Youth Flashcards
Youth culture and subcultures: PARSONS (FUNCTIONALISM)
- Sees youth as a transitional stage, a rite of passage, where individuals look for integration from their peers.
- Youth is a social category in which emerged due to changes in the family after the development of capitalism. Young people had to become independent and make a living for themselves
Youth culture and subcultures: EISENSTADT (FUNCTIONALISM)
- Youth is a way of bringing young people into society to avoid feelings of stress and anomie. Provides a shared set of norms and values as well as a sense of belonging.
Youth culture and subcultures: EVALUATION OF FUNCTIONALISM
- Functionalists generalize about youth culture and fail to take into account factors such as social class, race and gender
Youth culture and subcultures: MARXISM
- Focus on youth subculture and their reaction to conflict within society. Marxist thinkers such as Gramsci discussed the idea of hegemony (the ideological dominance or social authority that the ruling class has over the subordinate classes
- Some subcultures are a form of resistance against the ruling class and a reaction to the economic situation working class youths find themselves in
Youth culture and subcultures: EVALUATION OF MARXISM
- Focussed too heavily on class. They ignore middle class subcultures and only focus on those to be seen as deviant and of the working class
- Feminists criticise their theories for ignoring girls in their subcultures
Youth culture and subcultures: MCROBBIE AND GARBER (FEMINISM)
- Girls were absent from most research into youth subcultures. If they were considered, it was reinforcing stereotypical views, presenting them as passive girlfriends of the male subculture members, focussing on their physical appearance
Youth culture and subcultures: EVALUATION OF FEMINISM
- Postmodernists argue that gender is less significant as current subcultures do not have any clear distinctions
Youth culture and subcultures: POLHEMUS (POSTMODERNISM)
- ‘Supermarket of style’ suggests that youth styles are more fluid and changeable. People may create identities from picking up and mixing various cultures. Young people are less likely to restrict themselves and commit to one style
Youth culture and subcultures: THORNTON
- ‘Subculture capital’ is where a club culture is a cluster of subcultures to dance and rave with a shared taste in music surrounding it. The capital provides status and distinguishes individuals from mainstream followers.
Youth culture and subcultures: EVALUATION OF POSTMODERNISM
- Not everyone mixes cultures, there are still some distinct subcultures
- It is arguably not down to individual choices as lots of subcultures are media driven and artificial
Social class: CLARKE
- Skinhead culture represents an exaggerated version of working-class masculinity. They acted in this way as a form of resistance because they felt their working class identity was under threat due to the economic conditions
Social class: JEFFERSON
- The teddy boys emerged at a time of employment and affluence in the 1950’s. They involved those who did not do very well at school and had nowhere to go. As well as this they wore Edwardian-style jackets that symbolised that they were trying to be like their middle class superiors
Social class: HEBDIGE
- Punks, mainly working class youths and students emerged as a result of resistance to mainstream media and fashion industries. Punk culture also had political elements with bands such as The Clash singing about poverty and smashing the system
Social class: MAC AN GHAIL
- Identified different peer groups that had developed in a school. These tended to be based around different social classes. For example the ‘macho lads’ peer group were working class. They were placed in the bottom sets, often misbehaved and saw school work as feminine.
Gender: THORNTON
- The teenage market was dominated by men because girls had less disposable income, were married earlier and earnt alot less than their male counterparts.
- Girls invested much more time in school achievement, whilst boys invested their time and money in increasing their subcultural capital
Gender: MCROBBIE AND GARBER
- Focused on subcultures where girls were present. Such as mod girls who had similar fashion, however were restricted to certain stereotypes.
- Bedroom culture is where girls get together and experiment with girly things such as make up. This gave them a private and inaccessible space that protected them from scrutiny of parents and boys
Gender: Reddington
- Some spectacular cultures included very active female members, such as designer Vivienne Westwood in the punk subculture. The punk culture, in particular, acted as a form of resistance for the young woman who did not want to attend secretarial college or get married
Ethnicity: Hebdige
Rastafarians and reggae culture- seen as a form of resistance to white culture and racism with roots in slavery. Associated with certain clothing and behaviour. This is a spiritual and political movement which attracted many Carribean migrants to Britain by offering a positive identity and source of opposition against racism and subordination
Ethnicity: Nayak
‘White wannabees’ is where white working-class males who adopt the style and language of ‘black culture’ who listen to hip hop and rap and wear lots of bling. Eg. Ali G