Youth Subcultures Flashcards
Postman
Argues that childhood is disappearing, he blames the media for exposing children to adult concepts such as death, disease, and sex. Postman says that youth is getting longer as they are staying in education longer and leaving home and starting families later
Abrams and teenage spending power
In the 50s there was rapid economic growth in Britain. There was a high job demand to rebuild houses. Abrams analysed the inc econ power of the ‘teenage consumer’. Young ppl earnings inc over 50% between 1938-1958
Abrams researched spending patterns and found young people spent the most amount of their income on leisure, music, clothes. The inc in econ power created a condition for emerging youth culture to develop from disposable income.
Functionalist opinion on ysbc
Believe soc is based on consensus, so an identity and soc solidarity within sbcs is important to prevent isolation and anomie
Parsons (func)
Argues youth only occurred bc of changes in the family assoc w capitalism. In a pre cap soc, the transition was marked by an initiation such as a bar mitzvah.
Parsons saw youth as an imp transitional stage where one must leave the security of the family and become and individual, they must break ties with their parents/childhood and get part time jobs (time away from family) → indep, develop skills (money+time management)
Parson argues that in most traditional soc, young people go through a ‘rite of passage’ instead of a ceremony. We don’t do much in contemp soc, just big birthdays such as 18
Eisenstadt, func
Eisenstadt saw youth culture as a way of bringing youth into society, youth is assoc w stress and feelings of anomie. Youth culture provides n+v, peers, belonging, and a safe outlet to let off steam in an acceptable way as it is usually put down to high spirits or hormones.
Eisenstadt argues that youth need a way to distinguish from their parents. Move away from ascribed role of child, and move onto achieved role of adult
Functionalists see it as a way of testing boundaries and experimenting. It contributes to social order .
Roszak, func
Roszak argued that there was a division between older and younger gens which created a ‘generational gap’ of values, interests and behaviours of youth that replaced class, gender, and race divisions, Roszak argued that the age out made them outdated and irrelevant
Hall and Jefferson (neo marxists/CCCS)
Hall and Jefferson said that wc, underperforming people form the weakest point in ruling class control bc they are not tied down like adults through jobs, family, school. The CCCS can be classed as neo-marxist, it was influenced by recent marxists like Gramsci
Abrams func
Abrams argued that the emergence of youth culture was linked to the emergence of a group with spending power. They were targeted by the media. Abrams believes that the youth were created by the media. Most functionalists wrote in the 50s when youth culture and media were developing
Brake, and the middle class
Brake believes that the mc are v different from wc youth and are more likely to be ‘countercultural’ (able to provide complete cultural alternative to existing mainstream culture)
Gramsci, nm, hegemony
Gramsci used ‘hegemony’ to describe the ideological dominance/soc authority of the ruling class over others. NM in CCCS use economic issues to explain sbcs
Or-
Hegemony- the idea that the ruling class ideology eventual becomes accepted as common sense
Plus
Gramsci argued that mass media perpetuated capitalist and fascist ideologies.
Murdoch and McCron (funcs)
Murdoch and McCron developed Roszaks theory and argued youth culture is a ‘generation in itself’ bc the new cultures would radically change society, eliminating the dated divisions of social class
Eval of func view
It generalised youth culture and didn’t account for subcultures, race, gender and soc class distinctions were not considered by funcs. Most func evidence came from white mc american men. (just like the sociologists that carried out the research) so it may not apply to all youth. Their analysis is ethnocentric.
Brake, ‘magical solution’ NM
Brake was sympathetic to the idea that ysbcs can be in resistance to capitalism but notes that it does nothing ro change soc or wc problems. According to Brake it provides a ‘mag sol’ to the wc youth plight- sbcs seem like a way out to every generation who think they wont be like their parents. But the same economic and social structures constrain everyone. The magic trick keeps working for every new wc generation that gets tricked.
