topic 1A: formation of youth / subculture + 1B: types of subcultures Flashcards
define youth
socially constructed 🏗 stage of transition between childhood and adulthood
give 2 examples of cultural differences in youth
— BEMBA GIRLS 👧 (ZAMBIA 🇿🇲)
- first day of period 🩸: immediate adulthood
- full roles, rights and status
— FULANI BOYS 👦 (SUDAN 🇸🇩)
- ritualistic whipping ceremony
—> full adulthood (roles, rights, status)
ROBERTS (youth)
3 types of transition: gal
G radual (13-21)
A brupt (short)
L engthy (13-25)
UK: legal changes mean we r developing a ⏳LENGTHY TRANSITION
—> Rafael Samuel: 26 yrs, tried to sue his parents saying that they still had to look after him (bc they gave birth to him without his consent)
early 1900s, no overarching youth subculture.
1950s: concept of TEENAGER created 📺👠
give 4 reasons UK youth culture emerged in 50s
- 📖🍎🦉 1944 EDUCATION ACT: secondary schools stretched out childhood, creating teenhood.
- 🎸📺 MEDIA + ADVERTISING: new age group (11-15) became new target 🎯 consumer 🛍 market
— Elvis Presley
— Hula hoops - 💹📊💰 ECONOMY: growing economy, more JOBS. Youth had increased SPENDING POWER —> expansion of entertainment industry providing teen meeting places
- 🛫 IMMIGRATION: policy of recruitment resulted in immigration from COMMONWEALTH (windrush etc).
—> increased ethnic diversity created NEW YOUTH SUBCULTURE (teddy boys, Mods and Ska etc) from racism / hybrid cultures
Hall and Jefferson
Teddy Boys 🧸
— attempt to recreate working class identity
— working class ‘lads’ felt threatened 😟 by immigration
—> developed strong sense of LOYALTY and TERRITORY, racism 💪
— Edwardian style suits 🧥, drainpipe trousers 👖, suede shoes 👞, quiffs called ELEPHANT TRUNKS 🐘
American 🇺🇸 Rock and Roll 🎸
Teddy girls too: secondary roles within subculture (pencil ✏️ skirts, rolled up jeans, flat shoes)
Berger
🍔
youthfulness = PERSONAL ATTITUDE TO LIFE, not matter of age
impulsive, spontaneous, energetic, playful, thrill seeking
🤪🤩⚡️🎢
Pilcher
youth centred on WITHDRAWAL FROM PARENT CONTROL
—> leads to concerns that youth r VULNERABLE and must b protected 🛡
—> youth is carefree w no responsibility, but CARE is needed to prevent ✋ DEVIANCE
Davies
2000s
youth differed little from parent’s values.
few had rebellious subculture
Conformist. Conservative 😐
Delinquent youth subculture
young people collectively commit low-level crime (vandalism, joy-riding)
—> USUALLY NON-UTILITARIAN
vandalism = 18% of current crime
e.g. Hall and Jefferson’s TEDDY BOYS 🧸
James Patrick
50s 🔪
Violence = method of entry to gang.
Violent situations actively searched for.
Patrick gained entry to gang via gatekeeper but was so scared it took him almost 20 years to publish study
Albert Cohen
😖🐓
working class boys: can’t fulfil middle class values (espec in school 🏫)
—> STATUS FRUSTRATION
so, INVERTED MIDDLE CLASS VALUES!: formed delinquent, counter-school subculture. 💪
Criminal Youth Subcultures
youth who collectively do illegal 😬 acts
more utilitarian (drug dealing, theft, mugging etc)
linked to working class
Venkatesh hi
Gang Leader for a Day (drug-dealing 🍃 gang): Chicago black people 80% unemployment rates
— functional for members 👍
—> gave them a job w pay, promotion, protection, purpose 😁
OUTLAW CAPITALISM
Cloward and Ohlin (Functionalists)
working class youth more likely to have PARALLEL OPPORTUNITY STRUCTURE:
—> ILLEGITIMATE OPPORTUNITY STRUCTURE
WC have more pressure than MC to deviate from mainstream norms bc LESS LEGITIMATE OPPORTUNITY.
—> criminal subcultures r functional bc they provide opportunity.
define spectacular youth subculture
very noticeable/visible subcultures due to their hairstyles and clothes e.g. punks, hippies
Rebellious
Flamboyant
Hebdige 1979 💥🎃
semiotic analysis
Punks rejected mainstream capitalism and consumerist values 🚫💸🛍
—> repurposed everyday objects into fashion (toilet chains ⛓, safety pins 🧷, bin bags
Stolen from mainstream culture and magically used to symbolise something else.
Multicoloured mohawk hair
Hall (Marxist)
Hippy culture
Rejected mainstream capitalism.
Values of love, peace, anti-war, protect environment. ❤️🕊🌍
Long hair, peace and flower symbols, hallucinatory drugs. formed in REBELLION
🍃🌾🌺
define anti-school subculture
youths who collectively reject norms and values of school and create their own set of distinctive norms and values
Archer 🏹 and Yamashita
hyperheterosexuality: male subculture and rejection of school. Laddish, toxic masculinity
Willis (Marxist)
1970s
counter-school subculture found in working class boys 👦
Valued ‘having a laff’ and rebelling over conformity + academic success 🚫📚
—> fight against capitalism: semi-class conscious
power in numbers, recognised that meritocracy is MYTH
PARTIAL POLITICAL AWARENESS
—> however actions TRAPPED them in system further
— misbehaviour results in low paid jobs resulting in further exploitation
— sexism + racism etc COUNTERPRODUCTIVE, as it divided WC rather than uniting
define gang
group of (espec young) people who regularly associate together to commit crime. Violence, group identity, solidarity.
Harding 2014
girls in gang use SOCIAL SKILLS to carve out a roll.
gangs r MALE DOMINATED
girls can’t b leaders, only ‘fixers’ (hiding weapons + drugs and trading info w rival gangs)
—> social skills v important, essential for survival
sexual violence against young female gang members common: ‘keeping them in line’
Batchelor et al. 2000
not one of 800 girls in Scotland were in a gang.
Girls’ physical violence RARE, but many had witnessed male physical violence
—> shows that gangs r male-dominated
shows that gangs don’t always provide protection because if they did girls would join more.
