Youth subcultures Flashcards
What is youth?
Varies between cultures
Stage between childhood & adulthood
What sociologist discusses ‘disappearance of childhood’?
Postman
What features distinguish youth?
Education>work
Lack of responsibilities
Importance of peer group
Give examples of spectacular subcultures and the Birmingham research that studied it
Teddy boys, mods, rockers, punks
The CCCS
What does Parsons say about youth?
Rite of passage
Transitional/integration
Stressful time, leaving family’s’ security
Breaking ties
Part time jobs, spending time away
Responsibility/money management
How has capitalism effected youth?
Divided roles of the family
Youth now required training, education & socialisation
What does Eisenstadt say about youth?
Brings people into society
Feelings of stress/anomie
Safe outlet for tensions & frustrations
Normal/essential
Testing boundaries
Evaluate functionalism view of youth
Do not take into account individual differences
Social class, race & gender not considered
Evidence from white, middle-class American males
What does Gramsci mean by hegemony?
Ruling class hold social authority/dominance over subordinate classes
What do marxists say about youth?
CCCs sociologists focus on economic situation
Explained difference’s in subcultures by economic situation
WC youths face the same challenges as their whole class, despite looking different
WC youth style understood by class position
Name social issues faced by WC youths in the time of the CCCS
Unemployment
Inner-city decay
Racial tensions
Strikes
Evaluate marxist view of youth
Meaning used don’t actually exist
Fashion & behaviours don’t actually have meaning, just for fun
Evaluate the CCCS
Ignored MC subcultures (Brake- hippies)
Picked subcultures to fit analysis
Majority of youth don’t belong to a subculture
Dated
What do McRobbie & Garber say about girls in the CCCS?
Not present, presented as ‘passive girlfriends’, commenting only on attractiveness
Important to study in their own right
What did feminists say the reason for absence of girls in youth studies was?
Lack of rapport
Researchers mostly male
Girls seen as uninteresting
What do postmodernists say about feminist view on youth subcultures?
Gender not as significant
No current subcultures have gender distinctions
What are the 4 theories discussed in postmodernist theory on youth subcultures?
Subcultural capital
Neo-tribes
Supermarket of style
Club cultures
Who are the 5 postmodernists who discuss youth?
(T.. R.. M.. B.. P..)
Thornton
Redhead
Maffesoli
Bennett
Polhemus
What does Thornton say about club cultures?
Multiple cultures in dance/rave
Definers of club cultures is music taste/dance style
Define subcultural capital relating to social class
Youths knowing what is ‘in’ and popular.
Clubbers can gain status from ‘mainstream’ followers
What does postmodernist Polhemus discuss in youth subcultures
Supermarket of style
Choices mean youths can create identities based on fashion, lifestyle, culture & music
Commitment to style is less common
What does postmodernist Redhead say about the changes in club cultures?
Media can create/form subcultures different to the 1980s
What does Maffesoli & Bennett say about neo-tribes?
Neo-tribe defined as no commitment, flexible grouping.
Group identities no longer formed
People ‘filt’ and dabble in different aspects
Supports through research on nightclubs. He found no fixed gender, ethnicity etc. Clubs are multidimensional
Evaluate the postmodernist view on youth
Little evidence for neo-tribes- maybe youths want to just have a laugh with friends
Club cultures & neo-tribes said to be artificial and media driven
What sociologists discuss subcultures & social class?
Hebdige
Brake
Define Hebdige’s term ‘bricolage’
Punks using ordinary items as clothing and piercings in extreme ways
What does the CCCS state about how social class leads to formation of subcultures?
Deprivation & frustration lead to subcultures forming
Resistance to capitalism