youth subcultures
...peaking, eg, using slang words, they also listen to a particular type of music, eg, punk. Style is “signifying membership in a particular role, includes the kinds of clothese, postures, gait, likes and dislikes” says Cohen. Brake identified 3 elements in trying to define the meaning of style, 1st there is IMAGE, this is fundamentally important to all of us, 2nd there is DEMEANOUR, this is about how you act and move and 3rd there is ARGOT, this is the language or words we use. Style is our source of identity. Your style is like a narrative story about yourself, eg, the way you dress is you trying to make a statement to project yourself to the people who are looking at you and also to yourself. For example if we take the Africain style, there source of identity is their dreadlocks, they are making sense of where they are from and are trying to find themselves by styling their hair in this way. Taking punk as an example of a youth subculture, youths at this time developed this subculture as a way of trying to make sense of the world they were living in. This was the punks reaction to the unemployment alienation experienced by these young people at the end of the seventies. Britain at this time was in great crisis, it was suffering serious economic strife. This subculture was about doing things for yourself, it was a DIY culture, creating your own sense of style by cutting up your clothes and using safety pins to put them back together. Bands at this time had names like 'The Clash' and the 'Sex Pistols', even their names sound displeased. Youth has been seen as been seen as a 'social problem' for over 100 years. Analysis of youth culture in Britain has been influenced mainly by Marxist thought. Marx beleived all cultures are produced by 'social conditions' and that these 'social conditions' depend upon social class and the problems social class provides, age was also a contributor. These social conditions have improved greatly though since the 1960s. The 'ravers' or 'clubbers' from the 80s are another good example of post-war youth culture. During the late 80s, young people wore bandanas and brightly coloured clothes. For the ravers, the shared experience is attending a rave and possibly taking ecstacy which has become identified with the rave culture. This is often the only thing ravers have in common with each otherunlike other subcultures. Its difficult to define the common experiences that lead people to raves, it could be that many youths wanted a form of escapism to get away from the norms of everyday life or problems like...