Outline and Explain the View That Youth Subcultures Are a Form of Resistance to Capitalism

Subcultures are around us everywhere. It’s a group within a larger culture, who have something in common. An example of this would be in ‘Body Ritual among the Nacirema’ which is a story filled with weird perspectives and traditions. Including the charm-box of the household shrine and the medicine men that have an imposing temple, or latispo. Culture is such a strong aspect in people as it determines how a person behaves and does things, which is shown in this book. The Nacirema people are not so far off from us modern day Americans.

The 1950’s was a time of great social change. The word, ‘teen-ager’ was recently coined and applied to people aged thirteen to nineteen. During this decade, people’s perception of youth and adolescents drastically changed as children became more rebellious. Previous to 1950. society consisted of two main stages of human development: children and adults. When the Baby Boom started in 1946, producing more babies, a new era of music, attitudes, practices, and dance began to appeal to kids that did not feel socially accepted by adults in society. This was the start of the teenage rebellion. With increased teenager presence came more disapproval because of rebellious behaviour. Teenagers were pitted against media, parents, and local authority. Teenagers started disobeying parents, getting expelled from school, and fighting back against authority. Indeed, the ‘50s were a time that saw upheavals towards the impact of the music, change of attitudes, new fashions, and new dances developed children into teenagers.

College students can be considered members of a subculture, “a group united by sets of concepts, values, traits, and/or behavioral patterns that distinguish it from others within the same culture or society”

The Sub-cultural Theory is in reference to a smaller group of people within a larger group. The larger group might be the poverty stricken lower class society, and a sub culture to the larger group might be a smaller group such as the gangs (manly delinquent) that plague or cities and streets.

In Rushkoff’s film, The Merchants of Cool, he rhetorically questions if “teenagers even have a culture to call distinctly their own.” In the late 1990’s when the documentary was made, the implication was that they do not. However, with the internet’s advancements and the accessibility of communication with massive amounts of people, teenagers today can form authentic cultures that are not contaminated by the corporate media.

There is something about the ideology of a subculture that sparks an interest in me. Maybe it is intriguing due to its members’ originality, courage to stand up for beliefs, or freely expressing their own self- identity. A subculture forms by individuals taking a risk, separating themselves from the mainstream, and forming their own distinctive norms, not caring what the “normal” members of the mainstream society think of them. Or do they care? Maybe that is the exact statement a subculture is making. Maybe these individuals are forming these groups so that people will care. Maybe their rebellious attitude is a final, somewhat desperate approach to getting that response. The images being portrayed in most subcultures are

A culture is the way of life of a particular group of people that is learned and shared. On the other hand subculture is described as the non-dominant group within a society, usually smaller groups as it is not the primary culture. A subculture is created based on an idea such as music, age, location, religion or even lifestyle. The subculture theory of delinquency explains the subculture that exists in society, which contains different value systems than the rest of society. The key element in the subculture theory of delinquency is to achieve an understanding of those who are seen as an outcast or delinquent.

When discussing subcultures it’s important to establish what a subculture is to be able to correctly identify a specific subculture and differentiate it from a main culture. An example of a main culture or parent culture could be the most prominent culture of Great Britain, which would be its development from an island to a civilized prospering democratic country. The main culture that is associated with Britain that separates it from other cultures is that it is seen as a liberal democracy. The main religion associated with British culture would be Christianity, and most people would generalise British culture to be drinking tea, eating scones and having a particular “posh” accent. These small characteristics are what cultures are made of

With the economic decline and availability of jobs with upward movement, a culture of youths formed in Britain that challenged the ideals and cultural norms of the generations that came before them. A consistent movement from traditional society through youth subcultures brings light through the eyes of the musicians that describe their generation’s feelings of homelessness in an era filled with unemployment, low wages, and violence. The insurgence of the counterculture movement, poor economic conditions, and the commercialization of previous Rock and Roll music in Britain directly led to the punk subculture because it allowed youths to speak up about their conditions and frustrations through an easily understood and accessible medium while maintaining a different stance than their predecessors.

It astounded me when I read the definition of “subculture”, as it was partially defined as “a world within a world”. The lives of field workers is a world of its own, and the children depicted in the film are shown living through it year after year. Our books teach about subcultures in that they are formed by a group’s values, norms, foods, religion, music, language, and clothing (pg. 50). These field workers and their children live a completely dissimilar life from the average “norms” of American culture. Their lifestyle is not stable and the children as forced to leave behind their homes and education in order to seek work in the fields with their families. They migrate across America during the year to follow the crops and pursue employment.

The term youth subcultures was first made and studied at the University Of Chicago in America (Blackman, 2003) . The school was of the sociological discipline and looked at subcultures as 'deviant ' groups, much of the research was conducted on gangs. The theorists were in disagreement with the picture the mass media had been painting about youth. This picture was of a homogeneous group in which class was not a factor and all youth adhered to one unified culture (Dvarionaite, 2015). Early American theorist of the Chicago school believed class was a leading factor as to why there was social disorganisation. Albert K. Cohen went on further to explain how class created divisions in society. Cohen described subcultures as emerging when, ' a number of actors with similar problems of social adjustment interact with one another and innovate new frames of reference. ' (Gelder and Thornton, pp 13, 1997). Cohen proved this through he 's work with young male delinquent

Looking at the big picture, subcultures and countercultures are both cultures that have their own values and norms. They are both capable of being a culture within a culture. A subculture is a smaller culture that exists within a larger culture but fit within the dominant culture, where as a counterculture is an opposition to the norms of society and contradict the dominant culture and norms. Both cultures dress and behave in different ways than average citizens of a society and are usually identifiable by their different appearances. A subculture can have its own beliefs, norms and values, but they are usually able to exist

The intricate nature of youth means that while some argue it is a universal stage of life, it is seen by many as a formation of sociocultural elements. Social construction can be defined as something that has been shaped by the values, interests or practices of a culture or society and this is evident in the youth demographic through its revolution in recent years. The markings of youth are social in formulation; highlighting the way in which young people have been influenced by differing trends and movements. Youth is a transitional phase, its age bracket extending and blurring; transcending global divides and traditions. Thus, it is the social context that surrounds youth which suggests that it is not a universal stage of life. Ultimately, the idea of youth when viewed in a historical and cultural context as well as in relation to other socially influenced concepts such as adulthood, can be observed as a social construction.

The term “subculture” refers to a group of people who have similarities between them, and these similarities distinguish them significantly from other social groups. The similarities do not mean religious or political affiliation. These groups have different beliefs than the main culture and are youth oriented. These subcultures have their own styles of music, ideology,

The youth is being asked to give up certain family and social values that were an integral part of their identity, and adopt in its place a sense of self-alienation, and become a self-estranged imitator of everything "modern".