Topic 3: Characteristics of youth cultures

The Teddy Boys were an extremely fashionable working-class youth subculture. They were a spectacular subculture. The Teddy Boys were researched by Jefferson (1976). They had a high interest in Rock and Roll and transformed Rock and Roll dancing. Teddy Boys wore Edwardian style suits and adopted an exaggerated middle class style, they wanted to make a statement. They had a disposable income due to the rise of manufacturing within Britain, resulting in more jobs for youths. The Teddy Boys were very aggressive and violent and their favourite weapon was a cut throat razor, they also attempted to reaffirm masculinity. The girls wore feminine skirts and outfits. 

The Mods were a working-class subculture who were researched by Hebdige (1976) and Rawlings. The scene developed when the teenagers began to reject the dull, timid, old-fashioned and uninspired British culture. They mocked the working class system and created a rebellion based on consuming pleasures. The Mods used their disposable income to buy stylish clothes, they were able to do this as they didn't have to contribute money to family finance. They were fashion obsessed and hedonostic. The Mods rejected 'faulty pop' of 1950s pop music and soppy love sogns and aimed to be cool, neat, hip and smart. They weren't passive consumers, they were very self conscious and crucial, they also went against the gender norms by wearing makeup. Mods chose scooters over motorbikes.

The Rockers were a solid male, working class subculture who rebelled at the points where their will crossed societies. They were very masculine and were known as ton-up boys. The Teddy Boys were considered their 'spiritual ancestors'. The Rockers wore leather, heavily-decorated leather molcycles jackets with medal stusd, patches and pin badges, leather caps, Levis, wrangler jeans and no helmets. They rode motorbikes and the public considered them as naive, loutish, scrufyf, motorized cowboys, lones and outsiders. They were not welcomed anywhere. They rebelled and created a moral panic along with the Mods. They were also devoted to music.

The Hippies were researched by Brake (1980) and consisted of mostly middle class indiviudals. The subculture was extremely common amongst university students and they rejected consumer culture, they found it offensive. They were keen to preserve the environment and many of them were vegeterians. They were against war and nuclear weapons. The Hippies were associated with hallucinatory drugs. They promoted love, not violence and argued for a change in the way that people thought.

The Skinheads were a working class subculture, researched by Clark. They wore an over exaggerated version of traditional working class clothes, this included: cropped hair, braces, half-mast jeans and Doc Martens. Their clothes represented both a caricature and reassertion of the solid male, working class toughness and values. They responded to the decline in working class inner-city communites and were threatened by the decline in large sale manufacturing and dock work. They attempted to deal with large scale immigration into these areas and were extremely racist, and often condoned **** bashing. They tried to reclaim the teritory they lost through immigration, and would be extremely violent in the process of doing so.

The Punks were researched by Prith (1978) and Brake (1980). They were anarchists without role. They had an outrageous style of dress and often wore ripped jeans, safety pins, tight and ripped t shirts, paper clips and razors as jewellery in order to reflect their status. They had anti-established ideas and responded to the dominance of the media. They were extremely angry, aggressive and deliberately shocking, they promoted indiviudal freedoms and were often referred to as edgy and raw. Most of the punk rockers were unemployed. Brake was lower middle class and Prith was working class, which displays research from two different points of iew.

The New Romantics were resarched by Rimmer. They were a middle class subculture. Their reaction to punn was completely diferent, they were anti-puna. They often created love songs and were more accepted by the media due to this. They had establishment ideas. They were very chart orientated, polished and stlyish. They became more popular due to the fact that punk rock was losing its ability to shock and make nwes.

Goths were researched by Hodkinson (2002). They would often wear black or red clothing and would listen to music associated with death and sadness, such as Marilyn Manson or German techno rock. They had piercings and tattoos of death imagery. They went against gender norms and both boys and girls wore heavy eye liner and black nails. They dyed their hair black and back-comed it and also consumed alcohol drinks on a frequent basis. They were creative, artistic, gender-bending and non-aggressive. They didn't rebel against society.

1950s - Teddy boys

1960s - Mods and rockers, hippies

1970s - Skinhead, punk

1980s - New Romatnic, goth, metal

1990s - Hip hop

2000s - Emos and club cultures (rave)

2010 - Metalheads