OCR AS/A Level Sociology - Unit 1/Section A Introducing Socialisation, Culture and Identity Contains: Key sociologists and researchers; Theoretical views of the role and formation of youth culture and subcultures; Deviant subcultures; Explanations for young people participating in deviant subcultur...
YOUTH CULTURE
Youth Culture – refers to the idea that youth have a particular way of life,
characterised by distinct norms and values, which makes them different to
other age categories, such as adults or children.
This distinct culture may be seen through norms relating to dress/fashion,
music, speech (e.g. slang terms), consumption patterns, etc.
Other features that may distinguish youths from adults include their
involvement in education rather than work, their lack of responsibilities and
the importance of the peer group.
Sociologists see youth as a social construct – something that is manufactured
or created by society.
YOUTH SUBCULTURE
Subculture – a social group that exists within a broader mainstream culture
and which subscribes to a set of values, norms and traditions which differ
from that followed by the majority.
Spectacular Youth Subculture – describes the highly visible and flamboyant
youth subcultures that appeared between the 1950s and 1970s in the UK.
This created social anxiety and media speculation about young people’s
perceived lack of respect for traditional authority.
Some spectacular youth subcultures include the Teddy Boys, Mods and
Rockers, Skinheads and Punks.
FUNCTIONALISM ON THE ROLE AND FORMATION OF YOUTH CULTURE AND
SUBCULTURES
Functionalists argue that modern societies experience social order because
populations are in broad agreement that children should be socialised into
value consensus and social integration.
There was a baby boom following the Second World War which led to a
significant increase in the number of young people in their teens.
ABRAMS – the newly developing mass media created youth culture to
cater for this expanding group, recognising their potential as consumers.
PARSONS
Youth is a social category that acts as a transitional stage between
childhood and adulthood.
Youth is also potentially a stressful period as the young are expected to
negotiate the difficult and uncertain path from dependence to
interdependence.
The social category of youth therefore functions to help young people to
successfully leave the security of the family and to develop independent
skills.
EISENSTADT
Youth culture provides a safe and tolerable context in which young people
can release stress and frustration caused by the uncertainty involved in
the journey from childhood to adulthood.
Youth culture provides teenagers with the opportunity to rebel and push
the boundaries of acceptable behaviour before they settle to adult
conformity.
The fact that both young people and adults accept its existence as a
temporary means of ‘letting off steam’ means that young people are
generally happy to eventually take on adult roles and responsibilities.
Evaluation:
, SECTION B (OPTION 2) – YOUTH SUBCULTURES
Accused of over-generalising about youth culture and failing to
consider/explain the emergence of specific spectacular youth subcultures.
Fail to consider the impact of social class, gender and ethnicity on youth
subcultures.
Fail to consider that some youth subcultures may be harmful or dysfunctional
to both society and the individuals within the subculture.
Criticised for being ethnocentric as their analysis reflects their own cultural
background – White middle-class American – which may not be appropriate to
British working-class or Black youths.
MARXISM ON THE ROLE AND FORMATION OF YOUTH CULTURE AND
SUBCULTURES
Marxists believe that modern capitalist societies are underpinned by
exploitation and consequently inequality and conflict.
THE CCCS (CENTRE FOR CONTEMPORARY CULTURE)
The CCCS were interested in the spectacular youth subcultures that they
had seen developing.
They were particularly interested in how social class and the economic
situation of young people might be instrumental in the formation of youth
subcultures.
They concluded that the style of particular spectacular youth subcultures,
as expressed in their dress and behaviour, symbolised both a reaction to
the economic situation youths found themselves in and functioned as a
form of resistance and ideological opposition to the hegemonic power of
the ruling class.
In the 1950s and 1960s, there were few opportunities for working-class youth
to progress, and little or no choice of attending further or higher education.
Youth tended to leave school at 14 and enter manual jobs.
This led to spectacular subcultures, like the Teddy Boys in the 1950s (studied
by JEFFERSON) and the Mods in the 1960s (studied by HEBDIGE), adopting
styles that contrasted with their daily workwear and demonstrated their
desire to raise their status.
Evaluation:
Their ideas have been challenged as deterministic as they were applying
meaning to the youths’ styles and behaviour to fit in with their class analysis
in terms only of oppression and resistance.
Feminists and Postmodernists argue that Marxists focus too much on social
class, ignoring the diversity of influences on youth subcultures, and the ways
in which they continue to evolve and change.
Spectacular youth subcultures were highly visible but only a tiny fraction of
young people were committed to them. They may therefore not have been
representative of the views or behaviour of young people.
FEMINISM ON THE ROLE AND FORMATION OF YOUTH CULTURE AND
SUBCULTURES
Feminists observe that females have often been ignored or marginalised by
theories of youth subcultures.
Studies suggest that subcultures are dominated by males and that females
only play a secondary role as, e.g. passive girlfriends or ‘pliant passengers’.
However, Feminists point out that many of these studies are flawed as they
suffer from bias.
Many of the sociologists who study subcultures are males who allow their
patriarchal beliefs to shape their research so that the role of females in
subcultures is minimised or even devalued.
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