Functionalist explanation

• Summary

  • YC is good for society as a whole and individuals
  • Most people will have similar and shared experiences of YC
• 1st explanation

  • YC is a right of passage
  • Youth is a time of transition from childhood to adulthood like Jewish children have a Bar Mitzvah
  • Parsons argued in Western societies there is no clear start to adulthood, YC helps youths detach from their families and create their own status
• 2nd explanation

  • Youth culture serves as a bridge to adulthood
  • Parsons argues Youth gradually leaves family security
  • Young people take on responsibilities like part-time jobs
  • Achieved status is developed through gaining respect
• 3rd explanation

  • Helps young people through stress
  • Eisenstadt argues there are many tensions and difficulties in youth and YC provides a safe outlet for expression to let off steam and test boundries
  • Accepts rebellion as a normal phase
  • Example: Punks characterized by dramatic styles and explicit music
• 4th explanation

  • Helps to create social solidarity
  • Value consensus creates social solidarity where individuals feel they are part of something larger
• 5th explanation

  • Important for socialisation
  • Young people are likely to be influenced by the norms and values of peers. Peers may use rewards or sanctions to encourage friends to conform to expectations
  • Helping prepare for adulthood and discourage bad behaviour
• DYC explanation

  • Young people have weak social bonds
  • Hirschi argues there are 4 social bonds that stop people committing crime: involvement (with others), attachment (to others), belief (moral) and commitment (to what we have)
• 2nd DYC explanation

  • Due to strain
  • Merton argued that the cultural goal was to meet the American dream but there isn't equal opportunity to achieve this.
  • Most people are conformists to socially approved means, some are innovators who find new ways to reach goal such as crime, some are ritualists who give up on the goal but still use socially acceptable means, some are retreatists who give up on the goal and don't use socially approved means
• 3rd DYC explanation

  • Status frustration
  • Cohen suggested deviant behvaiour is a result of status frustration
  • WC boys try to gain status through education but can't so join ASSC's or gangs to gain status instead