Introduction
It is asserted that youth represent both the promise and the failure of modern society. The youth culture has evolved over time. As a subculture it has spilled out from the youth to a wider popular culture acceptable by the main culture, who, while trying to take and accept the youth’s innovations, in design, music, in that what started as a resistance to what the world has resulted to acceptability and taken as the norm. This is especially so in the world of fashion, music, and design.
A subculture is a distinguished culture from the main culture, and whose norms and values are different and are directly opposite of the main culture. The youth subculture has identified itself from the main culture through fashion in clothing, hairstyles, adornments, their choice of music, and even at times in their speech.
The power of youth subcultures has been described by the sociologists as resistance and the social reaction to the youth culture phenomena has been explained as ‘moral panics’.
Changes in youth culture
There have been noticeable and key changes in the youth culture. The youth subculture now occupies a higher place than previously thought and not only ‘a folk devil’ position in society. The youth countered the ‘folk devil’ view not only through style and fan club magazines, they subscribed to but they were granted airtime on television channels that were committed to employing young people (Emerson, 2002).
In the early studies of Centre for Contemporary Cultural Studies (CCCS) there was a line drawn between the two classes of youth culture who were viewed as the symbols of the genuine and real and pop culture, viewed as the consumer culture, while in reality the two were merged. The recent studies are now more open and can now reflect to other meanings other than these classifications.
In the 1980’s the Hippie culture interest in vegetarianism, environment, created a permanent place in the youth culture. With the hippie culture there was the emergence of the crusties who were seen as the underdogs. They rejected the clean consumer culture disenfranchising themselves from Thatcherist values that had ignored them. This group still exists in the urban areas, and blends with squatters, and the homeless, bringing in the social reality in the open, and their acceptability in the society.
Traditional careers disappear as subcultures create more job opportunities. When sectors of the youth population were ignored they refused this subordination. The young niched jobs for themselves, in the industry that related to the youth, and that were relevant to their lifestyle. They started with small jobs, where they targeted their own counterparts as their customers. These jobs included deejaying or small retail clothes shops, most of them second hand clothes stores. They also resisted this subordination by going back to colleges and furthered their education where they found reinforcement.
The attendance by male students to art and design colleges during the post war era, there established a link between what occupied the adolescent youth in leisure and the art education they learnt in colleges, in form of designs, graphics, music and fashion. There as a result was the integrating of fashion and sub-cultural style, present where fashion is now more popular. The designs that have been inspired by ‘crazy fantasies’, (Helmut Hartwig, 1993), of the youth culture, have found their way into high street fashion.
Gender Imbalance in the Youth
However there has been a gender imbalance in the youth sub-cultural studies. The youth culture has been analyzed at the view point of the male youth; the females do not appear in the youth cultural groupings. The young women do not exist in the sub-cultural ethnographic studies and when they do it is in stereotypical opinions that only emphasizes on their sexuality. Their mentioning is as a by the way, and in ways to discuss their sexuality, their physical attractiveness, or unattractiveness (McRobbie, 2006). No serious study or research has been taken to differentiate if the role of the female youth subculture is any different from the role of the male youth.
The significance and the impact of hip-hop-culture and the role played by the Black male, no study has recognized the impact of the same by the female Black, (Rana Emerson, where are my girls at?). The Black youth have been trying to popularize the subculture as relating to fashion which has been ignored, marginalized and disregarded. Their role in Black popular culture where they appear as models, dancers and performers, writers and musicians is only as sexual beings, which appear only in support of their male counterparts.
Tricia Rose (Black Noise) among the few who have viewed hip-hop culture with images and lyrics of female rappers is not entirely oppressive to women but can enable Black women to be assertive and independent and in control of their sexuality.
Rana Emerson’s study provides a basis that helps to in identifying ways in which black women use the studying of culture. It furthers the inclusion of Black female in the conversation surrounding.
This has however changed with emergence of some teen magazines where the girl is no longer portrayed as a victim of romance waiting and knowing she has been stood up, no longer distrusts all female for fear they may compete or ‘steal’ her man and is no longer afraid to be without a steady boy friend (Angela McRobbie, Postmodernism and popular culture). Just seventeen, a teen magazine, did away with romantic stories because the editor detected that the readers of these magazines were now independent, self confident and had high self esteem. The girls don’t want to be portrayed in humiliating ways, but as independent, bold assertive. They therefore are young consumers who have a say in the market place. The magazine includes informative and encouraging ideas about their sexuality, AIDS, and ideas on the choices that they make. However their independence doesn’t mean abandoning their femininity but by accepting it and sometimes they do it excessively as portrayed in the music videos, where the women show their cleavage.
Influence of youths by celebrities
Information about their favorite pop starts, and movie star and TV celebrities have replaced the romance stories. In what McRobbie calls the rave culture girls are not as involved in the cultural production of rave in the posters, events and in deejaying until recently, as the boys are. With the rave culture, the girl is portrayed and identified by her sexuality where the female undresses. In theses videos the girls are sexual; the girls loose themselves in dance but are in control of their emotions.
