Teen culture is the adolescent way of life, and the norms, values, and practices they share. Culture is a shared symbolic system, and the process of maintaining and transforming the system. Youth culture is different from the older generation culture.
The elements of youth culture include beliefs, behaviors, styles, and interests. Emphasis on clothing, popular music, sports, vocabulary, and dating set teenagers apart from other age groups, giving them what many believe is a different culture from their own. In youth culture, there are many different and changing subcultures of youth. These norms, values, behaviors, and subcultural styles vary widely, and may differ from general youth cultures. Understanding what teens think and do is fundamental to understanding the relationship between structure and agency, social patterns, and individual actions.
Video Youth culture
Existence
There is a debate about whether or not there is a youth culture. Some researchers argue that young people's values ​​and morals are no different from their parents, which means that youth culture is not a separate culture. Just because people see the presence of what seems to be a youth culture today does not mean that this phenomenon extends to all generations of young people. In addition, peer influences vary greatly between contexts and by gender, age, and social status, making a "youth culture" difficult, if not impossible, to be defined.
Others argue that there are certain elements of the youth society that make up the culture, and that these elements differ from the culture of their parents. Janssen et al. has used the theory of terror management (TMT) to debate the existence of youth culture. TMT is a hypothesized psychological concept that culture derives from attempts to overcome the knowledge of death. Society does this by adopting a worldview and developing self-esteem. Researchers tested TMT by exposing people to remind their deaths. TMT is supported if reminded of death causes people to stick stronger to their worldview. Janssen et al. tested the following hypothesis: "If youth culture serves to help adolescents deal with the problem of vulnerability and concentration, then the reminder of death should lead to increased loyalty to the cultural practices and beliefs of young people." Their results support their hypothesis and the results of previous studies, suggesting that youth culture is, in fact, cultural.
Schwartz and Merten use the language of youth to debate the existence of different youth cultures from other societies. Schwartz argues that high school students use their vocabulary to create different meanings for teenagers. In particular, the terminology of adolescent status (words used by teenagers to describe hierarchical social status) contains qualities and attributes that are not present in the assessment of adult status. According to Schwartz, this reflects the differences in social structure and the way adults and adolescents experience social reality. This distinction shows the cultural differences between adolescents and adults, which supports the presence of a separate youth culture.
Maps Youth culture
Movement
Throughout the 20th century, young people have a strong influence on lifestyle and culture. Flappers and Mods are two great examples of the cultural impact of young people in society. The flapper is a young woman, confident about a prosperous future after World War I, and they become a symbol of froth. This liveliness is seen in his new attitude in life where he is openly drinking, smoking, and many are socialized with gangster type men. The fashionable dress at that time also reflects the new lifestyle flapper. Hems grew up, waist fell, and hair cut into bobs. This not only creates a dramatically different look from the structured and structured gowns of the previous generation, but also creates new freedoms that allow the wearer to move in a way that can not be done before. The break from the older values ​​is also evident in the new posture embraced by the flapper. Instead of an upright, hurried posture, they prefer the 'oblique' attitude characterized by 'sunken and rounded shoulders,' suggesting fatigue rather than beauty. " The flappers exemplified how youth culture is influential in fashion and lifestyle.
Mod is also a great example of the youth culture movement that inspires the popular lifestyle. Similar to flappers, they also appear during wartime and political and social problems. They are a group of children from a group called modernists. The Mods are young men and women who come from all classes, and they believe that their fashion choices "give them entertainment everywhere," and their fashion choices empower them. The female mode is short and reflects the young ideal body that does not forgive a woman with curves. They also cut their hair short, perhaps "a tribute to the flappers of the 1920s." Mod's style and embrace modern technology spread from England abroad to America as well as other countries, proving it as a very influential youth cultural movement.
