short PDF read reflection and short reply

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Youth Culture From 1920s-Present

Discussion

Consider the trends listed below. Eventually, all were appropriated by mainstream culture. What

new trends in music, fashion or recreation have emerged recently and can be associated with

youth culture?

Flappers 1920s: Music: Dixieland

Dance: Charleston

Appearance: young women: short, bobbed hair; slim-

cut dresses / young men: fedoras

Drugs: alcohol and roll-your-own cigarettes

Slang: “hooch” for alcohol; “wet” for boring; “sheik”

for good-looking guy; “crocked” for being drunk

Swing Kids 1940s: Music: Swing music

Dance: jitterbug and jive

Appearance: Women: sleek cut hair; fitted blouses and

skirts / Men: pleated trousers, sports jackets, clean cut

GI Joe look

Drugs: alcohol and cigarettes

Ritual: Music hall parties

Slang: “coffins nails” for cigarettes; “jack” for money; “a

hoot” for something funny; “Booshwash” for talking

nonsense

Rock 'N' Rollers / Greasers /

Beatniks 1950s: Music: Elvis Presley and rock and roll

Dance: Twist and other sexualized moves

Appearance: Women: bouffant hairdos and bobby

socks / Men: greasy hair, white T shirts, leather

jackets

Drugs: alcohol and cigarettes

Rituals: parties in darkened rec rooms, drive ins and

pool halls, high school dances

Hippies 1960s: Music: folk and acid rock, the Beatles

Appearance: tie-dyed garments, ethnic clothes, jeans,

bell bottoms, miniskirts

Drugs: mind altering drugs, cannabis, LSD, alcohol

Rituals: love-ins, rock concerts and festivals, anti-war,

civil war protests

Slang: “I dig it” (I like it); “a gas” (a fun time); “a

bummer” (bad time); “decked out” (dressed up); “far

out” (impressive); “the fuzz” (the police)

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Slang: “cool it” (relax); “no sweat” (not difficult);

“oddball” (weird person); “the passion pit” (a place to

makeout); “let’s bop” (let’s fight)

Disco Freaks 1970s: Music: disco dance music

Appearance: platform shoes, loud clothes, halter

tops and hot pants

Drugs: cannabis, cocaine, heroin, alcohol

Rituals: dancing all night long at discotheques

Slang: “wimp” for a weak man; “blitzed,” “bombed,”

and “plastered” for being drunk; “fox” for an

attractive young woman

Punk Rock Late 1970s to Mid

1980s Music: Punk rock: Sex Pistols

Appearance: safety pins, ripped clothes, Mohawks,

studded leather

Drug: cannabis, heroin, speed, alcohol

Ritual: mosh pit concerts

Grunge / Hip Hop / Electronic

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Music 1980s to Present: Music: ??

Appearance: ??

Drug: ??

Rituals: ??

Discussion

How would you describe contemporary

youth culture?

>

Hegemonic Views of Youth Like racial minorities, youth are often vilified in society. Everyday we are bombarded with the media depicting

youth in trouble. They are represented as economically disenfranchised, overly sexual, out of control, and

violent. The overriding message is clear: we are to be very afraid of youth.

While youth, and particularly disadvantaged youth, are often perceived as victims or enemies, youth are also

creative and daring. They are trendsetters and have been for many decades.

Unfortunately, in contemporary society, teen rebellion and subcultures often become just another product to

be appropriated and sold.

"There is an unfortunate tendency in the media and among the general public either to vilify

youth or to blame them and/or their families for their plight. The voices of young people

themselves are frequently missing. When youth views are presented, they are used to show

how unconcerned adolescents and people in their twenties are with their communities, to

witness their passivity in politics, and their preoccupation with trivial pursuits presented by the

leisure industry."

Source : Vappu Tyyskä, The Long and Winding Road, 2001: 5.

For example, in 1996, the mainstream media began hyping the groundle ss theory that "a new generation of

street criminals is upon us--the youngest, biggest and baddest generation any society has ever known." The

media took their cues from Body Count, a now-discredited book, which claimed the following:

Based on all that we have witnessed, researched and heard from people who are close to the

action, here is what we believe: America is now home to thickening ranks of juvenile

'superpredators' -- radically impulsive, brutally remorseless youngsters, including ever more

preteenage boys, who murder, assault, rape, rob, burglarize, deal deadly drugs, join gun-toting

gangs and create serious communal disorders.

The authors failed to account for the fact that youth crime, including violent crime, was on the decline.

Source: "As Ex-Theorist on Young 'Superpredators,' Bush Aide Has Regrets," New York Times

The Canadian Media's Overrepresentation of "Evil Youth"

"The newspaper representation of youthful offending emphasizing fear and violence is not new.

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[There is] an established historical pattern developing a narrative of fear of youth crime and

violence. However, what has change d ov e r time in Canadian ne ws cov e rage is the image

of youthful offe nde rs the mse lv e s. From the more benign earlier image of the naughty kid to

the contemporary one of evil youth, the portrayals of young people shifted over the course of the

twentieth century. The vilification of youth in the press was further evidenced by the othering of

young people, particularly through racialization.

