A Cultural Gap Between The Generations Of Youth

For many youth cultures have changed over the generations, for parents and teens,
the gap has grown even wider to some. Young people have faced similar challenges
to each other, but each generation is unique and experiences situations that shape
their attitudes and behaviors. However, when entering intoany particular culture,
although influences exist, it is still usually a conscious choice. A useful way to
examine influences, on young people over time, is that of Strauss and Howe in their
book the fourth turning. Each generation is labeled, to offer the reader an
understanding.
According to Strauss and Howe, the silent “generation grew up with the harsh
realities of war and adepressed economy.' This group of young people was at a
crossroads, too young to be a hero’s of the war, and yet too old to be young free
adolescents, they paved the way towards civil rights, and the rock and roll era.

The next generation was to be known as the baby boomers, growing up with idyllic
views of life, accepting the notion of “father knows best” (www.health.org) They
engaged in a culture of free-loving, urban riots, and unrest, and as this generation
was to mature, idealism allowed the introduction of materialism; hence the word
“yuppie” (www.health.org) arrived. Generation X was born into an era of high
divorce rates, and an increasing rise in the number of single-parent families. These
young people entered the labor market when jobs were scarce, and youth crime
and disorder soared, the aids epidemic was rampant. “Their outside status helped
spawn the angst-filled grunge movement and they also fuelled the hip-
hopexplosion.” (www.health.org). The cultures in the youth have changed so much
over time and the change shows.

The next generation Y/Millennials were born into both good and bad influences at the
same time. At the top of the national agenda is child welfare, although negative
school violence and drugs are at the forefront. Computerization and technology are
ever-increasing, and equipment is predominately digital. The Y generation, is a
representation of today’s teens where surfing the internet is the norm, and emailing
is as common as using the telephone. This era is much more multicultural than it
was when their parents were growing up, and images containing sex and violence
are common themes that surround them daily. To an extent “the Vietnam war and
the assassinations of John Kennedy, Robert Kennedy, Malcolm x, Medgar Evers,
and Dr. Martin Luthur King, Jr, are ancient history”. Thespeed at which cultural
objects and ideas are transmitted globally today is a significant factor in the number
of youth subculture groups that are identified. A major change with regards to
counter-cultural groups today is the large number of them around. For example, in
the sixties it was common to be classed as a mod or a rocker, you tended to be one
or the other. Today youth can align with many other groups because there is such
diversity. The mass media has a large role to play in encouraging the formation of
sub-cultural groups, by helping young people to see and identify which role models
represent what groups.
Perhaps more fundamentally, youth culture has become more accepting and
accommodating of different groupings within the community. There are groups on
the fringe of society who may be counter-cultural in orientation, like punks, goths,
etc.. by large now there seems to be a strong sense of tolerance for difference and
a feeling that diversity may even be positive. Media targeting of young people is all
too common, with the hunt for consumer money on. Advertisers view teens in
particular, as uniquely profitable, they buy themselves, influence parents to buy,
and indeed will be future adult consumers. Consumer advertising through the
media is highly influential on young people, especially when they use popularity by
association: Product advertised by famous people. Although, adolescents I work
with are sometimes quite cynical to thisapproach, seeing it as someone who gets
paid for a job, without actually believing in the product.

Media advertising uses signifiers to appeal to different groups, “visual and verbal
elements are combined toproduce particular meanings and effects”. If we look at
an advertisement for the chocolate bar bounty, the light blue packaging denotes
the product as food. Related visual images of a sunny desert island, give
connotations of youth, freedom, and happiness. The music can be powerful in
giving the feeling of energy, and pleasure. This example is to illustrates how
powerful semiotics and the use of signs in the media can be. The media uses
semiotics in portraying fashion and beauty items and has done it over time.
Clothes are an important indication of social interaction, and media images even in
the sixties helped to determine what groups young people engaged in,” clothing
fashion both sprang from and had an influence on the various youth culture groups
of the time which diverged and evolved as the decade progressed”. The “teddy
boys” dressed in Edwardian style clothing, Hell’s angels wore leather, which was
symbolic of their brotherlinessand motorcycling ventures. This code of dress
although sub-cultural, was mainly to facilitate their mode of transport as opposed to
a fashion statement. This dress sense may have been influenced by films of the
time such as the wild ones.

With youth cultures today they are more into social media than anything else.
There has been a hugedifference with past youth cultures due to the technological
advancements that have been upheld by the youth today. It is an easier way for
today's youth to be able to get around and see more without actually going
anywhere they can stay in their homes and see all the different things around
them with the help of social media. 20 years ago youth was just getting involved
with so much of the technology that now youth has it has been a life-changer for
so many.