Theory
The presence of youth culture is a relatively new historical phenomenon. There are several dominant theories about the emergence of youth culture in the 20th century. These include theories about historical, economic, and psychological influences on the presence of youth culture. One theory of history recognizes the emergence of youth culture at the beginning of schooling. James Coleman argues that segregation of age is the root of a separate youth culture. Before school is required, many children and teenagers interact primarily with adults. In contrast, modern children associate extensively with others their age. This interaction allows teens to develop shared experiences and meanings, which are at the root of youth culture.
Other theories argue that some types of cultures facilitate the development of youth culture, while others do not. The basis of this difference is the existence of universalistic or particularistic norms. Specific norms are guidelines for behavior that vary from one person to another. In contrast, universal norms apply to all members of society. Universalist norms are more likely to be found in industrial societies. Modernization in the last century has encouraged universal norms, because interaction in modern society requires everyone to study the same set of norms. Modernization and universalistic norms have encouraged the growth of youth culture. The need for universalistic norms has made it impractical for the socialization of young people to come primarily from close family members, which will lead to significant variations in the norms communicated. Therefore, many societies use age groupings, such as in schools, to educate their children on community norms and prepare them for adulthood. Youth culture is a by-product of this tactic. Because children spend so much time together and learning the same things as the rest of their age group, they develop their own culture.
Psychological theorists have noted the role of youth culture in the development of identity. Teen culture can be a means of achieving identity during a time when a person's role in life is not always clear. Erik Erikson theorized that the main psychological conflict in adolescence is identity versus role confusion. The purpose of this stage of life is to answer the question, "Who am I?" This can be difficult in many communities where teenagers are simultaneously expected to behave like children and take on the role of adults. Some psychologists have theorized that the formation of youth culture is an attempt to adopt an identity that unites these two conflicting hopes.
For example, Parsons (1951) argues that adolescence is a time when young people move from dependence on parents to autonomy. In this transient state, reliance on peer groups serves as support for parents. Burlingame reiterated this hypothesis in 1970. He wrote that adolescents replace parents with peer groups, and that reliance on peer groups decreases as adolescents enter adulthood and take on adult roles.
Fasick relates youth culture as a method of identity development for the simultaneous extension of childhood and the need for independence that occurs in adolescence. According to Fasick, adolescents face a contradictory pull from society. On the one hand, schools are obliged to make them socially and economically dependent on their parents. On the other hand, young people need to achieve some kind of independence to participate in the market economy of modern society. As a means to overcome these contrasting aspects of adolescence, youth create independence through behavior - in particular, through leisure-oriented activities conducted with peers.
Impact on teens
For decades, adults fear that youth subculture is the root of moral degradation and change of value in the younger generation. Researchers have characterized youth culture as the embodiment of values ​​that "conflict with people from the adult world". Common concerns about youth culture include lack of interest in education, involvement in risky behaviors such as drug use and sexual activity, and engage extensively in recreational activities. This perception has led many adults to believe that adolescents have different values ​​from older generations and to view youth culture as an attack on the morale of today's society. These concerns have prompted the creation of parenting websites such as theyouthculturereport.com and the Center for Youth Parenting Understanding (cpyu.org), whose goal is to preserve the values ​​of older generations in young people.
Despite the attitude of many adults, there is no consensus among researchers about whether youth subculture holds different beliefs than adults. Some researchers have noted simultaneous increases in age of segregation and adolescent adjustment problems such as suicide, delinquency, and premarital pregnancy. Perhaps the increased prevalence of age segregation contributes to the problems of modern youth, and these issues represent differences in values. However, most evidence suggests that this youth problem is not a reflection of the morale possessed by the younger generation. Several studies have found that most teenagers have similar views to their parents. One study challenges the theory that youth groups have distanced themselves from their parents by discovering that between 1976 and 1982, the time when teenage issues increased, teenagers became less peer-oriented. A second research finding that adolescent values ​​are more similar to their parents in the 1980s than in the 1960s and 70s repeats Sebald's findings. Another study found a difference between adolescent and parent attitudes, but found that the difference was in the level of trust, not the attitude itself.
