Section 1:Youth Culture and Sub-cultures
Youth Culture revision notes
• Youth defined as a separate social category from children and adults only became the subject of sociological and media interest in the 1950s.
• Early theories focused on the concept of youth culture, i.e. the idea that young people in general shared a common culture and identity which set them apart from adult culture. There are however problems with seeing youth as a uniform group of a particular age
The development of youth sub-cultures
• The idea that youth subcultures are a product of social class is an argument put forward by Marxist sociologists working from the Centre for Contemporary Cultural Studies (CCCS) at Birmingham University. They argue that ‘spectacular’ youth subcultures, such as skinheads and punks, were a form of ‘magical’ resistance to the social and economic problems faced by young working class people.
• However, other sociologists reject the claim that youth subcultures are a product of social class. Post-modernists, for example, reject the term ‘subculture’, and replace it with ‘neo-tribe’ to reflect the ‘pick and mix’ approach to style that young people have today. They argue that issues of gender and ethnicity are now more important than social class.
Subcultures as a product of class: Marxist arguments
• During the 1970s and early 1980s, most sociological attention was paid to the concept of deviant youth 'subcultures'- the idea that some young people belonged to groups with their own norms, values, rituals, sanctions and dress codes that were antagonistic to mainstream culture, e.g. mods, rockers, etc.
• In the 1970s, the question of class divisions within youth cultures was examined by Marxist writers especially those associated with the Centre for Contemporary Cultural Studies (CCCS). Marxists see working-class youth cultures as linked to the decline of working-class inner-city communities.
• These cultures are seen as an attempt to symbolically or 'magically' re-create traditional notions of working-class community through dress, style and behaviour. Moreover, such styles allegedly represent a form of working-class ideological or cultural resistance to ruling-class hegemony (i.e. cultural dominance).
Example 1: Teddy Boys
• Hall and Jefferson argued that the rise of the Teddy Boy in the early 1950s coincided with the expansion of employment and a general rise in affluence.
• However, Teddy Boys were mainly those youths who had been excluded from this.
• Their clothing style of the middle class Edwardian ‘Dandy’ jacket was an attempt to show their contempt for the class system by copying the style of their so-called ‘superiors’.
Example 2: Skinheads
• Cohen and Clarke argued that skinhead gangs in the early 1970s were an exaggerated attempt to re-create traditional notions of working-class community which were in decline because of recession in traditional working-class industries and slum clearance.
• The response of skinhead youth was to stress traditional elements of working class culture through their value system, dress and behaviour and to organise themselves collectively in gangs which emphasised loyalty, toughness, masculinity and aggressive defence of territory.
• Aspects of skinhead style were borrowed from manual work (e.g. the Doc Marten industrial boots, braces, the haircut, etc.) and symbolised an aggressive resistance to those elements seen as threatening the working-class community, such as immigrants and property developers. As such, skinhead subculture could be seen as an attempt to preserve a working class identity which was felt to be under threat.
Example 3: Punk rock
• Hebdige argued that punk was a form of resistance to a society that was interpreted by youth as being in social, moral and economic decline and conformist and lacking in imagination.
• Hebdige argues that punk style took conventional items such as safety pins, razor blades, etc. and deliberately used them to shock mainstream society by wearing them as fashion accessories.
• Punk subculture was short-lived because commodity incorporation commercialised aspects of punk style into commodities to be bought and sold as mainstream fashion and ideological incorporation trivialised punk style through media articles suggesting punks were merely confused youngsters going through a phase.
An evaluation of Marxist arguments
• It doesn't account for the adoption of some of these styles by middle-class youth.
• There is no empirical evidence that youth interpret their styles in the way the WCS do and there is a danger that sociologists read too much into youth styles and see what they want to see.
• Only a very small minority of youth have ever been involved in deviant subcultures because the majority of young people lead very ordinary, mundane and conformist lives.
• Critical sociologists such as Cote and Allahar see youth subcultures as the products of manipulation by the media, rather than some attempt to resist capitalism. As such, youth subcultures are the product of commercial interests whose only interest is making money.
Middle class youth and resistance
• Middle class youth do participate in some of the spectacular youth subcultures and there are some spectacular youth subcultures that are largely middle class. They tend to agree about the importance of the ‘self’. Self-development, individualism and could either involve
i) active political opposition such as the young CNDers in the 1960s or the students in 1968 and later in the mid 1970s and more recently the school students against the war or
ii) withdrawal from society such as the beats and later the hippies.
