«American youth culture»

Youth cultures have not been part of all societies throughout history; they appear most frequently where significant realms of social autonomy for young people become regularized and expected features of the socialization process. Most scholars would agree that the conditions necessary for the mass youth cultures recognizable today appeared after the formation of modern nation-states and the routinization of the human life course in the industrializing nations of the nineteenth century. The mass institutions of the nation-state, which separate young people from adults and gather them in large numbers for education, religious instruction, training, work, or punishment have been consistent locations in which youth cultures have developed. There is some evidence suggesting that youth cultures may have existed in certain circumstances during the medieval period. Also, it is important to recognize that there are significant gaps in our historical understanding, particularly for populations outside of Europe and the United States. Youth cultures have been clearly evident in the twentieth century, particularly since the end of World War II. The history of this period is notably marked by significant social and cultural influences of youth cultures on society at large, a trend that continues in the contemporary period.

Research into youth cultures has been most prolific in the disciplines of sociology, psychology, and anthropology; it is readily apparent in criminology of juveniles, demographic analyses, studies of the family and adolescent social development, and the study of ritual. The analytic frameworks and debates about youth cultures that have emerged from the three major disciplines have been taken up in other areas of study, including history.

This job is topical nowadays as we knew about American youth culture too little. More detailed study of this theme helps us to understand, firstly, the influence of subcultures on the youth: their fashion, hairstyle and lifestyle, and, secondly, difference between such terms as culture and subculture. Also this project is topical because we want to solve such problems as use of alcohol, drugs and smoking among the youth. To solve these problems we need to find firstly the root of all evil, and to find the root of all evil we should study the theme of youth culture more detailed. There is one more problem nowadays among the youth – violence. Different subcultures create hostility between different youth groups. Such question as “why so?” appear. The study of my job’s theme helps to find all answers which we need. Also my job is useful because in our country there are a lot of different subcultures which have come from the USA and for better understanding their essence we need study their origin and their history.

The aim of this job is to study the history and the most popular cultures and subcultures to understand their influence and problems. The following objectives have been posed for prevailing:

1. to study the origin and definition of the terms “culture” and “subculture”;

2. to describe the history of American youth culture and subcultures;

3. to study the origin, fashion and ideology of the most popular subcultures in the USA;

4. to find out the influence of subcultures and their problems.

During writing of job have been used such methods of research as study and analysis of different literatures. The results of this job can be used in different schools, colleges, universities and so on for study of American youth culture.

In the twentieth century, "culture" emerged as a concept central to anthropology, encompassing all human phenomena that are not purely results of human genetics. Specifically, the term "culture" in American anthropology had two meanings:

1. the evolved human capacity to classify and represent experiences with symbols, and to act imaginatively and creatively;

2. the distinct ways that people living in different parts of the world classified and represented their experiences, and acted creatively.

Following World War II, the term became important, albeit with different meanings, in other disciplines such as cultural studies, organizational psychology and management studies [19,p.173].

According to the Britannica Concise Encyclopedia the culture is integrated pattern of human knowledge, belief, and behaviour that is both a result of integral to the human capacity for learning and transmitting knowledge to succeeding generations. Culture thus consists of language, ideas, beliefs, customs, taboos, codes, institutions, tools, techniques, works of art, rituals, ceremonies, and symbols. It has played a crucial role in human evolution, allowing human beings to adapt the environment to their own purposes rather than depend solely on natural selection to achieve adaptive success. Every human society has its own particular culture, or sociocultural system. Variation among cultures is attributable to such factors as differing physical habitats and resources; the range of possibilities inherent in areas such as language, ritual, and social organization; and historical phenomena such as the development of links with other cultures. An individual's attitudes, values, ideals, and beliefs are greatly influenced by the culture (or cultures) in which he or she lives. Culture change takes place as a result of ecological, socioeconomic, political, religious, or other fundamental factors affecting a society [5,p.347].

We are interested the term in such sense as complex whole which includes knowledge, belief, art, morals, custom, and any other capabilities and habits acquired by man person as a member of society. According to this point of view culture has several important characteristics:

1. Culture is comprehensive. This means that all parts must fit together in some logical fashion. For example, bowing and a strong desire to avoid the loss of face are unified in their manifestation of the importance of respect.