There may also be a lack of pluralistic ignorance in the youth about how they are compared to their peers and parents. A study by Lerner et al. asking students to compare their attitudes to a number of issues with peers and their parents. Most students judge their attitudes when falling somewhere between the more conservative parental attitudes and the more liberal attitudes of their peers. The authors suggest that the reason for this is that the students consider their friends more liberal than they really are.
If teenage values ​​are similar to their parents, this raises the question of why adults insist that teens inhabit a separate world with different values. One reason may be that the similarity between adolescent and adult values ​​is relatively unseen compared to the differences between the two groups. The way young people dress, the music they listen to, and their language are often more obvious than the values ​​they hold. This can cause adults to stress too much the difference between youth and other age groups.
Adults may also be wrong to believe that affirmation of youth independence in the exterior aspects of their lives is a manifestation of a different value system. In fact, sports, language, music, clothing and dating tend to be a superficial way to express autonomy - they can be adopted without sacrificing one's beliefs or values. Of course, there are areas where affirmation of adolescent autonomy can lead to long-term consequences. This includes behaviors that involve the use of sexual substances and activities.
The impact of youth culture on deviance and sexual behavior is debatable. Drinking alcohol is normative for teenagers in the United States, with more than 70% of high school students report drinking. Similarly, about 2/3 of adolescents have had sexual intercourse by the time they leave high school. As drinking and having sex may be common in adolescence, many researchers include them as a cultural aspect of young people. When engaging in these activities can have dangerous consequences, the majority of adolescents engaged in this risky behavior do not suffer long-term consequences. The likelihood of addiction, pregnancy, custody, and other negative results are some potentially negative effects of participation in youth culture. Research shows that many factors can influence adolescents to engage in high-risk behaviors, including "lack of stable role models, increased family pressure, decreased levels of family investment, weakening emotional bonds between parents and their children, decreasing levels of social capital and social control, and lack of hope in the future ".
However, adolescent culture can also benefit teenagers. Peer influence can have a positive effect on youth welfare. For example, most teenagers report that their friends are pressuring them not to use drugs or engage in sexual activity.
Impact on society in general
Young people can be a powerful force in accelerating change in society. The revolution led by young people in the 20th and 21st centuries proves this fact. Youth organizations, often based on student identities, are vital to the Civil Rights Movement. This includes organizations such as the Southern Student Executive Committee, Students for Democratic Communities and the Non-Violence Committees of the Students, whose roles in sit-ins, protests, and other activities of the Civil Rights Movement are essential to its success. The Summer of Independence is heavily dependent on the students; hundreds of students were involved in enrolling African Americans to vote, teach at the "School of Freedom", and organize the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party.
American protests in the Vietnam War were also encouraged by students. Many campuses were buzzing during the war with protests, sit-ins, and demonstrations. Organizations such as Young American for Freedom, the Libertarian Student Movement, and the Student Peace Union are based on youth status and contribute to participation in anti-war activities. Some scholars claim that youth activism during the Vietnam War is a symbol of a youth culture that values ​​against the mainstream American culture.
Recently, the Arab Spring has attracted attention due to the role played by young people in demonstrations and protests. Movement activities have been started primarily by young people, often students who are dissatisfied with the opportunities afforded to them in the current political climate. Young people's participation is so important that it leads the TIME magazine to include some youth members of the movement in the 2011 list of the 100 most influential people. In addition, the movement relies heavily on social media (which may be considered a cultural aspect of youth) to schedule, coordinate, and publicize events.
Some scholars have studied the trends that accompany social unrest, and have suggested a link between youth and rebellion. Most notable is Gunnar Heinsohn's theory of youth bulges. According to this theory, a large population of young people, especially men, is associated with social unrest, war, and terrorism. The reason Heinsohn provided was that this population trend made many people unable to find prestigious places in society, so they turned their attention to creating change in society.
See also
- The crowd
- After-eighty generations
- Baby Boomer Generation
- Generation Beat
- Generation X
- Millennial Generation ("Generation Y")
- Generation Z ("Internet Generation")
- List of subcultures
References
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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