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Culture and Sub-Culture For this assignment, I shall explore some factors that influence the development of culture, and sub-culture, reflecting on consumer products, and how they help to develop identity. In particular, my study will focus on music, media, and fashion, in relation to young people. As Williams, Hall, and Jefferson (1977) suggest, in this context culture refers to …’distinct patterns of life, and the ways in which social groups give expression to their social and material life experiences’. (Cited in Wyn, J. White, R. 1997:pg72) Subculture highlights diversity, such as individual group cultures, …’sub-cultures give young people the chance to express their difference from the rest of society, yet coexist within it’. (Brake,1980 cited in Roche,J.Tucker,S.1997:pg149) Consumer products alone do not make identity, but do attribute to the formation of it, with today’s teen consumer market is the most lucrative it has ever been. Marketers historically have recognised this, and therefore, use certain elements of youth culture to promote products. The media influence on the development of youth cultures and sub-cultures is also instrumental, with young people facing a barrage of messages explaining what it means to be young. How we consume determines who we become, our value base, and how we interact with people in the broader context of the world. Youth culture has changed over the generations, for parents of teens, the gap seems to be ever widening. Young people have faced similar challenges to each other, but each generation is unique, and experience situations that shape their attitudes and behaviours. However, when entering into any particular culture, although influences exist, it is still usually a conscious choice. A useful way to examine influences, on young people over time, is that of Strauss and Howe in their book the fourth turning. Each generation are labelled, to offer the reader an understanding. According to Strauss and Howe, the silent …’generation grew up with the harsh realities of war and a depressed economy’. (www.health.org) This group of young people where at a crossroads, too young to be hero’s of the war, and yet too old to be young free adolescents, they paved the way towards civil rights, and the rock and roll era. The next generation were to be known as the baby boomers, growing up with idyllic views of life, accepting the notion of …’father knows best’ (www.health.org) They engaged in a culture of free loving, urban riots and unrest, and as this generation were to mature, idealism allowed the introduction of materialism; hence the word ‘yuppie’ (www.health.org) arrived. Generation X was born into an era of high divorce rates, and an increasing rise in the number of single parent families. These young people entered the labour market, when jobs were scarce, and youth crime and disorder soared, the aids epidemic was rampant. ‘Their outside status helped spawn the angst-filled grunge movement and they also fuelled the hip-hop explosion’. (www.health.org) The next generation Y/Millennials, were born into both good and bad influences at the same time. At the top of the national agenda is child welfare, although negative school violence and drugs is at the forefront. Computerisation and technology is ever increasing, and equipment is predominately digital. The Y generation, is a representation of today’s teens where surfing the internet is the norm, and emailing is as common as using the telephone. This era is much more multicultural than it was when their parents were growing up, and images containing sex and violence are common themes that surround them on a daily basis. To an extent …’the Vietnam war and the assassinations of John Kennedy, Robert Kennedy, Malcolm x, Medgar Evers, and Dr. Martin Luthur king, Jr, are ancient history’. (www.health.org) The speed at which cultural objects and ideas are transmitted globally today, are significant factors in the number of youth subculture groups that are identified. A major change with regards to counter cultural groups today, is the large number of them around. For example, in the sixties it was common to be classed as a mod or a rocker, you tended to be on or the other. Today youth can align with many other groups, because there is such diversity. The mass media has a large role to play in encouraging the formation of sub-cultural groups, by helping young people to see and identify which role models represent what groups. Perhaps more fundamentally, youth culture has become more accepting and accommodating of various different groupings within the community. There are groups on the fringe of society who may be counter cultural in orientation, like punks, goths etc.. by large there now seems to be a strong sense of tolerance for difference, and a felling that diversity may even be positive.
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