Feminist evaluation of Marxism, McRobbie and Garber (fem)
McR and G argue that critical youth culture writers ignore girl sbcs which are different in content and style, they dont fit the conflict approach. McR and G were part of the CCCS but they challenged it as feminists. They pointed out that when girls were mentioned it was only in relation to boys, fleeting, or reinforcing stereotypes. Also male researchers were able to form a rapport with the boys. Girls operate different spaces and have more close knit groups.
Cohen evaluation of the neo marxist view
Cohen noted that the writers wanted to find resistance and were therefore subjective. The youth being studied could be interpreted in many ways. CCCS ignored hippies as they only saw ysbc as wc. Also the majority of youth doesnt belong to a sbc. The CCCS is seen as dated as current youth do not act the same as youth from the 50s-70s
Lincoln and bedroom culture
Lincoln found that boyfriends had access to the bedroom and that access to the internet and media meant that there were more external groups that had influence other than the friend group.
McRobbie and bedroom culture
McR says that girls are involved in bedroom culture, they meet with their friends in the bedroom to chat. It is a safe place within the home. This study was completed in the 70s however recent studies have confirmed its current existence
Reddington (fem)
Reddington argues that sociologists actively ignore women’s participation in sbcs such as Vivienne Westwood (female punk), music, journalism
Thornton (fem)
Thorton studied 90s dance music and found women had less status than men in the club bc they were assoc w mainstream pop
Redhead (post mod)
Redhead argues that sbcs developing outside of the media are no longer sustainable or realistic from the 80s onwards, and that contemporary sbcs or ‘club cultures’ are formed from the media.
Manchester Institute of popular culture
MIP researched club culture and found that there were no ethnicity, gender, or class divisions. MIP found that the media affects club culture diversity
Widdicombe and Wooffitt (pm)
W and W encouraged youth to talk about their exp and views of the world, there was no framework for the conversation (unlike the CCCS). They argued that yscbs have no fixed meaning
Bauman (post mod)
Bauman argues that there is no coherent social world, and that the world is complicated.
Roberts (Pm)
Roberts argued that young people pick up styles from the media and people around them, it has no underlying opposition or meaning.
Maffesoli (pm)
Maffesoli uses the term neo tribe instead of sbc. He describes it as a loosely organised grouping w no fixed membership or commitment. M argues that group id have no longer formed alongside traditional societal boundaries but that youth ‘flit’ from tribe to tribe, dabbling in some then moving on. There is no exclusivity.
Bennett (pm)
Bennett supports Maffesoli through research into newcastle nightclubs. Bennett found that neotribes are based around fashion, music, lifestyle but with no shared values. People mixed and matches but didnt id w a spec group. Bennett argues that social class is rigid but neo tribed recognise fluidity
Polhemus (pm) ‘supermarket of style’
Polhemus proposed that youth can create identities through picking and mixing various cultures, fashion, lifestyle, and music. Polhemus argues that there is a lot of choice so being committed to one style is less common. Young people are reluctant to give labels or restrict choices.
Eg retro fashion does not recreate every aspect from the past.
For postmods style>substance
Eval of postmodernism for subcultures
Hollands and Chatterton argue today’s youth culture is largely mainstream and corporate. Media drives sbcs. Are neo tribes individual or driven by club culture and the media
Eval of pm, St John
There are still divisions (politics, gender, ethnicity). St John discusses ‘postrave technotribes’- youth brought together by music and hedonism but incorporate resistance ideas such as social justice and human rights.
Teddy boys, rockets
see sheet
mods go back to
Emerged in the 1950s
Young men and women that listened to modern jazz. Rebellion their parents generation
Clashed with the rockers
Tailor made suit, Vespas
Cohen used moral panic to explain
skinheads
hippies
punks
goth
Teddy boys, key sociologist Hall and Jefferson
H and J analysed the symbolic meaning of the Edwardian clothing f and said the bootlace was borrowed of characters in western films that were wc aspired. Edwardian clothes were popular with the upper mc. By wearing their clothes they were usurping their social superiors.
Teddy boys, fyvel
argues that the teddy boys drawn from youth who had been excluded from affluence after ww2 and had lost out on their education
skin heads, clark
argued it represented extreme mascility bc they thought their wc id was under threat from economic conditions (form of resistance)
