Youth Subultures

Question 1

Youth

Answer 1

The period of life between childhood and adulthood

Question 2

Youth culture

Answer 2

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

Question 3

Youth subcultures

Answer 3

• 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.

Question 4

Peer groups

Answer 4

• 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

Question 5

Spectacular youth subcultures

Answer 5

Subcultures based around flamboyant / highly visible styles and confrontational attitudes e.g: Teddy Boys, Punks, Skinheads

Question 6

Youth as a social construction

Answer 6

• 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.

Question 7

Emergence of youth culture

Answer 7

-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.

Question 8

Emergence of youth culture: Style

Answer 8

• Stylish social groups with own style of clothing / dress / hair / makeup
• more recent trends

Question 9

Emergence of youth culture: Demographic Change

Answer 9

• Baby boom after WW2

- babies became teens in 50s and 60s - youth culture emergence

Question 10

Emergence of youth culture: Schooling

Answer 10

• Youth leaving age increased from 15-18

- No pressure of finance or responsibility so youths had a chance to grow into youth subcultures

Question 11

Emergence of youth culture: Media

Answer 11

• transmitting messages and different trends and cultures

- Thornton uses concept of subcultural capital

Question 12

Emergence of youth culture: Economy

Answer 12

• better educated workforce profits economy

- EMA promoted staying in school

Question 13

Emergence of youth culture: Globalisation

Answer 13

• youths influenced by global products

- Teddy Boys - Americanisation

Question 14

Emergence of youth culture: Consumption

Answer 14

• leisure goods for youth promoted
• use of parental spending
• high streets target youths

Question 15

FYVEL

Answer 15

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

Question 16

ABRAMS

Answer 16

• ‘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

Question 17

Functionalism and youth culture

Answer 17

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

Question 18

PARSONS: Functionalism

Answer 18

Youth culture is a bridge between childhood and adulthood

Question 19

EISENSTADT: Functionalism

Answer 19

Childhood: Ascribed status
Adulthood: Achieved status
Said youth culture binds everyone together and gives a ‘forum for the frustrations of life’

Question 20

ROZAK: Functionalism

Answer 20

Talks about the generation gap

Question 21

HALL AND JEFFERSON (Marxists): Teddy Boys

Answer 21

• 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

Question 22

HALL (Marxists): Hippies

Answer 22

• 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

Question 23

BRAKE (Marxist): Hippies

Answer 23

• 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

Question 24

HEBDIGE (Marxist): Skinheads

Answer 24

• 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

Question 25

CLARKE (Marxist): Skinheads

Answer 25

- territoriality key characteristic of skinheads - negative towards outsiders of their working class communities - socialised in pubs, on street corners and at football matches

Question 26

PHIL COHEN (Marxist): Mods

Answer 26

- 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

Question 27

STAN COHEN (Interactionist): Rockers

Answer 27

- 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

Question 28

CASHMORE AND TROYNA: Rastafarians

Answer 28

- 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

Question 29

FRITH: Punks

Answer 29

- 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

Question 30

HEBDIGE (Marxist): Punks

Answer 30

- 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

Question 31

HODKINSON: Goths

Answer 31

- 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

Question 32

THORNTON (Postmodernist): Ravers

Answer 32

- 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

Question 33

MAFFESOLI (Postmodernist): Ravers

Answer 33

- 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

Question 34

BORDEN: Skaters

Answer 34

- 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