• The latter share some similarities with the young who join New Religious Movements.
All of these subcultures have a counter cultural tendency, they have a system of values that are in opposition to the dominant ideology and value system of the time.
• Brake (1977) Hippies and Skinheads Studied hippies and found they were a relatively well-organised subculture comprising largely of students and ex-students. They lived on benefits or student grants. They were full of contradictions according to Brake for example they
a) were disdainful of technology (the hippy trail to India) but yet listened to music on big sound systems or stereos.
b) Rejected impure foods but took synthesised street drugs
c) Rejected materialism but needed benefits
Subcultures as a product of individual choice - Post-modernist approaches
• In the work of Bennett, Hetherington and other writers, a key difference from earlier sub-cultural approaches is that they reject the view that the cultural behaviour of young people is shaped or determined by social class or social and economic conditions faced by young people.
• Hetherington (1998) for example, in a study of new age travellers, found that they came from a wide-range of backgrounds and not from one class position.
• Both Bennett and Hetherington emphasise the element of choice in young people’s cultural behaviour. Young people choose particular lifestyles, rather than being pushed into patterns of cultural behaviour by structural forces such as class.
• Furthermore, Bennett argues that we should use the term ‘neo-tribe’ rather than youth subculture in order to emphasise the elements of choice and fluidity in contemporary youth lifestyles. By ‘neo-tribes’ Bennett means a social grouping with a loose structure organised around lifestyle themes and consumer choices, rather than a shared position in the social structure. They share a common state of mind rather than class position.
• Bennett illustrates his arguments by referring to his study of dance music in Newcastle in the 1990s. He argues that cultural identities are much more fluid and less stable than they were in the 1960s, 70s and 80s. Young people no longer have fixed commitments to just one set of cultural influences and tastes, whereas skinheads, punks etc fiercely identified with these identities to the exclusion of others.
• Other postmodernists such as Kahane argue that contemporary subcultures are very real attempts to construct new and original subcultures from the vast choice of music, styles, and languauge available to young people.
• Sarah Thornton suggests that although many subcultures are the product of commercial interests, many young people subvert them and make them original in ways never thought of by the fashion/music industry.
• Another important part of postmodern thinking is the impact of globalisation on youth subcultures. Luke and Luke argue that cultural influences are now global rather than national or local. This means that hybrid youth subcultures are emerging, in which elements form global youth cultures and adapting them according to local ideas and values
• Hebdige argues that new technologies such as the Internet have resulted in the creation of virtual or proto youth cultures that require no collective physical interaction and in which class, gender and ethnicity are less important.
• Reimer (1995) argues that the central feature of youth in modern societies is the preoccupation with 'fun' - the constant search for excitement and stimulation that cuts across all other sources of identity (class, gender, ethnicity, and so forth).
An evaluation
• However, not all sociologists are convinced that class no longer shapes the lives of young people, as postmodernists suggest.
• Harriet Bradley(1997) argues that postmodernists have no consistent definition of class. They ignore the extent to which economic class differences still affect what people can afford and therefore what lifestyle choices they can make.
• Marshall (1997) argues that they are highly selective in the arguments and evidence they use and tend to neglect evidence that economic class inequalities are stíll a major factor in shaping people's lives.
• Westergaard (1997) accepts that lifestyle and consumption have become increasingly related to identity. However, he sees these as strongly influenced by economic differences such as wage inequality.
Functionalist Theories: subcultures as a form of transition
• The Functionalist sociologist, Eisenstadt (1956) argued that the general function of youth cultures is to smooth the transition between childhood and adulthood.
• He argued that adolescents generally experience status contradictions and powerlessness within the family.
• Eisenstadt argued that young people therefore lack a stable identity and status and, as a result, they turn to their peers for support.
• Youth cultures are functional to society because they ease the tricky transition from childhood to adulthood and maintain social order.
Criticism of Eisenstadt
• He implies that the transition from youth to adulthood is a universal experience, but not all young people experience this transition in the same way.
• He neglects social class, gender and ethnic divisions between young people and therefore the fact that some people feel more marginalised and powerless than others.
