Youth Culture and Social Change

During the 1950s, teenagers were starting to create their own identity. Compared to how teenagers acted in previous generations, teenagers in these years were different. Teenagers in this time period gained freedom and independent. Teenagers were able to have fun during these years. They also rebelled against being conservative and conforming into what the adult society wants them to act. Their beliefs and attitudes were distinct from what their parents thought. Teenagers had different groups that they belonged to. Hipsters, rockers, beatniks, squares and teeny-boppers were the five diverse groups of fifties teenagers. Also, they did not follow what their parents like. The way they talked, music and fashion evolved and became a part of the youth culture. Rock and roll became a great influence in a teenager’s life. Many parents did not approve of this music as they described it as revolting, vulgar and thought it was influencing their child in a terrible way. This created a generation gap between parents and the teenagers. The teenagers were starting to mark, able to express who they are, which had many

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.

Cultural dating techniques and sexual practices among youth has changed drastically over the decades. From a postmodernist perspective, this is largely due to society, the morals, values and lessons that are taught in our social institutions. Dating practices have become less formal which is now considered the new norm, “we have moved into a “late-modern society” that is increasing anomic (or less normed) in certain respects” (Cote & Allahar, 2006, p. 28). There is no more ‘traditional roles’ of dating or even clear guidelines. How girls are supposed to behave is constantly changing and reinforced by various authority figures, society and our educational institutions. Dating and sexual practices have gone from the relationship first then, sexual activity, to sexual activity and then commitment. Media and society are now telling females to explore their sexuality before settling down except continue to look down upon the females who do so. Males continue to be taught to have multiple sexual partners and look for a female partner whom has only had very few sexual partners if any. Not only has institutions and other influences taken away the standards from dating, they are sending mixed messages. Encouraging females to have the best of the

"What is on the minds of America's youth today?" was the prompt for an essay contest. The top of the page hosted two images; one of the youth of 1968 protesting racism, and one of teenagers on Spring Break in 2004. The magazine claimed that 30 years ago, young people were so focused on sit-ins, protests, and what was happening in the world around them and today, teens are content solely with "watching their MTV, and following the love lives of Brad, Jen, Jessica, and Paris." I was intrigued by the article. I let the prompt linger in my mind.

As the baby-boomer generation entered their teen years, the seeds of rebellion were planted into their brains. Rejecting the social normalities portrayed by parents became a common scenario. These obstreperous youth could not be contained, and this lead to the revamping of the American society. The culture was changing rapidly in a variety of ways. Music, clothing, and even morals changed drastically.

There are generally two very broad ways in which young people have been targeted and portrayed by the media in Britain. There is a whole media industry aimed at socially constructed youth in terms of lifestyle and identity. Magazines are produced specifically for young people. Record companies, Internet music download sites, mobile telephone companies and radio stations all specifically target and attempt to shape musical tastes of young people. Networking sites on the internet, such as Facebook, Bebo and MySpace, allow youth to project their identities around the world. Youth are often portrayed by news media as a social problem, as immoral or anti-authority and consequently as folk devils as part of a moral panic. The majority of moral panics since the 1950’s have been manufactured around concerns about young people’s behaviour, such as their membership of specific ‘deviant’ subcultures (e.g. teddy boys, hoodies) or because their behaviour (e.g. drug taking or binge drinking) has attracted the disapproval of those in authority.

Furthermore, in 2007 a research was administered by Kathleen Gerson, writer of the American Prospect, based on the question of unsuccessful relationships as a result of poor nurturing through their childhood. She states that “young workers today grew up in rapidly changing times: They watched women march into the workplace and adults develop a wide range of alternatives to traditional marriage.” In other words, Gerson is explaining that due to the change in families, many children can administer a misconception of what relationships are composed of, concluding why their relationships are different than previous generations. This generation grew up in a completely different aspect when women’s rights were already given and male dominance was slowly vanishing. However, since this was a social time change for many, gender roles in the relationships differentiated between families, some decided to remain in traditional-like relationships, while others went to have their own directed relationships but because divorce was no longer unacceptable, many ended in divorce. Having parents as idols and creating their own perspective on relationships, children learned a lot from simple observations. For example as children grow up living with parents in an unhealthy relationship, as they reach a stage to date, they will initiate that all relationships are similar and will believe that-that is the correct way to behave in their own relationship since it’s what they were accustomed to. This

The stigma that females cannot have sex outside of wedlock is gone. When asking girls from a local high school Anna Quindlen was told “If you were a virgin, you just lied about it so that no one would think you were immature” (199). This development is the complete opposite of what it was 40 years ago. Teenagers are getting more educated about sex and pregnancy than they used to, but teens are also getting more pressure to have sex as well. Society’s impact is not just confined to viewing women and men more equal when it comes to sex, but also in other areas such as the education of math and

Authors see that teenagers are going to be the one who help change the world and it is in every decade that a teenager will do that. Writing about teenagers helps other teenagers see that they are not the only ones going through a problem. Authors captures the coming of age for teenagers and tell the readers their journey. Influences are a major part of teenagers growing up. If they do not have the correct influence then they end up going down a wrong path but that does not mean they are stuck on that path. Every teenager in literature has a choose to make decisions if they want the path that will lead to greatness or not. Authors try to capture the true stories of what teenagers are going through. Even when they were writing them in the earlier

Before examining birth control, it’s important to first dispel the myth that birth control and particularly abortion is only sought by modern, unmarried women who are more promiscuous than women in earlier ages. America was never abstinent. It’s a myth that more teens and young adults have sex now than in previous generations. With poorer health and nutrition than in modern times, fewer teenage girls were developed enough to become pregnant in the past. In 1870, only slightly more than one

There were also many double standards between men and women. For example, it was considered extremely taboo to be in a relationship before marriage for both men and women. But, as there was no child support or abortion in the 1930’s, women that became pregnant before marriage would normally be left alone with the child, as the father would simply leave the town. This left only the mother and the child ostracized, even though the act is forbidden for men as well.

Watch the classical film Grease and one can understand how relationships function in Western Society. The film tells a story of a boy (Danny) and a girl (Sandy) who falls in love. Through a series of misunderstandings they break up, but still somehow care for each other. Through ballads such as Summer Night’s that are still popular today, the film shows how differently males and females view relationships. Films like Grease are like a mirror, reflecting societal values and how it socializes its members. It makes it clear that in relationships, males are socialized to view relationships as mostly a physical, sexual endeavor, while females view it as a perpetual bond –a deeper connection between the two individuals within a relationship.

Adolescence is a time where an individual’s sense of identity starts to emerge and a majority of their social norms are perceived. In this day and age, adolescents live in a world heavily submerged around media, which plays an important and habitual part of an adolescents' life. In a national survey conducted in 2009, adolescents on average spend more than 7.5 hours using some sort of media a day (Rideout, Foehr, Roberts, 2010). With this unprecedented access to the world, individuals are learning and connecting with many different people and ideas through the media (Brown & Bobkowsi, 2011). With different forms of media playing an influential part in an adolescents’ life, their perceived social norms may be seriously influenced.

The youth culture was created due to a baby boom in the 50’s and 60’s as this led to a large youth population. Most children stayed in school and university for longer. Most had

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.