Youth Culture Flashcards
Freda Adler (1975)
Girls and their involvement in deviant Youth Cultures - Liberation Thesis
What did Adler’s liberation thesis entail?
Women’s liberation has resulted in an increase in offenders as women adopted more male qualities in order to fulfil male societal responsibilities - just consider the emergence of the ‘ladette.’
Why do women engage in deviant activity?
women’s greater self -confidence and assertiveness, and the fact that they now have greater opportunities in the legitimate structure
Ladette
Phenomenon of the late 90s and 00s , where young women behaved in a boisterously assertive or crude manner and engages in heavy drinking sessions.
Freda Adler evaluation
This theory suggests that females who engage in deviance, and in turn crime, are doing it as a result of liberation. However, most female offenders are WC the group least likely to be influenced by women’s liberation.
Angela McRobbie and Garber (1976)
The Invisible Girl + Bedroom culture
What does McRobbie and Garber discuss about girls in youth culture?
the place of young women in youth culture reflects their general position in society. Although they are present in all youth subcultures, they are pushed to the margins of this largely male social activity.
Why is the term invisible girl used when discussing girls in youth subcultures
Feminists like McRobbie have stated that when exploring youth subcultures females are largely missing.
What did McRobbie argue about females in subcultures
According to her, youth cultures let males have ‘temporary flights’ of freedom away from the responsibilities and constraints imposed on male adults in society, but females are denied this possibility because of greater parental control and the constraints imposed by other females concerning appropriate sexual conduct
McRobbie on bedroom culture
the range of possibilities open to females in subcultures is much more limited than that of males, which results in girls engaging in ‘bedroom culture’
How do girls engage in bedroom culture
Activities - Chat with friends, read magazines, gossip
Territory - Claimed their space by decorating their rooms in a personal way, posters etc.
Music - Pop music that emphasise lyrics over music
Angela McRobbie evaluation
More recent research confirms the continuing existence of bedroom culture (Lincoln, 2004). However, Lincoln also argued many aspects of bedroom culture have changed significantly. Boyfriends are more often allowed into bedrooms, the internet and TV meant that there were more external influences on girls than their immediate friendship group.
Sarah Thornton (1995)
Club cultures
What did Thronton find on the marginalisation of females in subcultures
Thornton studied the dance music scene of the 1990s and discovered that, although females were more likely to go clubbing than boys, they were often associated with less status than males because they were associated with a taste for mainstream pop music
How do Thornton and Marxist Bourdieu link?
- Drawing from the work of Bourdieu, Sarah Thornton coins the term “subcultural capital” to make sense of the distinctions made by “cool” youth paying particular attention to their disparagement of the “mainstream” against which they measure their alternative cultural worth.
- female youths were less likely to have subcultural capital because their preference for more mainstream music and style was deemed as ‘uncool’ by more alternative, male dominated subcultures.
Sarah Thornton evaluation
Thornton’s ideas about women being marginalised in clubbing culture, despite their greater presence than men, reflect many issues in the clubbing scene today. Many clubs will give women free entry but charge men, setting the precedent that women exist in clubs to entertain men.
What would postmodernists say about Sarah Thornton?
Postmodernists such as Bennett reject the notion that
gender divides youth cultures in this way. Bennett’s research found clubs to be a place where divisions like gender no longer mattered to young people. Young people can construct their identity through a huge range of consumer choices – which clubs they attend, how they dress, brands, leisure etc. This would suggest girls are no longer marginalised in clubbing culture.
Bill Osbergy (1997)
Sexist and Aggressive Masculinity
What did Bill Osbergy say was the reasoning behind the absence of girls in subcultures
girls are absent in youth culture because they are avoidant of the sexist and aggressive behaviours they encounter when they participate in male dominated youth subcultures
Osgerby and the societal shift in male expectations
Osgerby (1997) says that before the 1950s males were expected to look after women. However, youth cultures and media stereotypes encouraged men to take on a more sexist and aggressive role. men were once credited for holding a door open for a woman but are now credited for saying sexist comments, overtly sexualising and cat-calling women. This would suggest that
Carolyn Jackson (2006)
Lads and Ladettes in school
What did Carolyn Jackson’s research include?
Jackson used a variety of methods, including self-complete questionnaires and interviews. Year 9 pupils completed 3 questionnaires.
one that concerned their goals, one their behaviour and one one their views about ‘laddishness’ and popularity.
Pupils were required to respond to statements on a five-point scale according to levels of agreement, and there were slightly different questionnaires for boys and for girls. Semi-structured interviews were also used. Jackson interviewed 153 pupils - 75 girls and 78 boys. The audiotapes were transcribed and then analysed with the help of computer packages which identified key themes: academic pressures,
academic self-presentation, SATs, ‘lads’, ‘laddettes’. Some of the key themes were further subdivided into ability, aggression, loudness, language, drinking and dress.
What did Carolyn Jackson’s 2006 study discover?
laddish behaviour can have important advantages from the perspective of many boys and girls. First, it makes them appear ‘cool’ if they have a laugh and mess around in class. This aspect of ‘laddishness’ was accepted by boys and girls, whatever their social class background.,
How did Carolyn Jackson’s study link to youth culture?
A new feminine identity known as the laddette movement has emerged. This suggests some girls are
taking a more active role in youth cultures than feminists like McRobbie found in the 1970s.