"The se re pre se ntations of youth crime and young lawbre ake rs fit within the conte xt of

simplification and de conte xtualization of the ne ws in orde r to prov ide se nsationalistic

accounts which se ll ne wspape rs. Thus, the media sidestep their basic pedagogical role in

society by offering accounts that do little to further the audience’s understanding of the complex

issues young people face in society. Further, such stories contribute little in terms of helpful

solutions for addressing those issues. Rather, they foster a climate of fear in which crime control

or ‘getting tough’ is the approach of choice."

Quote d from: Chantal Faucher, "Fear and loathing in the news: a qualitative analysis of

Canadian print news coverage of youthful offending in the twentieth century," Journal of Youth

Studies 12:4 (2009): 445.

Take a look at a recent Time magazine cover:

Are millennials (people born between the early-1980s and the early-2000s) really "lazy, entitled narcissists

who still live with their parents"? Millennial Matt Bors doesn't think so. He published a lengthy cartoon

debunking this assumption:

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Click here for the entire cartoon.

A writer for The Atlantic took Time to task for essentially

rehashing the same belief every generation has about the

youngins.

For example, in 1960, Life magazine published a cover story

about "The Generation Gap." The aging author marveled at the

youth, claiming that “the phrase to make a living could have

absolutely no meaning to these children of the affluent society.”

...

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In 1976, The New York Times published a story with the

headline "The Now Generation has become the Me

Generation." The caption under a photo of a student taking a

nap read: "A student at UCLA was more interested in an

afternoon nap last week than a speech by Gary Familian, a

Democratic House candidate."

Time was at it back in 1990 with its cover story

"twentysomething":

They have trouble making decisions. They would

rather hike in the Himalayas than climb a corporate

ladder… They crave entertainment, but their

attention span is as short as one zap of a TV

dial… They postpone marriage because they

dread divorce.

And it's not just Americans, apparently. In 2008, Time's cover

story claimed that "China's twentysomethings are too busy

living the good life to care about politics."

Decade of the Child Consumer Twenty-five years ago, only a handful of American companies directed their marketing at children—Disney,

McDonald’s, candy makers, toy makers, manufacturers of breakfast cereal. An explosion in children’s

advertising occurred during the 1980s. Many working parents, feeling guilty about spending less time with

their kids, started spending more money on them. One marketing expert called the 1980s “the decade of the

child consumer.” Major ad agencies now have children’s divisions, and a variety of marketing firms focus

solely on kids.

Kids as Surrogate Salespeople The bulk of the advertising directed at children today has an immediate goal. “It’s not just getting kids to

whine,” one marketer explained, “it’s giving them a specific reason to ask for the product.” Years ago

sociologist Vance Packard described children as “surrogate salesman” who had to persuade other people,

usually their parents, to buy what they wanted. Marketers now use different terms to explain the intended

response to their ads—such as “leverage,” “the nudge factor,” “pester power.”

Discussion

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Read "How Disney Magic and the Corporate Media Shape Youth Identity in the Digital Age" by

Henry A. Giroux. How does Giroux's description of youth culture compare to your own experiences

growing up?

Source : “Kid Kustomers” from Fast Food Nation: The Dark Side of the All-American Meal by Eric Schlosser.

New York: HarperCollins, 2001. p. 43-49.

Marketing and the Child’s Mind Before trying to affect children’s behavior, advertisers try to learn about their tastes. Today’s market

researchers not only conduct surveys of children in shopping malls, they also organize focus groups for kids

as young as two or three. They analyze children’s artwork, hire children to run focus groups, stage slumber

parties and then question children into the night.

Market researchers also send cultural anthropologists (called “cool hunters” in the documentary Merchants of

Cool) into stores, fast food restaurants, and other places where kids like to gather, to quietly and

surreptitiously observe the behavior of prospective customers. They study the academic literature on child

development, seeking insights from the work of theorists such as Erik Erikson and Jean Piaget.

Cradle-to-grave Brand

Loyalty The growth in children’s advertising has been

driven by efforts to increase not just current,

but also future, consumption. Hoping that

nostalgic childhood memories of a brand will

lead to a lifetime of purchases, companies now

plan “cradle-to-grave” advertising strategies.

They have come to believe that a person’s

“brand loyalty” may begin as early as the age

of two. Indeed, market research has found that

children often recognize a brand logo before

they can recognize their own name.

Cigarette Advertising The discontinued Joe Camel ad campaign,

which used a cartoon character to sell

cigarettes, showed how easily children can be

influenced by the right corporate mascot. A

1991 study published in the Journal of the

American Medical Association found that nearly

all of America’s six-year-olds could identify Joe

Camel, who was just as familiar to them as

Mickey Mouse. Another study found that one-

third of the cigarettes illegally sold to minors

were Camels.The Joe Camel ad campaign has

been spoofed on the adbusters website. See

one example below.

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Source : “Kid Kustomers” from Fast Food

Nation: The Dark Side of the All-American

Meal by Eric Schlosser. New York: Harper

Collins, 2001.

