeans/ braces).

Question 6

Hebdige (1976) Marxist

Answer 6

claimed Mod style was part of a reaction against the boredom of the average working week. At weekends relatively well-off WC backgrounds displayed style wearing clothes that which were an attempt to reject MC values. Created own hip style based on Italian styled suits for men, miniskirts for women.

Question 7

Brake (1980) Marxist

Answer 7

suggested that youth subcultures provided ‘magical solutions’ to the lives of its members. Providing safety from facing social/economic problems experienced by WC youth. ‘Magical’ illustrates the solutions as an illusion, a trick which cannot be sustained by reality.

Question 8

Muggleton (2000) Criticises Marxist

Answer 8

argues that much of the CCCS work assumes youth subcultures of the 1960s and 1970s came form WC. Although some did, advertisers target the youth market in general.

Question 9

Thronton (1995) Criticises Marxist

Answer 9

argues they have failed to consider the role the media play in the social construction of youth.

Question 10

Heidensohn (1985) Feminist

Answer 10

accuses functionalism and the work of the CCCS as being ‘malestream’. Accounts written by male sociologists about young male involvement in subcultures, exercising patriarchal dominance in their work.

Question 11

Blackman (1995) Feminist

Answer 11

male sociologist who carried out an ethnographic study of youth subcultural groups within a school = New Wave Girls

Question 12

McRobbie and Garber (1976) Feminist

Answer 12

Highly critical of CCCS work, ignoring role of females in subcultures. They identified strong ‘teeny bopper’ culture, based around romance, fashion and private domestic space of girls’ bedrooms. Features of Bedroom Culture:
- experimenting with hairstyles, makeup, clothes
- gossiping about boys they fancied
- reading/ discussing Jackie magazine
Codes= romance, fashion and beauty, personal life, pop music

Question 13

Smart (1976) Feminist

Answer 13

parents exercise different amounts and types of social control on their daughters/ sons. Boys given more freedom, visible in public spheres e.g. streets, local parks. Girls protected, have social space limited to more private or domestic spheres, explains ignoring in subcultures

Question 14

Lincoln (2004) Feminist

Answer 14

updates the bedroom culture study, based around zones rather than codes. Zones shaped by activities that take place in them. New technologies crucial, all bedrooms showed some kind of journey from childhood to youth, teddy bears/ photographs of family members and party nights out.

Question 15

Hollands (1995) Feminist

Answer 15

studied night life in Newcastle in the 1990s and showed that young women were just as likely as young men to enjoy night’s out in pubs/ clubs.

Question 16

Redhead (1993) Postmodernist

Answer 16

the ‘clubbing culture’ in the 1980s and 90s is one in which young people shared a collective dance experience regardless of class, gender or ethnicity. research by Manchester Institutes of Popular Culture (MIPC)

Question 17

Bennett (1999) Postmodernist

Answer 17

said youth cultures should be called ‘neo-tribes’, he argued the concept of youth subcultures was no longer suited to the fluid and complex youth styles of the postmodern world.

Question 18

Polemus (1997) Postmodernist

Answer 18

develops the idea the the fluidity of youth styles and writes about ‘the supermarket of style’ where youths can choose from different fashions, music tastes and identities, in the same way shoppers are offered numerous choices of of shampoo or tins of soup.

Question 19

Hebdige (1979) subculture

Answer 19

claimed there is a clear relationship between black styles of dress, music, dancing, fashion and urban youth cultures but at no point explored the work of early theorists.

Question 20

Bennett (2005) subculture

Answer 20

Bhangra music has been adapted to fit the lifestyles of the young. A blend of Bhangra, reggae and rap styles has created what is known as popular fusion.