Youth Subcultures Flashcards
What is youth subculture
A culture that follows their distinct norms and values in terms of how they dress and activities they’re involved in as well as subscribing to the norms and values of mainstream society
Functionalism
See youth as a transitional stage from childhood to adulthood. Parsons suggests youth is an important time at which they must learn to be independent and a rite of passage
Eisendadt: youth brings young people into society and provides a self outlet for tensions at the transition between childhood and adulthood brings - let off steam.
Rebellion is accepted as it is a part of growing up
Evaluation of functionalism?
Formation
Most evidence comes from white MC American males and is questioned whether it can be applied to all western cultures, therefore the theory lacks cultural relativism and generalisability.
Other theorists : neo-Marx found impact of social class, feminists found gender differences
Other Functionalist points ?
Formation
Cohen: status frustration. WC boys cannot achieve the same educational success as MC boys and therefore result into deviancy.
Merton: strain theory. WC experience a strain between materialistic goals and turn to deviancy to achieve this.
Explain Marxist/ neo-Marxist
Formation
Based on conflict than consensus (functionalism). Particularly looked at spectacular youth subcultures
Gramsci concept of hegemony suggests the dominance the ruling class has over the subordinate classes.
neo-Marxist challeged functionalist view of youth culture as it takes into account the social situation faced by young people.
Evaluation of Marxism
Formation
Feminists suggest the CCCS ignores females in the subcultural analysis
The MC also had subcultures e.g the hippies who were ignored by CCCS (Marxism) who saw youth culture as WC. It could be argued they picked subcultures to fit their analysis rather than the other way round.
CCCS was influential but is outdated as youth of today inhabit a different world compared to the 70s.
Feminism
Formation
McRobbie &a Garber girls are absent from research on youth subcultures. They are presented as passive girlfriends if the main male subculture members.
Postmodernism: how does it evaluate it all?
Formation
Youth styles are fluid and changeable. In contemporary society youth culture is now fragmented and diverse
Polhemus argues there’s a supermarket of style in which youths create identities through fashion, music and are reluctant to give themselves labels. Style is more important than substance in today’s youth.
Evaluate postmodernism?
There are still distinct youths in society today for e.g goths and emos. Not everyone chooses and mixes styles
Subculture : gender
Boys dominated the teenage market as girls were focused more at school. McRobbie suggests that girls are more active in consumer culture than they were before as magazines focus romance for girls and are more self confident in sexuality. Girls also critique magazines now and even laugh at them rather than passively accepting its content.
Hybridity
Nayak: white wannabes
However some argue cultural appropriation
Resistance?
Rastafarians and reggae culture have religious beliefs with their African roots and is a political and spiritual movement offering a positive identity and opposition to racism they experience when migrating to Britain.
Deviant subcultures
1) gangs 2)delinquent subcultures 3) criminal subcultures 4) spectacular youth subcultures 5) anti school subculture
Patterns and trends ?
Young people are 37% of ASBOs much higher than adults
Black males commit 54% of street males and are likely to reoffend due to the negative label around them
McPherson Report: death of Stephen Lawrence who died of a racial attack. Institutional racism
13% increase in arrest of Asian males
More young people live in urban areas providing opportunities to commit crime
Social Class, Age and ethnicity patterns and trends
WC youths > to commit crimes than those from wealthier backgrounds. Arguably the police target WC delinquency and it appears as if they commit more crimes
Black accounted for 21% of young people in custody though they make up 3% of population
Black people are three times more likely to be stopped and searched than white people
Young males responsible for 20% whereas females responsible for 4%
Functionalist explanations
Merton: strain between goals society has set which may lead to deviance.
Cloward and Ohlin developed this and suggested that within a subculture the deviant means of achieving become the acceptable means of achieving society’s goals. They have blocked opportunities
Cohen: status frustration WC boys see themselves as inferior to MC boys as they do not get status from achieving educational success
Miller: value consensus of education being a MC value
Evaluation of functionalism
What about the labels given to WC boys by the police?
New Right
Murray: underclass. Condemns single mums raising boys with no fathers in their lives. Inadequate socialisation occurs and is reason why males commit more crimes.
Marxist/neo-Marx
Lea and Young:
1) relative deprivation as they compare themselves to others and feel more deprived (a rise in media as they feel less freedom compared to adults)
2) marginalisation lack voice of opinion and power. Feel pushed to edge of society
3) subculture 1+2 results into formation of subculture to help them deal with frustration.
Evaluation of Marx
Ignore gender differences so cannot generalise to all youths
CCCs is outdated as there are a few spectacular youth subcultures today
However LRealists are up to date and can explain material crime
Interactionist explanation in terms of
Wilkins Fawbert Cohen Becker Young
Deviance is a social construct
Becker: labelling by police results to self fulfilling prophecy
Wilkins: deviancy amplification
1) criminal act is performed 2)media reports and sensationalises story 3)creates moral panic 4) public outcry causes changes in law
And example of deviancy amplification is
Fawbert: Bluewater hoodie ban
Young: amplification and labelling of hippies as drug takers leading to self fulfilling prophecy that amplifies deviance
Evaluation of Interactionist (label)
Cannot or do it explain why youths commit deviant act before they are given the label. Assume label comes first.
