Introduction to Youth-Subcultures

Youth Culture

a set of values and norms shared by young people that is distinct from the mainstream culture of older generations

Youth subculture

a group within a group, these are the different cultures that are within youth cultures 

 which has its own distinct norms and values, as well as being part of the wider culture  

Defining youth culture (1)

• The concept of childhood did not even exist in medieval Europe. Soon after they were grown children they were looked upon as mini adults and treated so from an early age they worked alongside adults in the fields or in cottage industries  

• Children proceed at puberty to adult status via specific ceremonies or rituals known as ‘rites of passage’ and thereafter what we would consider ‘adolescents’ are treated as adults, for example, girls are expected to marry and bear children and boys are expected to go to war alongside older males.  

• So, youth is the meaning societies give to a particular biological age group 

Postman = discusses the “disappearance of childhood”, and blames the media for exposing children to the adult world to young and sexualising them 

Defining youth culture (2)

One reason for this was that since the lives of “young adults” were not significantly different to their “older adult” counterparts there was little reason to distinguish between them  

  

The fact that we do now distinguish between youth and adulthood suggests youth is a social construct rather than a biological state (it is cultural) 

Pearson (1983) = suggests youth first appeared in Britain in the late 19th century (as opposed to “young people” 

Defining youth culture (3)

• Sociologists believe that youth is socially constructed, it does not exist in an objective way it is created by society  

  

There is now even though to be an emergence of “tweenagers” a group aged between 8 and 12 familiars with pop culture, the internet, and social media.  

Youth is views as an in between ‘a liminal’ category between childhood and adulthood, hover in between. 

  

Youth occupy this ambiguous state, has a distinctive social category, troublesome and problematic.

Youth as a life stage course (1)

We consider youth to be a time of uncertainty because there is a huge development in expectations, behaviours and responsibility all in a quite short space of time! 

Status  

• Youth is a part of neither childhood nor adulthood, both of which are relatively centred identities.  

• Children, for example are generally told how to behave, dress, talk; while adulthood is centred around a range of rights and responsibilities 

  

Situation  

• Youth exists in the margins between childhood and adulthood.  

• This is reflected in a sliding scale of age-related rights from what you can watch in the cinema, to things you can or cannot to until the appropriate age (legally drink alcohol, join the army, get married)  

• Youth is a largely decentred identiy

Youth as a life stage course (2)

Fine (2001) argues young people engage in both adult and childish activities simultaneously.

young people are given freedom to develop their own ideas about the meaning of young, this freedom and choice lead to uncertainty as there can be no guarantees you are “doing youth correctly” and this makes it an increasingly risky status. 

 

Peer groups play an important role as a reference group whose behaviour can be monitored, copied, modified and so on

It allows young people to retain a sense of individuality, freedom and choice while simultaneously being a part of a much wider group of similar minded individuals.  

Youth culture (1)

  Hine (2000) = suggests that teenagers didn’t make much of an appearance in Britain until the mid to late 1950’s  

 

1944 education act = set a school leaving age of 15, which created a ‘period of dependency’ for all young people and led to the idea of youth being ‘qualitatively different’ to adulthood or childhood.  

Youth culture (2)

It is claimed that they developed a common culture that was designed to help them manage and cope with the transition  

Youth culture vs adult culture

• Involvement in education rather the paid work

• Lack of responsibilities

• Importance of the pop culture

Spectacular youth culture (1)

Spectacular youth cultures is the term used to describe the highly visible and flamboyant youth cultures that appeared between the 1950s and the 1970s on the nationwide basis in the uk and which created some social anxiety in society  

Subcultures are considered to be the more deviant aspects of culture; in that they are often a reaction to it rebellion against the dominant norms and valued of wider society 

explanations for spectacular subcultures are tied into wider social changes 

Spectacular youth culture (2)

Reasons for emergence of youth culture = A growth in affluence (disposable incomes to but on records and clothes), Rise in school leaving age, manipulation by the media

Skinheads (1)

First wave = late 1960’s 

Second wave = late 70’s early 80’s  

Emerge = emerged from working class youth seeking identity, making a return to working class pride 

Was a response to the erosion of white working-class values  

A defence from everyday life that was under attack from bourgeoisie capitalism.  

 

Had a desire to celebrate and represent their background 

Skinheads (2)

Social events  

1. Many working class fleet ignored by mainstream politics (post WW2) 

Aligned with the Marxist youth subculture perspective 

2. Immigration from Caribbean commonwealth countries introduced new styles  

They wore short hair, buzz cute, trench coats

Skinheads where associated with reggae (adopted from Jamaican immigrants and rude boy culture) 

The music associated with the subculture reflects its split

• Traditional skinheads embrace multicultural roots  

• White power movement leaned towards aggressive metal  

Skinheads (3)

Original subculture (1960’s) = consisted of young people from white British and black Jamaican backgrounds  

Originally ethnicity was second to class solidarity and the group was multicultural  

Emerged as an alliance among those who shared a sense of working class pride  

Later decades = the subculture revived and became political….   

Led to the group adopting far right racist ideologies 

SHARP = emerged to preserve the original multicultural values of the group  

Skinheads (4)

Social class 

• original Base for unity was working class identity  

• Resistance to middle class norms  

• Reclaiming traditional working-class culture and traditional masculinity  

  

Today the subculture still exists but is largely associated with racism & football hooliganism 

It has changed from the 1960’s now into more fragmented groups  

 

The extremism factors remain problematic 

Mods (1)

Began in late 1950s in London 

Term mod derives from modernist, which was used to describe modern jazz musicians and fans, it Has roots in a stylish London-based group who listened to modern jazz 

Mods had well-publicised clashes with members of a rival subculture, known as rockers 

Style: motor scooters (Lambrettas or Vespas), for efficiency and as a fashion accessory 

Dress: tailor-made suits based on Italian clothes 

Behavior: watched French and Italian art films and read Italian magazines to find style ideas. Associated with amphetamine-all-night jazz dancing at clubs 

 

Music: soul, R&B (e.g. Rolling Stones), but mainly jazz 

  

Mods (2)

Social class: working-class, yet as mods became more cosmopolitan, some working-class “street mods” splintered off, forming groups such as skinheads 

Gender: mainly men, but interestingly, the subculture gave women high visibility, as many men accepted the idea that women did not have to be attached to men

Mods (3)

1965 – mods began to fade out. Nonetheless, mod fashion had spread to other countries 

1970 – mod had long faded out, as tastes began to favor a more casual look, with decreased interest in nightlife 

Late 1970s – mod had a revival in Britain, and a similar revival in North America in early 1980s, mod was thought of more as a general youth-culture style, rather than a separate subgroup