• A number of surveys have questioned the existence of a generation gap, e.g. research by Wyn and White (1997) found 'most young people tend to be fairly conventional in outlook and lifestyle'.
• Bennett illustrates his arguments by refering to his study of dance music in Newcastle in the 1990s. He argues that cultural identities are much more fluid and less stable than they were in the 1960s, 70s and 80s. Young people no longer have fixed commitments to just one set of cultural influences and tastes, whereas skinheads, punks etc fiercely identified with these identities to the exclusion of others.
• Hebdige argues that new technologies such as the Internet have resulted in the creation of virtual or proto youth cultures that require no collective physical interaction and in which class, gender and ethnicity are less important.
• Reimer (1995) argues that the central feature of youth in modern societies is the preoccupation with 'fun' - the constant search for excitement and stimulation that cuts across all other sources of identity (class, gender, ethnicity, and so forth).
Gender and sub-cultures: Have girls been ignored ?
• Research into youth subcultures ignored girls for a number of years. The focus of the research carried out by largely male sociologists was on boys and what they were doing. McRobbie and Garber suggested, in 1975, there were a number of reasons.
1. GGirls are absent from subcultures. They are not members of the groups particularly early groups such as the Mods and Rockers.
2. GGirls are/were present but just invisible. McR and G argue girls were involved – you can see them in the photos and the old film footage of the early 50’s and 60’s.
Evaluation
The subcultures arose partly as a result of increased disposable income and leisure time but girls wages were much lower than boys and girls magazines encouraged girls to spend on household items in anticipation of marriage (known as saving for their bottom drawer). They were though the girlfriends of……………………….
The press tended to focus on the more sensational aspects of the youth subcultures, the teddy boys ripping up seats in cinemas, the Mods and Rockers on the beaches on the South coast and girls did not tend to participate in such activities.
The teddy boys and the Rockers tended to use their culture to escape family life and go to the ‘caff’. Most girls would not have been allowed to be out for so long. Girls had to protect their reputations and not ‘get into trouble’. Girls in the ‘50’s who spent too much time on the streets might be thought to be ‘asking for it’.
3. Girls had their own different subcultures Its not so much that girls were
absent or not but they had a complementary way of interacting among themselves and with each other to form a distinctive culture of their own, Teenybopper culture.
Evaluation
This links to the notion of girls involved in ‘bedroom cultures’. This subculture was safe for girls. They could participate in their bedrooms – posters, magazines, records, fan clubs. Concerts were rare enough to be affordable on low incomes. Membership of the teenybopper type culture also carried no ‘risks’ for girls. They didn’t have to engage with real boys which especially in the days before the pill carried not just issues relating to reputation but also that of pregnancy.
These subcultures could still be seen as girls resisting.
4. Girls are invisible to male sociologists who are gender blind. McR and G are particularly critical of their male colleagues at the CCCS. They argue that the male subcultures they researched were sexist and macho and marginalized girls – at least in the public domain of youth clubs and street corners.
Evaluation
See points above re Teenyboppers. McRobbie and Garber argued that the domestic world of home and in particular bedrooms could not be ignored. What McRobbie argued was that the gender dimension had to be considered as well as that of class when researching/analysing what girls were doing. She argues they had to resist patriarchal attitudes as well as the hegemony of the dominant class. The ‘bedroom’ was a way of resisting the patriarchal attitudes at home.
‘Ragga girls’ became very good at reclaiming and challenging male sexism in public spaces.
5. Girls are in subcultures – the number of girl gangs is growing.
Studies of girl gangs in the USA by Campbell and Nicoll note that violence, drug dealing, robbery and possession of dangerous weapons are common activities carried out by young women.
Young women joined gangs to compensate for low status in their families and communities and as an alternative to taking on low-skilled, tedious, lowpaid jobs.
Ethnicity and sub-cultures
• Hebdige (1979) claims that all approaches to youth sub-cultures have ignored the influence of ethnic minorities on youth culture. There are clear links between fashion, music, dancing and urban youth cultures in Britain.
• Rastafarianism for example gave political expression to the oppression felt by many African Caribbean youths in the 1970s.
• Bhangra forms an important part of Asian youth culture. The traditional beats of music from the Punjab have been adapted to suit young tastes and lifestyles. This has been blended with rap and reggae to produce new sounds.