On the one hand, there are huge media conglomerates creating popular music and culture to be consumed

by the huge youth market and, on the other hand, youth are constantly engaged in creating new forms of

culture that challenge the dominant culture of the day. These new forms often begin as subcultures, a term

which defines a variety of group formations not just youth groups.

Subcultures are… smaller cultures within dominant culture

Hell’s angels, dedicated Star Trek fans, skateboarders, etc.

defined in terms of their relation to the mainstream or dominant culture. They exist in an antagonistic

relationship with dominant culture.

comprised, in close or loosely affiliated groupings, of those who share a set of common interests,

values, tastes and often a specialist knowledge and argot; who pursue common, ritualistic practices or

pastimes; and who may display their unity in material objects, accoutrements, dress or a common ‘look’

groups who constitute collective identities as a way of negotiating or resisting the established identities

and pathways sanctioned by dominant ideologies

often identified with youth, though not exclusively, but youth are often the group to challenge

established norms

often associated with a particular venue or urban space in which the subcultural group meets to bond

Subculture Studies Subculture studies seek to report on the symbolic cultural meanings of apparently superficial or delinquent

postures and practices, and how these actively constitute collective identities. The term “subculture” began to

be used in the 1940s by sociologists.

Subculture studies was consolidated in Britain in the late 1960s and early 1970s as sociologists examined how

groups of young people used music, fashion and symbolic activities to create meanings and collective identity.

They realized that the creation of subcultures centred on distinctive activities, patterns of consumption and

focal concerns, and was seen as a form of resistance that helped to contest the hegemony of the wider

society and its values.

Sexism in Subculture Studies The subcultures studied in the 60s and 70s were those of mods, skinheads, and drug-users. Two women

scholars, Angela McRobbie and Jenny Garber, soon pointed out that subcultures were being viewed in

masculinist terms that paid little or on attention to the role of girls or even suggested that specifically female

subcultures do not really exist.

Nonetheless, subculture studies was ground-breaking because it stressed the active creation of meaning by

youth as an antidote to other theories that view media producers and conglomerates as all powerful.

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Discussion

Read "Urban Dictionary: Youth Slanguage and the Redefining of Definition" by Rachel E. Smith.

According to the author, how did something as silly as the word "meep" manage to create so much

commotion? How does the case of urbandictionary.com illustrate the role language plays in the

battles between subcultures and the dominant culture?

Zephyr Skateboard Team Even though skateboarding has become a staple of popular culture, it wasn’t always a recognized sport, with

its own stars (like Tony Hawk), brand names, specialist magazines, and the like. Skateboarding first emerged

as a post-surfing pastime in the late 1950s and briefly surged to popularity in 1963, when the national

championships were aired on television. It then died out—seemingly just another fad kids’ pastime, like the

hula hoop.

The conditions that saw the revival of skateboarding in the early 1970s highlights the subcultural politics and

youth culture that played out through this seemingly innocuous pastime. These conditions are chronicled in

Dogtown and Z-boys (2001). The documentary explores the birth of the famous Zephyr Skateboard Team, a

group of 12 white, Asian, latino and black boys and girls who would later be among first wave of professional

skateboarders.

Dogtown The Zephyr team hailed from Dogtown, a decrepit, run-down area of West Los Angeles. What made Dogtown

a paradise for the youth who comprised the team was the degree of control they exerted over their space and

their commitment to a certain authentic ‘style’, as surfers and then later as skaters. The team began to

develop and build skateboards to “surf” their mostly abandoned streets, and they also began to stretch their

claim over public space to other parts of the city. A prolonged drought in California in the mid-1970s meant

that numerous swimming pools in the L.A. area were left empty. Dogtowners began to covertly enter private

property in order to skate the abandoned swimming pools, and in so doing risked arrest and imprisonment, in

the pursuit of new techniques.

Mainstreaming Skateboarding Skateboarding is now a lucrative industry. Events like Tony Hawk’s Boom Boom Huck-Jam tour bring together

a collection of skateboard, BMX and Moto-cross athletes who perform stunts on a series of ramps and jumps

at venues in dozens of cities. Thousands of people pay to watch and don’t mind shelling out more money for

running shoes, hats, t-shirts, video games, stickers and boards. Tony Hawk, who must now be about 40 years

old, is the face of skateboarding.

In 2003, Hawk reportedly earned a $20 million advance on his latest video game contract and over $300

million in combined retail sales from his clothing and equipment lines. Forbes magazine named him as one of

the world’s richest male athletes. His success contrasts sharply with the lives of Zephyr team members, who

engaged in the sport for the fun of it and as a way to shape a collective identity as disadvantaged youth.

Exce rpts from: Susie O’Brien and Imre Szeman, Popular Culture: A User’s Guide. Scarborough: Thomson

Nelson, 2004. Chapter 8.

Video

Watch the documentary Rip! A Remix Manifesto(2011), available on reserve and via streaming

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video.

RiP: A Remix Manifesto from Laurent LaSalle on Vimeo.

Discussion

Do you feel that the corporate crackdown on copyright infringement is threatening our

collective ability to build a free a society?