Subcultures Flashcards
What things differentiate youth from other age groups?
Education, value of peers and lack of responsibilities .
Where are spectacular subcultures studied?
Centre for contemporary cultural studies @ Bham Uni
Describe Teddy’s boys
WC excluded from wealth due to poor performance in education so attempt to appear MC via clothing and where they hang out
Describe Mods
WC who used money to look affluent by buying scooters, suits and listening to jazz
Describe Punks
Adapting ordinary objects and wearing extreme clothes as a form of resistance
Describe Rockers
Black leather jackets who create a type of ‘biker culture’
Describe Skinheads
Exaggerated WC masculinity, associated with racism, football and unemployment
What is the functionalist view on youth subcultures?
Individual must feel integrated to function in society or else an anomie will occur. Youth groups encourage this belonging.
What is the marxist view on youth subcultures?
Youth subculture formation as a result of resistance for lower class against capitalism and FCC. Began in 60’s / 70’s due to racial tension and high unemployment.
What is the feminist view on subcultures?
Majority of studies are focused on boys and gender therefore has a significant impact on group formation.
What does Parsons say about youth?
It is a ‘rite of passage’ as they come up to adulthood where they have responsibilities and independence.
What does Eisenstadt say about youth?
They can ‘let off steam’ as hormones come and go.
What are two criticisms of the functionalist view on youth subcultures?
1) Ethnocentric
2) Women and men have different experiences
What are two criticisms of the marxist view?
1) Women had own socioeconomic problems
2) Middle class had subcultures also (hippies)
What 2 things do McRobbie and Garber say about youth subcultures?
1) Girls are presented only as ‘passive gfs’
2) Their groups are tight-knit and should be studied
What does postmodernist Redhead say about ‘club culture’?
MIPS say clubbing groups have no fixed gender or class distinction. They use social media as a way to thrive in their groups.
What does postmodernist Maffesoli say about ‘neo-tribes’?
They replace subcultures as modern days there are more loosely organised groups with no distinct traits or correlation of people.
What does postmodernist Polhemus say about ‘supermarket style’?
There is a sense of ‘fluidity’ where groups pick and choose the trends they adopt, which depends on the time they exist in.
What are 2 criticisms of the postmodernist view on youth subcultures?
1) There are still some distinct groups
2) Neo-tribes are just friend groups and not cultures in their own.
What does Thornton say about gender and subcultures?
Girls have less subcultural capital (interest in trending music and activities) and so account for mainstream culture being seen as feminine.
What exemplifies Thornton’s view on gender and subcultures?
Rave culture legalisation creating negative view on women e.g. ‘techno tracey’s’
What does McRobbie and Garber say about gender and subcultures?
Girls have adopted a ‘bedroom culture’ via talking about boys, magazines and crying together.
What does Heidensohn say about ‘bedroom culture’?
It creates a sense of invisibility in studies of subcultures for girls
What does McRobbie say about gender and subcultures?
Black women ridicule male sexualisation through ‘ragga music’ to reclaim sexuality.
What are 2 postmodernist criticisms of views of gender and subcultures?
1) Holland saying ‘binge drinking’ has equal male and female
2) Unisex subcultures such as new romantics and goths
How do Teddy’s boys relate to class and subcultures?
They have dead end futures and so hang around in local areas to imitate the middle class and enjoy irresponsible youth.
What do the CCCS say about class and subculture?
The working class form subcultures as a form of youth frustration because of their deprivation
What did Hedbridge say about class and subculture?
Punk subcultures adapt ordinary clothes, something called ‘bricolage’.
What does Hedbridge say to link ethnicity and subcultures?
Rastafarians wear colours associated with Caribbean roots, referred to as resistance against whites
What does Mercer say about ethnicity and subcultures?
Refers to black hair as being a
‘hyper-ethnic style’ that symbolises heritage and identity.
What does Nayak say about ethnicity and subcultures?
White wannabees adopt a black culture
What are delinquent subcultures?
Delinquency refers to youth deviance whom carry out anti-social activities that are thrilling but not necessarily illegal.
What are criminal subcultures?
Those who actively involved in organised crime e.g. drugs or stolen goods
What are anti-school subcultures?
Those rejecting school norms and values, especially regarding class behaviour. Not necessarily anti-education
What are gangs?
Regular associates who share a gang name, leader and territory. Is actually just a young group but used by media and police to create idea of community-threats.
