marxist view

• in the early to mid 1950s, society was beginning to change (due to the war and economic depression) this meant that young people had more freedom and choice, which hadnt been possible in the early generations
• outline a weakness of the Marxist view


  the Marxist view of the working class youth rebelling and resisting, romanticises the youth cultures, which means that the unpleasant behaviours from some youth cultures were overlooked.

  for example some skinheads were openly racist, boasting of 'gay bashing' or 'paki bashing'
• outline a weakness of the marxist view

  not all youth cultures are necessary working class, Hippies, Goths and Emos tend to attract middle-class people with intellectual interests.

  Thornton (1996) argued that class is irrelevant in club cultures
• a weakness of the marxist view


  Laing (1978, 1985) studied the class origins of musicians in the 1960s and 1970s, found that punk artists were not the working-class that they presented to be, but were often middle-class and art school educated
• how can you evaluate Marxism with feminism


  feminists argue that the role of women in the cultures were neglected by Marxists due to their focus on social class and that homophobia of recent youth cultures was often not criticised.

  Marxists (CCCS) have been accused by feminists of being malestream - this means that they only looked at youth culture from a male point of view
• many of the marxists, in the 1970s, were working with CCCs in Birmingham. what does CCCS stand for?


  centre for contemporary cultural studies
• brake - magical solutions


  brake (1985) suggested that youth cultures are magical solutions to the problems of the urban poor youth who can do little to alter their lives and prospects, so turn to youth cultures to help themselves believe that they have the power to change society.
• teddy boys 


  they were first described as a fashion trend known as the new Edwardian look, but then the term teddy boy was used in print by the Daily Express in 1953.

  among a group known as cosh boys, that was a street style in working-class areas in the late 1940s