FUNCTIONALISTS VIEWS ON YOUTH

Functionalist's consider the period of youth as a time of change and transition. Sees young people as experiencing youth in the same way (homogeneously

Parsons says that young people try to detach themselves from their parents and achieve their own independence. He says that this time is a 'rite of passage' that all young people go through.

Eisenstadt believes that youth culture is a time of stress and anxiety which is caused by the changing norms of becoming an adult. That also young people rely on their peers to develop feelings of community and togetherness preparing them for the adult world

However Functionalists research is biased as it was conducted by American, middle class white men doing it on American middle class white men.

They ignore the different experiences that happens in differnt subcultures with different beliefs.

Marxists also argue that they ignore the conflict which happens at this time and that they only relect on the positives.