This recognition of the role culture can play has affected the film industry where the producers have introduced videos that empower girls. The Film – Of hopscotch and little girls. A movie of girls between the ages of 8 to 14 playing a universal game; in the game the girls draw squares on the ground. The girls hop around them as they socialise and talk about issues that relate to them, their young dreams, and their days at school, and the dream jobs. But because of poverty, and a culture that sidelines and prefers the boys’ education to the girls, these dreams never come true. There are social networks which have come up. With the use of the internet, Use of ‘girl power’ by Riot Grills a way of networking where they express themselves, where they learn and express the knowledge that they have their rights. They discuss their problems with and among themselves.
How culture accommodated working class
The rave culture has however accommodated the working class youth, and has participated in changing of the masculine male to the more sociable and more flexible male who involves himself in the dance culture, partying.
The rave culture has been responsible for some changes. With the rave culture the fun doesn’t stop, resulting into that 24 hour TV and radio channels. Again it has led to emergence of clubs that try to outdo each other, and they therefore have to upgrade their advertisements and they have to introduce the brands that are preferred by the young people. This therefore means that in some ways the youth subculture resistance has changed the view by those in the main culture, since the markets are determined by this youth who are also good consumers for their products. Again the youth spending and consuming powers have increased as a result of several things; first, the fact that the youth receive allowances and pocket money from their parents, which means that they have some extra cash to spend which in most cases will be on fashionable clothes and attires. Secondly with the college fees going high, the teens are getting part time jobs to assist in the payment fees, thus they keep something on the side which they spend on fashion, music and luxuries. The media has contributed in a big way. The media has targeted the young people in their advertisements. The youth have a desire to be part of the group and they therefore have to go with what is fashionable. The media has taken advantage of this as portrayed in their advertisements.
How youth use their time
The youth have a lot of time in their hands which they can use of leisure. Most of them have n family commitments and are unemployed. They look for ways in which to involve themselves. Some of them have done it and have engaged in constructive ideas. They have engaged themselves in sports. In their struggle to resist attitudes that the major culture has portrayed on them they engage in competitive sports, and for those who are financially able their sporting is in expensive type of sports, that include car racings, like the formula one competition. These sports have taken them to international levels of competition, as sport has recently been recognized in globalization, to bring different cultures, nationalities and ethnicities together. Others have engaged themselves in furthering their education. This has led to keeping the competition in the work field very competitive. There are those who involve themselves in voluntary jobs.
Music influence to the youth
Music is one of the oldest forms of human communication, it appeals to emotions and the youth have a cultural value to music. The youth have not been left behind in this. There is a certain genre that is favorable to and is identifiable with them. The hard rock type of music, hip-hop, rap music is very popular with the youth. The youth have a certain dancing style which most of them will learn. This genre of music and dancing style has certain status associating and categorizing the youth, to those urban youth and the rural youth. Since the youth have a more spending power the music industry has changed in favor and to capture this market. The youth market will determine the kind of music that is to be produced. According to studies music has played a role in identifying and constructing the young people’s character.
This music will help in the development and generation of individual identity and identify with a group. In the 1980’s and early 1990’s gangsta rap was associated with ghetto life. This emerged from the structured conditions that were evident during this era, including the economic restructuring, changes to criminal justice policy, neighborhood conditions and police community relations. It was a way for the young people then to express themselves and to identify with themselves. It was a voice to the voiceless and the way that the youth were protesting. It was used as a tool of struggle. The gangsta rap expresses whatever goes on in the urban under class, their rage and unfulfilled fantasies (Mishler & Pollark, 2003).
The BCCC sub-cultural theory supports that the values and attitudes in some group’s subculture are conducive to crime and violence, where they grow from teenage offenders to hardcore criminals. Education also plays a big part in the creation of subcultures. The studies have revealed that there is a link between; school achievement and the music the youth will play; the importance of adolescent’s commitment to school and their taste of music; and the social mobility and preferences for music types. Those who prefer a certain genre of music will be in the same social group, and mostly will have the same view on the importance of education, and how they perform in academics.
How youth are influenced by political landscape
On the political landscape, young people form a big percentage of the voters. The politicians have had to change their tactics and address the issue that relate to the youth. Such issues that are close to their heart, and include solving unemployment issues, improvement of the education systems, and supporting them and in their businesses.
In their resistance to the main culture, the youth as a subculture has evolved as an active participant. The youth participation has resulted to great changes in fashion, music, the media marketing and with the technology. Their participation has. Not only affected the youth culture but the main culture as well.
References
Emerson. R. (2002). Where my Girls At? Negotiating Black Womanhood in Music Videos, Web.
McRobbie, A. (2006). Postmodernism and Popular Culture. New York: Routledge.
Mishler, W & Pollark, D. (2003). On Culture, Thick and Thin: Toward a Neo- Cultural Synthesis. Web.