2. Culture is learned rather than being something we are born with.

3. Culture is manifested within boundaries of acceptable behavior. For example, in American society, one cannot show up to class naked, but wearing anything from a suit and tie to shorts and a T-shirt would usually be acceptable. Failure to behave within the prescribed norms may lead to sanctions, ranging from being hauled off by the police for indecent exposure to being laughed at by others for wearing a suit at the beach.

4. Conscious awareness of cultural standards is limited. One American spy was intercepted by the Germans during World War II simply because of the way he held his knife and fork while eating.

5. Cultures fall somewhere on a continuum between static and dynamic depending on how quickly they accept change. For example, American culture has changed a great deal since the 1950s, while the culture of Saudi Arabia has changed much less [19,p.168].

Culture is known to have many meanings. One of them refers to the spiritual and material achievements of humanity. On the whole it is possible to distinguish three kinds of culture. They are elite culture, folk culture and popular culture. These cultures are closely connected with one another and one culture is part of the others. Elite culture is a highly developed sphere, it is comprised of painting, sculpture, architecture, literature, music. Folk culture is the culture of everyday life and routine relations of social life. Folk culture consists of traditional knowledge and practice. It is like a habit of people, thus this culture does not change very quickly. Popular culture is mass culture. It is a professionally organized sphere that works for a large mass of people. Popular culture gives people, especially young, standards to be what they like.

Today the life of many young people is influenced by popular culture. The youth follow certain stereotypes that are imposed on them through TV, movies, and music. In their lifestyles they try to imitate the images of their idols. Other young people are sports and music fans. They frequent stadiums and huge concert halls. They follow their idols in their tours throughout the country and support them. Unfortunately they are intolerant to those who do not share their view. It is a specific aspect of the youth subculture that cannot be ignored.

Culture is among the most complicated words in the English language. It refers to the processes by which the symbolic systems (e.g., common sense, "usual way of doing things"; traditions and rituals, frameworks for understanding experience, etc.) characteristically shared by a group of people are maintained and transformed across time. Despite the appearance of stability, culture is a dynamic, historical process. Youth culture refers to those processes and symbolic systems that young people share that are, to some degree, distinctive from those of their parents and the other adults in their community.

The next step to achieve our aim was the study of the history of youth culture in the USA. Considered the history of American youth culture we may draw a conclusion that the historic events had a great influence on the development of different historical youth cultures. But young people across history have demonstrated great resourcefulness in collectively exploiting those limitations to gain some self-directed social space.

Also in this job we considered subcultures in the USA, their origin, fashion and ideology to understand their influence and problems. Social class, gender and ethnicity can be important in relation to youth subcultures. Youth subcultures can be defined as meaning systems, modes of expression or lifestyles developed by groups in subordinate structural positions in response to dominant systems — and which reflect their attempt to solve structural contradictions rising from the wider societal context. The study of subcultures often consists of the study of the symbolism attached to clothing, music, other visible affections by members of the subculture and also the ways in which these same symbols are interpreted by members of the dominant culture.

Some people think that subculture is useful, but other people consider that subculture and its followers are dangerous for society. Why do people have so different opinions? One people think that subcultures give youth such facilities as to meet with each other and hear many new things, to take part in meetings, where they listen to music and rest, to help each other, when member of group need to help and all of these things are very well. But the other people notice that subcultures have a lot of such dark sides as firstly, members of some groups think, that force is only decision of many arguments; secondly, people use drugs, alcohol in order to relax, they become addict, weak-willed; thirdly, different groups make war between each other, they make massacre, oppose to ceremonial power. But even we will take into account both positive and negative we can’t say that subcultures are bad or good. Most probably this question will be asked for a long time.

This job has a great social significance, because nowadays both in the USA and in our countries there are a lot of different subcultures with their problems. And to understand how we may dispose of these problems, at first we should study the different types of subcultures and their influence on the youth. Only when we find the root of problems we will be able to put the axe in the helve. Also this job is social important because it can be used in different educational institutions for study of American youth culture.

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