Youth Subcultures

Question 1

What does Postman (1982) say?

Answer 1

The disappearance of childhood. Blames the media for exposing children to the adult world too quickly and sexualising them.

Question 2

What is the concept of youth culture?

Answer 2

Sharing a particular set of norms and values that are distinct from those of adults or children.

Question 3

What is a youth subculture?

Answer 3

Distinctive groups of youths, within the wider youth culture, who stand out in terms of their style, dress, music taste and attitudes.

Question 4

Functionalists see society as being based on____?

Answer 4

Consensus

Question 5

(Functionalist) Individuals feel…

Answer 5

Individuals feel integrated into society, must feel that they belong to communities so they feel social solidarity and learn to share the value consensus. If people are not socially integrated, they will be isolated and anomie will result - when an individual have no sense of belonging and lack shared norms and values.

Question 6

Functionalists see youth as a…

Answer 6

Transitional stage from childhood to adulthood.

Question 7

Children and adults experience social integration through?

Answer 7

Children - family
Adults - workplace

Question 8

(Functionalist) What did Parsons say

Answer 8

Youth as a social category only emerged due to changes in the family associated with the development of capitalism. Before capitalism the transition was marked by a ritual (Hamar tribe)

Question 9

(Functionalist) What else did Parsons say?

Answer 9

Saw youth as an important transition stage during a potentially stressful time where an individual must learn to leave the security of the family and become an independent person, They get part time time jobs to give them experience of independence. Parsons sees youth culture as a rite of passage that people go through to reach adulthood.

Question 10

What did Eisenstadt say?

Answer 10

Youth culture is a way of bringing people into society. There could be risk of feelings of stress and anomie during childhood and adulthood. Youth culture provides a safe outlet for the tensions that the transition from childhood to adulthood might bring, allowing people to let off steam. This period of rebellion is seen as normal and part of growing up.

Question 11

Evaluation of the functionalist view

Answer 11

Functionalists were generalising about youth culture as a whole and did not account for individual subcultures
Social class, race and gender were not considered
Analysis can be seen as ethnocentric

Question 12

What does Marxism see society based on.

Answer 12

Based on conflict

Question 13

What did Gramsci say?

Answer 13

Hegemony - the ideological dominance or social authority the ruling class had over the subordinate class.

Question 14

What do the Marxists focus on?

Answer 14

They believe that social and class and the economic situation faced by young people as their explanations for the formation of youth subcultures.

Question 15

Their style is their ___

Answer 15

response to being part of the working class.

Question 16

Evaluation of the Marxist view

Answer 16

Neo marxists were finding meanings that did not actually exist.
Outdated information
Ignored girls
Majority of youth are not part of a subculture
Middle class subcultures (hippies) were ignored

Question 17

Feminism - What did McRobbie and Garber argue?

Answer 17

The role of girls in subcultures has been ignored by other theories
When girls did appear in research they were pictured in a stereotypical way and presented them as passive girlfriends
Studying girls was not seen as interesting since girls did not do interesting things
Girls are difficult to study due to their close knit friendship groups

Question 18

Evaluation of feminist view

Answer 18

Recent developments such as postmodernism mean that gender is less significant. Current subcultures do not have any clear gender distinctions so feminist analysis is less relevant.

Question 19

What do postmodernists believe

Answer 19

Youth styles are now much more fluid and changeable.

Question 20

Thornton - Club Culture

Answer 20

Club cultures are taste cultures. Shared taste in music style and dance culture surrounding it.
Subcultural capital - knowing what is in or out. Clubbers use subcultural capital to gain status and distinguish themselves from those who are just mainstream followers. Media is a source of subcultural capital.

Question 21

(Postmodernism) Neo tribes

Answer 21

Maffesoli uses the term neo tribe instead of subculture. Neo tribe refers to a much more loosely organised grouping with no fixed membership or deep commitment. Group is used just to satisfy individual needs. Bennett supports this through research in nightclubs in Newcastle where people mixed and matched influences and did not define themselves as members of any particular group.

Question 22

What is Polehmus’ reasearch?

Answer 22

Supermarket of style - youths create identities by picking and mixing from various cultures, fashions, lifestyles and music. Commitment to one style is less common. People are reluctant to give themselves labels.

Question 23

Evaluation of the postmodernist view?

Answer 23

There are still some distinct youth subcultures. For example goths and emos.
Political motivation behind youth subcultures has been lost in the postmodern analyses.