Youth Subultures Flashcards
Youth
The period of life between childhood and adulthood
Youth culture
Associated with a way of life which is different to that of a child’s or adult’s
There are many norms and values that are distinctive to youth culture
Youth subcultures
- Subculture = a smaller group within a large one or a minority section of a majority culture
- Groups of individuals who often develop in opposition to authority and who share norms and values which go against the norms in society.
- They differ in terms of fashion, music, leisure interests and behaviour.
Peer groups
- A set of people belonging to a similar age grouping who share the same norms and values
- Peer groups are very important between the ages of 5 and 18 when young people are in full time education
Spectacular youth subcultures
Subcultures based around flamboyant / highly visible styles and confrontational attitudes e.g: Teddy Boys, Punks, Skinheads
Youth as a social construction
- Every society divides its members according to age.
- There is some evidence that age divisions are based on biological factors; however sociologists argue that age is socially constructed.
Emergence of youth culture
-emerged in 1950s
-due to a number of different social reasons
-cannot be put down to a single reason
Some reasons:
-conscription would end in 1959 and young men no longer had to wear a uniform.
-the working class found themselves with money in their pockets, and, at the same time, there is an influx of new sounds and styles coming over from America.
Emergence of youth culture: Style
- Stylish social groups with own style of clothing / dress / hair / makeup
- more recent trends
Emergence of youth culture: Demographic Change
- Baby boom after WW2
- babies became teens in 50s and 60s - youth culture emergence
Emergence of youth culture: Schooling
- Youth leaving age increased from 15-18
- No pressure of finance or responsibility so youths had a chance to grow into youth subcultures
Emergence of youth culture: Media
- transmitting messages and different trends and cultures
- Thornton uses concept of subcultural capital
Emergence of youth culture: Economy
- better educated workforce profits economy
- EMA promoted staying in school
Emergence of youth culture: Globalisation
- youths influenced by global products
- Teddy Boys - Americanisation
Emergence of youth culture: Consumption
- leisure goods for youth promoted
- use of parental spending
- high streets target youths
FYVEL
Claims absence of fathers during WW2 caused boys to not be properly disciplined - became deviant and thrill-seeking
E.g: Teddy Boys came about to have fun and excitement after the war - deviant and gang-minded
ABRAMS
- ‘affluence without responsibility’
- Teddy Boy subculture emerged because of this
- they spent their disposable income on fashion, music and leisure
- they gained status through their style
Functionalism and youth culture
Individuals need to belong and be integrated into society - without these social integrations we would experience anomie
Functionalists talk about the importance of youth culture
PARSONS: Functionalism
Youth culture is a bridge between childhood and adulthood
EISENSTADT: Functionalism
Childhood: Ascribed status
Adulthood: Achieved status
Said youth culture binds everyone together and gives a ‘forum for the frustrations of life’
ROZAK: Functionalism
Talks about the generation gap
HALL AND JEFFERSON (Marxists): Teddy Boys
- formed a rebellious subculture in response to the destruction of their communities as a result of WW2
- aggressively defended their territories against developers and also immigrants
HALL (Marxists): Hippies
- opposed to capitalism and wanted to live an alternative communal lifestyle
- took drugs and wore bright colours, kaftans and sandals
- wanted to oppose mainstream culture
BRAKE (Marxist): Hippies
- hippies were mainly middle class and were forming a resistance to their parents’ middle class values
- many took drugs, listened to chilled-out music and had anti-war attitudes
HEBDIGE (Marxist): Skinheads
- working class youths wore Doc Marten boots, Ben Sherman shirts and jeans
- established this sense of style to assert their masculinity after losing jobs as a result of high unemployment
- identity allowed them to be deluded in the idea they were in steady jobs and the breadwinner
CLARKE (Marxist): Skinheads
- territoriality key characteristic of skinheads
- negative towards outsiders of their working class communities
- socialised in pubs, on street corners and at football matches
PHIL COHEN (Marxist): Mods
- said Mods were working class but tried to imitate the style of the middle classes
- adopted their smart way of dressing and then made it their own
- hedonistic lifestyle involving drugs, dancing and fashion
- tried to escape boring repetitive lives by partying at the weekend
STAN COHEN (Interactionist): Rockers
- examined relationship between the Mods and Rockers and found the clashes were exaggerated by the media through deviancy amplification
- media presented both groups as folk devils which created wider moral panic and hostility between them
- group wore leather, rode motorbikes and aimed to stand out as ‘different’ to previous generations
- high disposable incomes
CASHMORE AND TROYNA: Rastafarians
- explained that Rastafarians faced racism within Britain and therefore exercised cultural resistance by turning inwards and strengthening their own culture
- did this by forming their own communities and generally only socialised with each other
FRITH: Punks
- created as a form of resistance against the alienation working class youths and also a response to unemployment
- music ‘dolo queue rock’ - reaction against manufactured and pretentious music
HEBDIGE (Marxist): Punks
- adopted an element of the Rastafarian opposition to being seen as British
- explicitly attacked conventional notions of being British such as the Queen and the Union Jack
- aim to ‘speak out for the neglected youth’ and a desire to ‘act out’
- used bricolage
- form of resistance to society’s ruling class norms and values
HODKINSON: Goths
- carried ethnographic study of Goths
- found that the subculture was based around shared music interests, the arts and ‘goth’ fashions, rather than resistance or rebellion
- group emerged out of a combination of punk, glam rock, and New Romantics
- listened to music with sinister and sombre sounds
THORNTON (Postmodernist): Ravers
- conducted ethnographic study
- does not see it as resistance or class based or about close knit ties
- subcultural capital - the more status the more you’re involved in the subculture and have the latest fashions / music / knowledge
MAFFESOLI (Postmodernist): Ravers
- stated that the rave subculture was an example of a Neo Tribe rather than a subculture
- Neo Tribes refers to a group with a looser structure than subcultures - they are not class based but based on having a shared state of mind and leisure interests
BORDEN: Skaters
- status gained through skating ability
- reclaimed urban spaces and made them their own
- also practised graffiti and had links to hip hop or indie music
- wore DCs, Vans, Airwalk skate shoes and hard wearing denim
- subcultural style was important
