Youth Culture Flashcards
Define mainstream culture
The collective thoughts and ideals the majority of society holds
Define peer group
A social group in which members have similar interests and characteristics
Define subculture
A culture within society’s main culture that has different norms and values
Define youth culture
An exclusive, short-lived, subculture exclusive to society’s youths, they display often rebellious behaviours and unique clothing styles
Define counter culture
A subculture who’s norms and values are the opposite of mainstream cultures
What social conditions in the 1950s led to the start of Youth culture?
- Growth in the economy: Lewis points out new industrialisation gave youths jobs and therefore money for cultural products
- Highly disposable income: youths could work and save money to spend
- Delayed adulthood: marriage and family life was delayed, giving youths a longer period of freedom
- Leisure: working hours were shorter, giving youths more freedom
- Advertisements targeting teenagers: youths became a new target audience for products
- Multiculturalism: Fowler argued people becoming aware of other cultures introduced new music and styles
Firth: punk subculture
Firth found that the punk subculture was a reaction to the high unemployment rates for youths at the time: they wore ripped clothes; pierced their own skin with safety pins; took part in glue sniffing; listening to anti-establishment music; vandalised and behaved very aggressively to promote individual freedom
Hodkinson: goth subculture
Hodkinson studied goths and found they were not rebellious as such but rather concerned with sharing interests they: wore dark clothing; used a lot of heavy dark makeup; drank alcohol; listened to music about death and sadness; were withdrawn from society and displayed gender-bending behaviours with artistic expression
What are the reasons for joining a subculture, according to sociologists?
- Ceremonial function: Parsons and Eisenstadt say that youth cultures act as a bridge into adulthood, binding youths together
- Peer pressure: with every other youth joining a subculture adolescents feel pressured to do the same
- Establish an identity: helps youths gain a sense of identity and belonging
- Achieve a higher status: Subcultures act as an alternative to self esteem, Mac an Ghail suggests men experience a crisis if masculinity and subcultures help them to assert dominance
- Media pressure: Cohen suggests media exaggerating the excitement of Youth cultures encouraged youths to join
- Rebel against capitalism: the CCCs all claim young people try to resist capitalist oppression, Paul Willis’ research supports this idea
- To consume the latest fashion: youths feel belonging from spending on new trends
- Solution to a problem: youth subcultures act as safety, McRobbie and Garber studied bedroom culture in girls which were a place of protection away from men
What are some of the problematic views of young people?
- NEETs (Not in Education, Employment or Training): 1990s governments were concerned about NEETs being problematic for the economy and so raised the age to leave school up to 18, Shildrick and Ruddy argue this ignores the structural issues causing NEETs
- Young single mothers: the new right argues that young girls get pregnant to get paid in benefits, Weir points out this stereotype is incorrect as only 2% of single parents are teens
- Gangs and crime: gang crime Is associated with youths who are more likely to get convicted of a crime
- Mental health: studies shows that mental health for youths is statistically worse than previously, the Nuffield Foundation found boys are more likely to have behavioural issues and girls emotional issues
Hargreaves and Lacey
Hargreaves and Lacey pointed out schools label certain students as failures leading to a self fulfilling prophecy whereby students then try to gain status by breaking rules in an anti-school subculture
Carolyn Jackson’s study
Jackson identified the ladettes as a subculture of white working class girls who adopted masculine behaviours such as swearing, disruptive behaviour etc… but they still achieved high grades
What are neo tribes?
Postmodernists suggests youth cultures are no longer a thing in modern society, they have been replaced by neo tribes due to, as Muggleton suggests, the commercialisation of fashions meaning the quick pace at which trends shifts doesn’t allow youths time to engage collectively
Bennett and Hetherington also argue that backgrounds do not shape a culture, it is their values and beliefs which unite members who share a common view
