Youth
juvenile delinquency - rebellion - subculture
Youth culture
Young people often find ways to express themselves which are different to the generally accepted culture of their community. The various methods by which they express themselves and associate are known as youth culture.
Young people having a subculture unique to themselves is a recent phenomena. It is thought that it started to become most prevalent around the mid 20th century, after World War II, due to the economic, political, and educational climate.
Ironically the music, clothes, language etc. of youth culture is often created by non-young people (adults). For example MTV while being seen as a big part of youth culture (at the present time) is controlled by adults. Boy bands who find favour with young people are often not young themselves.
Other cultures typically create and produce their own cultural ideas, while young people have a certain amount produced by adults. To some people this raises questions about the exploitation and oppression of young people.
In Western civilization, a distinct teenage culture has developed. A "teenager" or "teen" is a person whose age is a number ending in "-teen" in the English language: that is to say, someone from the age of thirteen to the age of nineteen. The word is of recent origin, only having appeared in the mid 20th century. The term "teenager" is roughly equivalent to adolescent. However due to marketing, the pre-teens (about 8-12 year olds, especially females) also have a strong youth culture. However, youth culture is beginning to expend its influence in increasingly younger age groups.
Today's youth culture in general can be characterized by:
- A distinct style of dress.
- A dislike for other teenagers who are not part of the "youth culture"
- Glorification of "bad" behavior (sex, drugs, etc.), to symbolize being "different".
- Frequent use of slang and profanity, particularly in the older age groups.
- Cliques and friendship circles, almost like a "second family".
- A strong desire to be "cool", e.g. following the fads.
After Subculture: Critical Studies in Contemporary Youth Culture - Andy Bennett, Keith Kahn-Harris
After Subculture: Critical Studies in Contemporary Youth Culture - Andy Bennett, Keith Kahn-Harris [Amazon.com] [FR] [DE] [UK]
The concept of "subculture" has long been of significant importance in research on youth, style, deviance and popular culture. Although in more recent years subculture has been the subject of sustained critique, it still provides a valuable point of reference for study and research. This text offers students an up-to-date and wide-ranging account of developments in youth culture research that reject, refine or reinvent the concept of subculture. Bringing together key theoretical statements with illuminating analyses of particular aspects of youth culture popular music, clubbing, body modification and the internet, among others, this is an introduction to a diverse and wide-ranging field. --Synopsis via Amazon.com
Inside Subculture: The Postmodern Meaning of Style (Dress, Body, Culture Series) - David Muggleton
Inside Subculture: The Postmodern Meaning of Style (Dress, Body, Culture Series) - David Muggleton [Amazon.com] [FR] [DE] [UK]
While this book is ostensibly about dress and style in various British subcultures, scholar Muggleton uses clothing largely as a point of departure to explore the values and motives of those who identify themselves, at least partially, as "punk," "goth," "skinhead," or "hippy." With the greater purpose of investigating current claims about the "postmodern" nature of subcultures, Muggleton conducted a series of 57 interviews with subculture participants in Brighton and East Sussex. Subculturalists, he concludes, are postmodern in their identification with fragmentation and heterogeneity but modern in their commitment to individual freedom and self-expression. While there is considerable popular interest in the subject matter covered here, Muggleton writes almost exclusively for specialists in the field. His use of professional jargon and propensity to quote liberally from secondary sources will discourage all but the most intrepid general readers. Highly recommended for academic libraries. Andrew Brodie Smith, -- Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc. via Amazon.com
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