Media & Collective Identity

1. Media & Collective Identity History of Youth Culture & Stereotypes

2. Key Question • How these representations can be seen as different to historical representations of the same groups • Important to be able to compare with past examples • Knowledge of difference

3. Ask yourself…. • When do you think the teenager emerged as an important social group? • What age does youth begin and end? • Why do you think youths were seen as important? • What elements of the stereotype still remain today? • Do you think the stereotype has changed?

4. When did it all start? • ‘In one pitched battle that obtained considerable publicity, a gang of about twenty youths were described, said to be known as the ‘Chelsea Boys’, who ‘armed with sticks and stones were fighting a contingent of similar young ruffians from Battersea’ at Cheyne Walk by the River Thames’ (The Daily Graphic, 18 August 1898)’ • Taken from ‘Youth in Crisis? Gangs, Territoriality and Violence’ Edited by Barry Goldson (pg 26-27)

5. Birmingham – The Peaky Blinders http://www.spaghettigazetti.com/2010/12/gangs-of-victorian-birmingham-revealed.html

6. Dedicated followers of fashion and vilification • One thing that quickly became apparent is that the ‘hooligans’ had adopted a uniform dress-style. The main features were bell-bottom narrow-go-wide trousers cut tight at the knee and flared at the bottom…..Gang members also had identical hair styles • Newspaper reports frequently depicted the ‘London’ hooligans cluttering up the streets in noisy gatherings, swearing at passers-by, spitting on them, and sometimes assaulting and robbing them • Taken from ‘Youth in Crisis? Gangs, Territoriality and Violence’ Edited by Barry Goldson (pg 26-27)

7. When does youth begin? • It is hard to define with youth begins and ends • We can get married at 16 with parental consent • We can drive a car at 17 • We can vote and drink alcohol at 18 • Many people are dependent on parents well into their twenties

8. Living with Parents

9. Youth Culture

10. Youth Culture • In other cultures, the transition from childhood to adulthood is marked with no period of ‘youth’ • Individuals may undergo a ‘rite of passage’ • http://www.cracked.com/article_16313_the-5-most-terrifying-rites-manhood-from-around-world.html • Do you feel there are certain moments in life which signal the transition from childhood to adulthood?

11. Youth as Social Construct • Experience and definition of youth is socially constructed • Society constructs the way we understand and experience youth and it differs from culture to culture • In the past, youth would be seen as something very different • Children in the mid 1800s and early 1900s (Victorian era) would begin work at the age of 5 • Today there is a high value on childhood and it is protected by law

12. Emergence of the teenager • Prior to WWII young people had little freedom or influence • There are a number of factors that affected the changing nature of youth culture. These are: • Post-War Baby Boom • Affluence & Women in Work • Rise of Consumer Culture • Contraceptive Pill • Extension of education • These changes meant that young people had a differentiated experience • 1960s Britain is often seen as the most important moment in the emergence of UK youth culture

13. Punk Rockers

14. Goths

15. Hipsters http://visual.ly/evolution-hipster

16. Subcultures • What similarities can we identify between punks, gothsand hipsters? • Why are music and fashion so important in the creation of a subculture? • Why do you think it is important to you to identify with a group? • http://www.ymresourcer.com/model/subcult1.htm

17. Subcultures & differences in western youth culture • If teenagers are all offered he same cultural experience, why do some conform and others rebel? • Subcultures allows us to see the different aspects of youth • Increased subcultures can be seen as a result of: • Our population size • Rate of change in society • Globalisation • Marginalisation of youth • Number of young people

18. 'It seems that we can only be interesting if we are smoking, snorting or stabbing' http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2009/apr/15/stereotypes-young-people

19. Stereotypes • What are some of the stereotypes associated with youth? • Look at the following video on Mods & Rockers • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r61ks18Bd7I • Do you think there are any similarities with contemporary youths? • Do you think the representation of youth today can be seen as a form of moral panic?

20. David Buckingham ‘Identity is fluid and changeable’ • Generation X (1960-1980) • Labeled as the MTV generation • Saw introduction of cable, music television, home computers, internet • World view is based on ‘change’ • Generation Y (1980-2000) • Increased narcissism • Sense of entitlement • Trophy Kids • Entertainment industry was fragmented • Generation Z (2000-Present) • Highly “connected” • Digital Natives

21. UK Tribes (Subcultures Today)

22. Summary • Can we see any similarities between the representation of youth (or hooligans) in the Victorian era and the youth of today? • How is the period of youth defined? • What are the reasons for the proliferation of subcultures? • What is the impact of stereotyping? • What power do audiences have to resist stereotypes? • Extension: David Buckingham – ‘identity is fluid and changeable’ (2008) • http://www.slideshare.net/spingwoodmedia/david-buckingham