Essay

Question 1

SI paragraph one

Answer 1

primary deviance
secondary deviance
Beckers labeling theory - self-fulfilling prophecy - older generation see youth as threat to society - norms
Older gen control over media - moral panic
More likely to join subcultures in our youth which is learned linking to secondary socialization
Brake - suggests that youth have no power and subcultures better the lives of their members It allows them to feel they will make a difference even if this is untrue. They do not provide structural changes but allow members to feel symbolic escapism.

Question 2

Marx paragraph two

Answer 2

• Marx analogy ‘play ball’ - highlights hegemonic control causing tension between the classes labeling mods and rockers as working-class
• Powerful upper class create norms of how people should behave - if obeyed wiggle room to behave a certain way but still monitored
• Upper-class behavior favored with lower-class diminished
• Playing this game requires you to score as much as possible - owning homes, materialistic things, high paying jobs
• We make choices that are limited due to the way society wants us to behave
• Hall and Jefferson - saw the working class as weakest- no responsibilities, etc and tattoos, etc come from a desire to defy society
• Hippies rejected middle class values and nuclear weapons etc believing dominant culture corrupt.
• Creates tension with the older generation
• Dom culture labels them as inferior causing them to fight back challenging the dom culture.

Question 3

Cohen 1972

Answer 3

• interactionist approach to youth culture, deviance, and the media which is known as the ‘folk devils and moral panics.
• moral panic is when a person, group, etc. is defined as a threat to society and its values/norms. This study sets out moral panic in historical and cultural contexts and the post-war generation. Mainstream society feared this and in turn and directed their fear toward the youth subcultures
• Cohen’s study focused on the two British youth subcultures’ treatment by society. These groups were complete opposites in terms of fashion, music, etc. The Mods who wore suits and drove scooters and the rockers, who drove motorbikes and wore leather jackets.
• the two groups clashed in 1964 and Cohen reported that nothing major happened but small aggressive behavior here and there. However, 97 arrests were made, and all but one newspaper had this as their front page cover the next day known as media amplification.
• Distortion and exaggeration were used in headlines as these groups were labelled ‘riots and son on. Newspapers often reported the same incident twice to bring to attention that these violent incidents were occurring and separating the groups from the rest of society. A man was fined £75 for causing disruption and asked to pay with a cheque which the media reported as him having too much money and time. However, the young man could not afford to pay the fine which shows that many of the youths were working class
• The media created deviance amplification and by highlighting differences between the groups this caused a sense of tension and creating a barrier between them. Cohen’s study highlights that mainstream society of police etc. can cause deviance amplification. However, Marxism would argue that Cohen should have emphasized that these groups were working class and the mainstream bourgeoise.