• This reflects the multi-ethnic lifestyles of many ethnic minority youths in Britain – new styles which are not necessarily based around resistance or racism.
• Hip Hop culture is the result of mixing of black culture from the Bronx and current music styles. The rap artist Eminem is an example of hybridity (blending together) of different ethnicities and the eventual absorbing of these styles in mainstream culture enjoyed by countless youth globally.
• Although research has been done in the USA for some time, sociologists in Britain have given ethnicity and youth sub-cultures little attention. They have focused on white british youths making their approach ethnocentric.
What about ordinary youth ?
• Subcultural theorists are often accused of ignoring the ‘ordinary’ majority of youth. Surveys of ‘ordinary’ teenagers in the 1990s tend to find that many experience some degree of conflict with their parents over dress and leisure habits, and do not have strong or developed political views.
• In 1996, The Independent reported a large survey of 12 to 19 year olds under the headline ‘Sober teens shun rebellion’. The report went on to state that ‘rather than rebelling against their parents, teenagers respect adults’ points of view.’
• Bo Reimer argues that personal choice and taste are becoming more important than structural factors in influencing the lifestyles of ordinary youth. In other words, the basic lifestyle orientation of youth culture is towards entertainment. In Howard Parker’s terms it is a leisure-pleasure culture. The central feature of youth in modern societies is the preoccupation with 'fun' - the constant search for excitement and stimulation that cuts across all other sources of identity (class, gender, ethnicity, and so forth).
• According to Reimer, this orientation towards entertainment cuts across class, gender and ethnic boundaries, and these generalisations are as true of drug consumption as of other aspects of youth culture. The culture is to a large extent an integrated lifestyle – with music, dance, youth literature, fashion and style complementing each other.
• Hebdige argues that new technologies such as the Internet have resulted in the creation of virtual or proto youth cultures that require no collective physical interaction and in which class, gender and ethnicity are less important.
Youth and Crime
• The official statistics show that juvenile crime has declined in recent years after having reached a peak in 1984-85.
• Ricky Taylor's (1998) analysis of official statistics between 1957 and 1997 shows that in 1958, 56% of all offenders found guilty or cautioned were aged 20 or under compared with 38% in 1997.
• However, only one in ten crimes result in arrest and conviction so it is likely that youth involvement in crime is higher than the official statistics indicate.]
Patterns and Trends of Delinquency
1. Gender
• Of those offenders who are identified by the courts or the police, four out of five (80%) are male, and almost half (47% ) of the offences are committed by those under the age Of 21. As for as the police and the courts are concerned, therefore, crime is predominantly an issue to do with young men.
• This would suggest that when we talk of youth delinquency we are more properly talking of male youth delinquency. Youth is clearly a gendered category. Moore (1988) points out that the peak age for female crime is 13-15 while for males it is 14-18. He goes on to provide the following ratios of male to female offenders in relation to various criminal acts.
• Frances Heidensohn (1985) has suggested that the lack of female involvement may reflect the lack of opportunity to commit crime and the greater surveillance juvenile females have to face. As a result, one effect of the lessening of controls on young females may be an increase in involvement in crime and juvenile delinquency.
• It is also the case that although there remains much less likelihood of women being prosecuted and convicted for crime, the rates of imprisonment are increasing and the periods for which women are being imprisoned are increasing. This may be due to increased number of female police officers more willing to arrest women and the rise of the ladette culture in young women.
2. Ethnicity
• Black and Asian youths are much more likely to get stopped and arrested by the police than white youths. For many people this has led to the allegation that the police are in some way racism and deliberately target ethnic minorities. This view gained considerable support after the MacPherson report (1999) labelled the Metropolitan Police as 'institutionally racist' in relation to its failure to arrest and prosecute the murderers of the black teenager Stephen Lawrence.
• In relation to offending and ethnicity, Tarling (1993) reports on a study by Ouston in the mid1980s relating to young people attending schools in inner London. He found that by the age of 17, 28 per cent of boys with parents born in the UK and Eire had been either cautioned or convicted, while 39 per cent of boys born in the West Indies or of West Indian parents had been cautioned or convicted. Equivalent statistics for other ethnic groups include 24 per cent for those of Indian or Pakistani descent and 21 per cent for those of Cypriot descent.
• However, Tarling (1993) goes on to point out that once factors such as social class and educational achievement are taken into account, the ethnic differences virtually disappear.