How did St John describe modern delinquency?
Modern youth lack the identity, solidarity and resistance of previous generations.
Name 2 ways in which online communities can be used to form groups?
1) Anonymity encourages groups to discuss controversial topics
2) Can be harmless and create groups surrounding music and humour e.g. Arianator’s and LADBIBLE
What does Merton say about deviance?
There is a ‘strain’ between what people are told they should achieve and what they can actually achieve, leading to illegitimate means to gain things.
What does Miller say about deviance?
Believes there isn’t a shared value consensus but ‘focal concerns’ within separate classes. Working class ‘focal concerns’ involve being macho and streetwise.
What does Cohen say about deviance?
Working class boys feel inferior to their middle class peers, creating a ‘status frustration’ and leading them to gain status instead through aggression and illegal means.
What are the 3 deviant groups that Cloward and Ohlin outline?
1) Criminal subcultures = organised groups with a hierarchy.
2) Conflict subcultures = in unstable areas where groups form and indulge in regular violence and gang culture.
3) Retreatist subcultures = no hope or support so turn to petty crime and drug use.
What is flawed about the functionalist view on deviance?
- Views are extremely generalised
- Miller and Cohen contradict each other
- Does not acknowledge crime in other gender or class groups
What does Murray say about single mothers in relation to deviance?
The girls often become teenage parents and boys turn to crime and sexual aggression.
What does Murray say about the underclass in relation to deviance?
The underclass provide poor socialisation that continue ‘dependency culture’ and create dysfunctional youth who turn to illegitimate means.
What may be an evaluation of the New Right view of deviance?
- Murray ‘victim blames’ and lacks sympathy
- Many of the underclass seek employment
- Father figures are accessible through others
What does Becker say about deviance?
Labelling rates to power and labels can only stick if the one who sets it has authority. Self-fulfilling prophecy leads to crime and is focused in working class.
What does Cicourel say about deviance?
1) Police stop and search individual based on suspicion
2) Police arrest individual based on mannerisms
3) Police now picture ‘typical delinquent’
How does the media relate to deviance?
The media, being a powerful and influential tool in modern times, can create labels and make them stick, supporting Becker’s theory.
What may be a flaw of the interactionist view?
- A group would have had to commit the crime for a label to be created
What are the 2 points that Lea and Young relate to deviance?
1) Relative deprivation = people feel deprived and angry when comparing themselves to others
2) Marginalisation = people are pushed to edge of society so no opportunities
What does Decker say about deviance?
There are ‘push’ and ‘pull’ factors of a gang that increase deviancy rates
What does White say about deviance?
Gangs provide social security for vulnerable members of society
What does Harding say about deviance?
Gangs provide ‘social capital’ through being a way to improve status and popularity.
What does Paul Willis say about deviance?
WC boys in Birmingham often participated in anti-school subcultures and ‘had a laff’, often bringing that same attitude into the workplace.
What may be flaws of the Marxist view on deviance?
- Doesn’t acknowledge crime amongst more affluent boys
- Doesn’t discuss women and crime
- Social mobility is possible and has been achieved
What does Nightingale say about deviance?
Minorities recognise mainstream values but are discouraged by racism so become lawless.
What does Bourgois say about deviance?
Latino drug dealers in New York feel the strain of being poor in the richest city in the world. Would rather involve themselves in the million dollar drug industry than work a 9 to 5.
What does Alexander say about deviance?
The riots of 1990’s have created a negative and criminal view of Asian males in the media e.g. casual Islamophobia.
What does Mirza say about deviance?
Afro-Caribbean girls use ‘strategic rationalisation’ to resist racist stereotypes in school e.g. keep their head down.
What does Messerschmidt say about deviance?
Gangs act as a location for ‘doing masculinity’.
What does Heidensohn say about deviance?
Girls are heavily socially controlled and protected from crime by relatives and guardians.
What does Klein say about deviance?
Girls carry out equally violent crime but less of them and in a more discrete manner.
What does Harding say about deviance?
Girls use social skills to benefit them via crime, often being the ‘hider’ and sometimes sexually exploited.
What are folk devils?
Originated with mods and rockers conflict, where media over-exaggerates labels, creating ‘moral panic’.
What is deviancy amplification?
Where the media magnifies the deviance of certain groups, making it seem worse than it is, creating ‘moral panic’
