youth - studies Flashcards
Parsons - Functionalism
Sees youth as a transitional stage/right of passage, where individuals look for integration from their peers. Youth is a social category that emerged as a result of changes in family due to the development of capitalism. Young people had to leave the security of the family and become an independent person in terms of occupation and starting their own family,
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 shared sense of belonging. It’s a safe outlet and can be a period of rebellion. It allows them to test boundaries.
Evaluation of Functionalism
Functionalist generalise about youth culture and fail to take into account factors such as social class, race and gender.
Marxism
Focuses on youth subcultures and reactions to conflict within society. Gramsci’s idea of hegemony - ideological dominance or social authority that the ruling class has over the subordinate class. Some sub cultures are a form of resistance and a reaction to the economic situation working class are in.
Evaluation of Marxism
Focus too heavily on class. Some youth cultures form just to have fun with their peers, they also ignore middle class cultures such as hippies. Feminist criticise for ignoring girls.
McRobbie and Garber - Feminism
Girls were absent from most research on youth subcultures. If they were considered, it was to reinforce stereotypical views, presenting them as passive girlfriends of male members, focused on their physical appearance.
Evalution of feminism
Postmodernism argues that gender is less significant. Current subcultures don’t have clear gender distinctions.
Polhemus - postmodernism
Supermarket style. Youth styles are now more fluid and changeable. Can create identities by picking and mixing from various cultures, fashions, lifestyles and music. Less likely to restrict themselves or commit to one style.
Thornton
Sub-cultural capital. Club culture is a cluster of subcultures related to dance and rave with a shared taste in music surrounding it. Having sub-cultural capital is about being in the know about what is in and out in the sub cultural scene which is influenced by the media. The capital provides status and distinguishes individuals from mainstream followers.
Evaluation of Postmodernism
Not everyone mixes cultures, there are still distinct sub-cultures such as emos and goths. It is arguably not down to individual choices, lots of sub-cultures are media driven and artificial.
Clarke - class
Skinheads - skinhead culture represents an exaggerated version of working class masculinity. They wore extreme forms of manual workers clothes - jeans, braces, big boots with steel toecaps. Their attitude was macho aggressive and often racist. They acted in this way as a form of resistance because they felt their working class identity was under threat due to economic conditions.
Jefferson - class
Teddy boys - emerged at a time of high employment and affluence in the 50’s. Involved individuals who had been excluded from this affluence, not done well at school and had nowhere to go. They wore Edwardian style jackets that symbolised that they were trying to be like their middle class superiors.
Hebdige - class
Punks - working class youths and students emerged as a resistance to mainstream media and fashion industries. Punk culture also has political elements with bands such as the Clash singing about poverty and smashing the system. This culture was also distinguished by appearance - ripped clothes, piercings, safety pins.
Mac an Ghail - class
Found peer groups in schools based around social class. Macho lads, working class, placed in the bottom sets, often misbehaved and saw school work as feminine. Their peer group was based around acting tough and looking after your mates.
Thornton - gender
Teenage market was dominated by men because girls had less disposable income, married earlier and earned less than their male counterparts. Therefore girls invested more time and money in school achievement. whereas boys invested their time and money in increasing their sub-cultural capital. Girls were associated with mainstream culture which was feminised and seen as less important. This was looked down on by those with sub-cultural capital.
McRobbie and Garber - gender
Focused on sub-cultures where girls were present such as mod-girls who had similar fashion tastes to their male counterparts. However girls at this time were still restricted by stereotypical expectations of early marriage which means they experienced stricter social controls and less freedom. Bedroom culture - girls would get together and experiment with fashion, make-up, hairstyles, gossip and read magazines. This gave them a private and inaccessible space that protected them from the scrutiny of parents and boys.
Reddington - gender
There have been some very active female members in some spectacular subcultures such as fashion designer Vivienne Westward in the punk subculture. Punk culture in particular, acted as a form of resistance for young women who did not want to attend secretarial college or get married.
Hebdige - Ethnicity
Rastafarians and reggae culture - seen as a form of resistance to white culture and racism with roots in slavery. associated with certain clothing (red, gold, green), smoking marijuana, dreadlocks and religious beliefs linked to African roots. Political and spiritual movement which attracted many Caribbean migrants to Britain by offering a positive identity and source of opposition against racism and subordination.
Nayak - ethnicity
White wannabes. Young white working class males who adopt the style and language of black culture. They listen to hip-hop and gangster rap and wear lots of bling, eg., Ali G
Johal - ethnicity
Brasian culture. Some British Asians adopt a hyper ethnic style, an exaggerated form of their parent culture including watching films and listening to music from the Asian subcontinent. Provides them with empowerment through difference. However, individuals may exercise code switching depending upon the social situation.
Mercer - ethnicity
Styling of the hair in black culture has symbolic meaning. Afro and dreadlocks hairstyles are seen as identifying with black identity and therefore can be seen as a form of resistance. whereas straightened black hairstyles show assimilation into white culture.