• It is clearly the case that the over-representation of ethnic minorities in certain statistics relating to delinquency has led to something of a debate about the possible reasons for this. Racism on the part of the police and the criminalization of the black community have both been suggested as reasons for this in the work of Hall et al. (1979), Paul Gilroy (1982) and more recently John Solomos (1993).
3. Class
• There have been a number of studies considering the class background of offenders. Coles (1995) summarizes the findings of some of these, arguing that they point to a clear link between material and social deprivation and levels of offending.
• Serious offending is seen to be more prevalent among sons of manual workers and among those who live in big families. Unemployment and ill-health are also seen as factors likely to be associated with higher levels of offending and these factors are also known to be more prevalent in lower income areas than in higher income ones.
• One interesting question, asked by Tuck (1993), was why young working-class males do not undertake crime in rich areas where the pickings would be much better. The research gives no clear answers as to why they do not do this, but does suggest that notions of class justice (taking from the rich) do not seem to play a part in such proceedings.
• Such findings lay open to question the usefulness of statistical correlation in explaining juvenile delinquency and Coles argues we need to focus much more on the process of decision-making concerned with becoming a delinquent, rather than simply looking at the social background of offenders.
Sociological Explanations of Youth Deviance
Labelling theory
• Labelling theory argues that powerful groups shape societal reaction by making the rules for powerless groups, such as the young and labelling young people via policing or media moral panics.
• Studies of policing in both Britain (Smith and Grey, Holdaway) and USA (Cicourel) suggest young people, especially young blacks, are negatively labelled as either suspicious or criminal in everyday policing - which results in over~ proportionate stops and arrests.
• Matza argues that most people subscribe to deviant values (i.e. subterranean values) but working-class youth is more likely to be negatively labelled than others for the same behaviour.
• Labelling theory suggests that once labelled the deviant status becomes a master status that may have negative consequences in terms of prejudice and discrimination and self-fulfilling prophecies for young people.
• Youth subcultures confer normality and status on those labelled by society, and membership may compensate for negative societal reaction.
Moral panic theory
• Stan Cohen argues that youth cultures are not coherent social groupings that appear spontaneously as a reaction to structural forces such as class.
• He argues that many deviant youth subcultures were effectively socially constructed, maintained and killed off by the mass media.
• Cohen asserts that the media label or stereotype powerless groups, such as young people, by sensationalising stories about them, so creating moral panics which exaggerate out of all proportion the real threat posed by these groups.
• The result of this is 'demonisation', i.e. folk devils are created and pressure is put on the government, police and courts to stamp down hard on 'problem'youth
Marxist theory
• Taylor, Walton and Young suggest that working-class youth choose to commit crime because of their experience of the injustices of capitalism in terms of inequalities in wealth and power.
• Gilroy argues that black street-crime reflects young black people's anger at the way that white society has historically treated black people via slavery and colonialism and is a rational political response to everyday prejudice and discrimination, especially police harassment.
Functionalist Theory
Status frustration
• Albert Cohen used the term status frustration to explain why so many young people who committed offences were from working class backgrounds. Cohen argued that the reason for this was their feeling of low self-esteem and low status gained at school.
• According to Cohen, working class boys are more likely to fail at school and consequently feel humiliated. In an attempt to deal with this and gain some status amongst their peers, they develop sub-cultures which invert traditional middle class values such as obedience, politeness and obeying the law. Instead, they behave badly and engage in a variety of antisocial behaviour. Within the norms and values of the sub-culture, this behaviour provides them status.
Postmodernism: subcultures and emotion
• Recent postmodernist approaches reject the idea that youth offending can be explained in terms of some rational reason why subcultures develop. Instead they argue that emotions are important.
• Katz argues that crime is seductive – young males are attracted to it because it is thrilling. This could explain why so much young offending is not for financial gain, but for ‘kicks’. There is a simple pleasure in destroying a bus shelter or ‘tagging’ a police car.
• Similarly, Lyng argues that young males like to engage in ‘edgework’, which he explains as deliberately flirting with danger. This could explain the ‘buzz’ of stealing cars and driving at speed.
The crisis of masculinity
• Mac En Ghaill suggests that as the workforce becomes more feminised and job opportunities for young men decline, young males may be experiencing a 'crisis of masculinity'.
