Sociology - YOUTH & SUBCULTURES - Flashcards in A Level and IB Sociology

what is youth?

a social construct - can vary between times and cultures e.g. Hamar tribe

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what does UK youth culture value?

education, not work; lack of responsibilities; importance of peers

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key youth study

POSTMAN - childhood is in decline and may disappear due to media; youth is starting earlier but also lasting longer - education for longer and marriage later

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Historical development of youth culture

equal opportunities after WW2 challenged hierarchy; more jobs = youths income increased by over 50% (abrams); globalisation of goods aimed at teens; spread of media and products for teens e.g magazines; increase in births after WW2 = culture continue

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Functionalist views of youth + 3 key studies (1)

transitional stage; PARSONS - need to prepare for workplace; education does this, but youth helps deal with stressful transitional stage

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(2)

EISENSTADT - gap between child and adult has risk of anomie; youth gives sense of belonging; rebellion accepted to test boundaries, norms reinforced and social order followed

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(3)

ABRAMS - after WW2 youths emerged as group with spending power; targeted by businesses and media, made transition phase more noticeable

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marxist views of youth - 3 key points (1)

Resistance against capitalism - youths harder to control than adults with jobs/bills/family; resist through subcultures; different subculture due to different conflicts faced

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marxist views of youth - 3 key points (2)

Exaggeration of WC values - exaggerate the values that define them to oppose capitalist control

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marxist views of youth - 3 key points (3)

BRAKE - magical solutions - joining subculture gives feeling of power and difference; an illusion - in reality can do nothing to alter power differences and will eventually conform (hebdige - incorporation)

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feminist views of youth - key study + concept

McROBBIE + GARBER - girls invisible - less interesting, male researchers, valued on appearance not acts, harder to investigate

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+ concept

- BEDROOM CULTURE - stay inside more, resistance to parents and boys, discuss personal topics which forms close knit groups

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postmodernist views of youth - key ideas and 2 key studies

youth is more fluid, diverse and changeable. MAFFESOLI - neo tribes - can swap between groups to meet individual needs; no fixed membership; POLHEMUS - supermarket of style - can pick and choose to create identity; no commitment = no restriction.

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CLASS and subcultures - why do they form?

resistance/fustration; youiths resist this through fashion/ music; different subcultures form due to different economic situations

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CLASS and subcultures - examples

SKINHEADS - WC youths, resistance to restrictive 50's, contrast MC hippies; link to marxism - felt their WC identities were threatened so exaggerated through violence and clothing

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CLASS and subcultures - examples

TEDDY BOYS - WC youths, excluded from affluence after WW2, clothing was a way to be more like MC superiors

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CLASS and subcultures - examples

PUNKS - HEBDIGE - bricolage = re use of ordinary items, resist mainstream fashion

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why may bricolage not succeed? study

HEBDIGE - incorporation of styles into mainstream culture means they loose distinctiveness and fade away

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ETHNICITY and subcultures - resistance

HEBDIGE - subculture may arise as a response to immigrant presence in britain, e.g. racist skinheads. Rastafarianism - resist white culture and racism; Mercer - dreadlocks emphasise black identity

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ETHNICITY and subcultures - hybridity

nayak - white wannabees; Brasians - celebrate, cultural code switchers, johal = hyper ethnic style as empowerment through difference; mercer - straightened black hair imitate white?

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cultural exchange

positive; new ethnicities form

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cultural appropriation

negative; ethnic cultures into white is exploit/disrespect; loose meaning. examples - elvis, white dreads, chinese tattoos

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Youth deviance - the 5 groups

deviant subcultures; criminal subcultures; gang (harmful, criminal identity, name + leader + territory), spectacular subcultures (visible, flamboyant), anti school subculture (reject norms/values of education)

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trends in youth deviance - ethnicity

black youths 21% custody but only 3% population; arrested and stop/searched more; lea + young = most crime is intraracial

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trends in youth deviance - class

Jacobsen et al - youths in custody often have disadvantaged backgrounds, e.g. no father, deprivation

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MEDIA and youth deviance - message concepts

hypodermic syringe - injected with daily messages that builds up set of expectations/beliefs.

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MEDIA and youth deviance - who disagrees with this?

pluralists - uses and gratifications model - we don't just passively absorb, we choose what to believe

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what can media reporting cause?

fear against certain social groups, false impressions about the amount of crime

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scapegoating?

youths/ethnics stereotyped as deviant

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deviancy amplification

overreporting in the media

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what can this over reporting lead to?

COHEN - Moral panic - overreacting from public; social group blamed as folkdevils; seem as threat to social order

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functionalist views on folkdevils?

say that folkdevils are needed so that the acceptable norms/values are reinforced and social order is followed

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new right views on folkdevils?

media is only making society aware of this group

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marxist views on folkdevils?

media focuses on WC crimes to draw away from crimes of bourgeoisie

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study that supports marxist view?

HALL - deviancy amplification can be used to justify the introduction of new laws, e.g. police allowed to use physical force, mugging was over reported

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Sociology - YOUTH & SUBCULTURES

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