The Role & Formation Of Youth Sub/culture

Question 1

How do functionalists see the youth stage?

Answer 1

• Transition stage
• A time of independence
• A way to let off steam and eventually conform.

Question 2

What functionalists discuss youth?

Answer 2

Parsons, Abrams, and Eisenstadt

Question 3

How does Parsons describe youth culture?

Answer 3

• Saw it as an important transition stage at a potentially stressful time when an individual must learn to leave the security of the home and become independent.
• This is often through part time jobs and spending more time away, giving them skills and independence.
• It is a ‘rite of passage’ where youth become more independent and responsible.

Question 4

How did Eisenstadt see youth culture?

Answer 4

• It’s a way if bringing youths into society.
• During the isolated phase there’s a risk of feeling stress and anomie.
• Youth culture provides shared norms and values allowing a sense of belonging and a chance to ‘let off steam’ from tension and stress, find own opinions, and get any frustration ‘out of their system’.
• Period of rebellion is seen as normal and essential.
• A way of testing boundaries and reinforcing acceptable norms and values, thus contributing to social order.

Question 5

Why does Eisenstadt believe youth culture is necessary?

Answer 5

It’s a way of testing boundaries and to eventually reinforce acceptable norms and values.

Question 6

How did youth culture emerge according to Abrams?

Answer 6

Youth gaining job opportunities and so had more money in their pockets. They were thus targeted by businesses and the media.

Question 7

How can functionalism be evaluated?

Answer 7

• Generalised youth culture, ignoring the different subcultural differences.
• Don’t consider social factors which differentiates experiences. (neo-marxists, feminists)
• Most evidence came from white middle class men. Their analysis is ethnocentric.

Question 8

What do Marxists/neo-Marxists look at?

Answer 8

Spectacular youth subcultures and their reaction to wider society.

Question 9

What neo Marxist institution collected influential work on youth subcultures?

Answer 9

CCCS
Centre for Contemporary Cultural Studies

Question 10

What was the Neo-Marxist explanation for forming youth subcultures?

Answer 10

• The economic situation faced by youth. There was high unemployment, inner city decay, racial tension and strikes.
• The CCCS said how youth subculture formation was resistance against the ruling class.

Question 11

How can you evaluate the Marxist/neo Marxist view?

Answer 11

• They were looking at examples relating to class, so they interpreted them in that way. The fashion itself may have just be having fun.
• Feminists: CCCS ignore girls.
• Middle class also have subcultures but were largely ignored.
• Many aren’t part of spectacular subcultures. They are researching a visible minority.
• Postmodernism: outdated

Question 12

What are the feminist sociologists that say the role of girls in subcultures has been ignored?

Answer 12

McRobbie and Garber

Question 13

What did McRobbie and Garber find when looking at research?

Answer 13

• When girls did appear, they were passive girlfriends or reinforcing stereotypes.
• They were often commented by attractiveness
• Researchers were mostly male so it was suggested they developed a rapport with men and felt unable to connect with the women.

Question 14

What did McRobbie and Garber argue about girls?

Answer 14

They negotiate different spaces to those inhibited by boys. Their friend groups are often ‘close knit.’

Question 15

How may feminism be criticised?

Answer 15

Postmodernists: gender is less significant as current subcultures have a lack of gender distinctions.

Question 16

What do Postmodernists believe about youth subcultures?

Answer 16

• They are increasingly fragmented and diverse.
• They are fluid and take from different sources, crossing ethnic, gender and class divides.

Question 17

What Postmodernists discuss youth subcultures?

Answer 17

MIPS (Manchester Institute of Popular Culture)
Redhead
Maffesoli
Bennett
Polhemus

Question 18

What did MIPS find out about club culture?

Answer 18

There was no clear gender, ethnic or class distinctions.

Question 19

Who says club cultures are formed within and through the media?

Answer 19

Redhead

Question 20

Who talks about ‘neo tribes’?

Answer 20

Maffesoli

Question 21

What are Neo tribes?

Answer 21

• Loose organised grouping with no fixed membership or commitment.
• Young people flit from tribe to tribe dabbling different aspects then moving on.
• The tribe is used to satisfy individual needs.
  Maffesoli

Question 22

What did Postmodernist Bennett find in their research in nightclubs?

Answer 22

• They found neo tribes based on fashion, music and lifestyle but had no shared values.
• Neo-tribalism recognises the shifting nature and fluidity of preferences to music and style.
• For example, clubbing is multidimensional, involving diverse experiences.

Question 23

Who talks about ‘Supermarket of Style’?

Answer 23

Polhemus

Question 24

What is a ‘Supermarket of Style’?

Answer 24

• Youths create identities by picking and mixing from various subcultures, fashions, lifestyles, and music.
  Commitment is uncommon and youth don’t like labels. E.g retro fashion

Question 25

How can postmodernism be evaluated?

Answer 25

• There’s still distinct subcultures like goths, emos and chavs.
• Unlikely most youths are part of neo tribes
• Are the neo tribes artificial if they are media driven?
• Some still divide the self on ethnic or gender lines.
• Some show commitment to politics or the environment.

Question 26

What are the Neo-Marxists who are part of the CCCS who research spectacular subcultures?

Answer 26

Hall & Jefferson
Hebdige: Mods, Punks
Clarke: Skinheads
Cohen: Decline of working class industries
Jefferson: Teddy Boys