• It is argued that this crisis may be resolved for some young men by joining anti-school subcultures and being involved in violence and crime in wider society because this type of behaviour may be an alternative form of asserting traditional masculinity.
Gangs
The characteristics of gangs in the UK
• Research on UK gangs began to mushroom in the 1990s. Shropshire and McFarquhar (2002) point to evidence from the police of the growth of street gangs who are prepared to use extreme violence, including shooting. Their findings coincided with a number of other British studies which suggested that there really is the beginning of a form of gang culture in the UK.
• Bullock and Tilley (2002) used a database of the Manchester police to obtain information on 23 young males who were reputed to be gang members and interviewed them. They found that there were four major South Manchester gangs, with membership ranging from 26-67. Gang members were heavily involved in crime, committing a wide variety of offences including property crime and serious violence.
• Mares (2001) observational study of two of the four South Manchester gangs found that the large majority of members were African-Caribbean in origin. They were loosely organised and there were no formal leaders. Other gangs in the Manchester area, however, had different structures and ethnic bases. Gangs in Salford tended to be all white and longer-standing, whereas in Wythenshawe they tended to be smaller, ethnically mixed, with about a quarter of the membership being female.
Campbell and Nicoll: the rise of girl gangs
• There is some concern that violent crimes committed by young working-class women are rising.
• Studies of girl gangs in the USA by Campbell and Nicoll note that violence, drug dealing, robbery and possession of dangerous weapons are common activities carried out by young women. Young women joined gangs to compensate for low status in their families and communities and as an alternative to taking on low-skilled, tedious, lowpaid jobs.
• Campbell found that many of the girls had a difficult task in balancing a number of competing demands and cultural desires. She suggests that they were torn between attempting to have a ‘cool’ streetwise image and retaining their Puerto-Rican values.
• Moreover, such gangs contain elements of traditional patriarchal culture because members of female gangs were girlfriends of male gang members and when they became pregnant they moved uncomplainingly into traditional mother roles.
• Nicoll suggests girl gangs are increasing in the UK, although she says they seem less organised and violent than those in the USA.
Youth and Schooling
Anti and Pro School Subcultures
• Pupils respond to their schooling in different ways. Some groups accept the rules and the authority of teachers without question, while others may devote all their attention to rule-breaking and avoiding work. You have probably encountered examples of both during your compulsory education. Sociologists are interested in these subcultures. Why do they form, and what effect do they have on their members, other pupils, teachers and schools?
Anti-school subcultures
• In the 1970s a great deal of media concern was directed at inner city comprehensives and the alleged misbehaviour of their pupils. This prompted sociologists such as Paul Willis to examine the possible reasons for the development of these mainly male, working-class groups of 'undisciplined' school pupils, or anti-school subcultures. Willis identified a group of 'lads'- whose main aim at school was to have a'laff'by rejecting the values of the school - and a more conformist group, referred to by the 'lads' as 'earoles'.
• On a general level, all subcultures have things in common. Their members gain status, mutual support and a sense of belonging from the subculture. According to Hargreaves, anti-school working-class subcultures are predominantly found in the bottom streams of secondary schools. In fact, he argued, they are caused by the labelling of some pupils as 'low stream failures'. Unable to achieve status in terms of the mainstream values of the school, these pupils substitute their own set of delinquent values by which they can achieve success in the eyes of their peers. They do this by, for example, not respecting teachers, messing about, arriving late, having fights, building up a reputation with the opposite sex, and so on.
• The main focus of Willis’ study was a group of 12 working class boys who went to a school on a housing estate in predominantly industrial small town – he followed them for their last 18 months at school and their first few months at work. The ‘lads’ (as Willis refers to them) formed a friendship grouping which was part of a “counter-school culture” opposed to the values espoused by the school.
• Willis argues that it is the rejection of school which prepares a certain section of the population for its role in the workforce. Working class pupils are not forced into manual labour but they are able to recognise that their own opportunities are limited. They know that school work will not prepare them for the types of occupations they are likely to get and they don’t believe that putting in lots of extra work at school will be rewarded by significantly better pay in the future. Willis claims that the lads realise they are being exploited but see little opportunity for changing this situation and, ironically, their own choices mean that they become trapped in some of the most exploitative jobs that capitalism has to offer.
Evaluation
• Willis’ study has been criticised for having a sample which is far too small to form the basis for generalising about working class experiences in education. By choosing to study only 12 students, all of them male, his study can’t even be seen as representative of the school he studied, let alone all school pupils.
• Willis is also criticised for simplifying the range of subcultural responses within schools. Most students come somewhere between the extremes of total conformity and total rebellion portrayed by Willis.
• Some have also questioned the continued relevance of Willis’ study. There has been a massive decline in the availability of unskilled male manual work since the 1970s, so it seems likely that male working class attitudes to education will have changed.
In a study of relationship between schooling, class, masculinity and sexuality, Mairtin Mac an Ghaill identified an anti-school subculture. The ‘macho lads’ were hostile to school authority and learning, not unlike the lads in Willis's study. Willis had argued that work especially physical work - was essential to the development of a sense of identity. By the mid- 1980s much of this kind of work was gone. Instead, a spell in youth training, followed very often by unemployment, became the norm for many working-class boys.
Pro-school subcultures
However, it is important to realise that not all school subcultures are anti-school. For example, Mac an Ghaill found a range of subcultures which subscribed to the values of success and accepted the ethos of the school.
• The ‘academic achievers’, who were from mostly skilled manual working-class backgrounds, adopted a more traditional upwardly mobile route via academic success. However, they had to develop ways of coping with the stereotyping and accusations of effeminacy from the'macho lads' They would do this either by confusing those who bullied them, by deliberately behaving in an effeminate way, or simply by having the confidence to cope with the jibes.
• The ‘new enterprisers’ were identified as a new successful pro-school subculture, who embraced the 'new vocationalism' of the 1980s and 1990s. They rejected the traditional academic curriculum, which they saw as a waste of time, but accepted the new vocational ethos, with the help and support of the new breed of teachers and their industrial contacts. In studying subjects such as business studies and computing, they were able to achieve upward mobility and employment by exploiting school-industry links to their advantage.
• The ‘real Englishmen’ were a small group of middle-class pupils, usually from a liberal professional background (their parents were typically university lecturers, or writers, or they had jobs in the media). They rejected what teachers had to offer, seeing their own culture and knowledge as superior. They also saw the motivations of the 'achievers' and 'enterprisers' as shallow. Whilst their own values did not fit with doing well at school, they did, however, aspire to university and a professional career. They resolved this dilemma by achieving academic success in a way that appeared effortless (whether it was or not).
• Finally, Mac an Ghaill looked at the experience of a group neglected entirely by most writers - gay students. These students commented on the heterosexist and homophobic nature of schools, which took for granted the naturalness of heterosexual relationships and the two-parent nuclear family.
Evaluation
• All of Mac an Ghaill’s studies are small-scale ethnographic accounts. Therefore, they may provide a detailed picture of those being studied but they are not necessarily representative of all school students and it is difficult to generalise the findings to the rest of the population. However, it could be argued that the combination of a number of studies produces a more representative picture.
• Mac an Ghaill presents a detailed picture of student responses to their experiences in the education system in terms of different forms of masculinity, responses to racism and ‘survival strategies’ to achieve educational success. However, he admits himself, at times, that these are not simply responses to educational experiences but are part of a wider social structure affected by class, gender and ethnicity. Therefore, studies of educational experiences cannot present a full explanation of why students behave in these ways.
Gender differences in subject choice
Statistics on subject choice
A Level
• Males outnumber females in all science and technical subjects apart from biology and related subjects
• Females outnumber males in all other subjects. English, modern languages and social studies have a particularly high proportion of female entries.
Degrees
• Males are more likely to gain degrees in physical and mathematical sciences, engineering and technology, and architecture, building and planning.
• In all other areas women predominated.
• In some traditionally male areas, such as medicine, women have now made significant in roads.
Explanations for gender differences in subject choice
• Anne Colley reviewed the reasons why gender differences in subject choice persisted into the 1990s:
1. Perceptions of gender roles. Despite all the changes in recent decades, traditional definitions of masculinity and femininity are widespread.
2. Subject preferences and choice. Different subjects have different images. Computer studies involves working with machines rather than people and this gives it a rather masculine image. The lack of opportunities for group activities and the rather formal way of teaching add to this.
3. The learning environment. There is some evidence that girls are more comfortable with scientific and technical subjects when taught in single-sex schools of single-sex lessons.
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