Read the text and express your ideas on the offered questions.

Ø What are the teens’ problems?

Ø What problems do young people face today?

Ø What do young people worry about?

Ø Who can help?

Ø How to help?

Ø What are teens’ life ambitions?

Ø Why do young people start smoking / drinking / taking drugs?

Ø Do you always understand your parents? Do they understand you? What are the reasons for misunderstanding?

Ø Do you think that friction between young people and their parents is inevitable? Why?

Ø What are the reasons for conflict and friction?

The age between 14 & 17 is considered to be one of the best periods in people’s life. Grown-ups remind it with excitement and tenderness. But most teens wouldn’t agree with this opinion if they were asked. They are sure and that is quite true that they are overwhelmed with different problems.

These problems are quite serious and they can’t be considered trifles. Teenagers have psychological problems which can be explained by their psychological instability. This is the reason of their strange and sometimes aggressive behaviour. Their aggression can be aimed at their friends, teachers, parents and people around them. If these problems aren’t solved and regulated by experienced specialists, psychologists, teachers it can lead to far more serious problems.

Drinking and taking drugs have become the most actual problems of the modern society. As for drinking, teenagers don’t realize the harm it does to their health, they just don’t want it to the privilege of grown-ups but unlike grown-ups they are notable to drink responsibly. Most teenagers are having their first full drink of alcohol by the age of 15, up to eight years earlier than their mothers, putting them at greater risk of dependence, mental health problems and drug addiction. Statistics had also shown that girls were starting to drink alcohol as early as boys because they were increasingly exposed to alcohol advertising and were more independent than their parents and grandparents. Teenagers are also maturing earlier, have access to a wider range of alcohol products, more disposable income and less parental supervision. They really believe that certain drinks will make them look like they are accepted. So, we can say that the low level of self-appraisal is the main reason of drinking and drug problem.

Teenagers are greatly influenced by social problems such as unemployment, disfunctional families & the stress of getting into new college. They don’t know how to cope with the problems which do not depend on them. They are badly prepared for their solution mentally, spiritually & even physically. If they fail, they can be driven to despair and won’t find the way out if not helped by their families, school and some other representatives of society.

In fact, teenagers have got a lot of work. They are busy with their studies, household chores; some of them have a paid job. But there is no time for fun and they want to be entertained at least sometimes. This excessive work leads to an inner conflict which is usually expressed in the form of an open, direct protest against the world of grown-ups. The next step is the conflict with parents which is very difficult to solve. On the other hand, most teens don’t know how to organise their free time for raising their cultural level, enriching their knowledge and improving their physical forms.

 

2. Study the information about youth subcultures and tell…

Ø If you belong to any of youth movements mentioned in the text.

Ø Which of the mentioned youth movements are developed in your country?

Ø Do you think these movements are joined by weak teens only?

Ø What’s the role of these organizations in society?

Ø Do you believe some of these movements can cause global conflicts?

A youth subculture is a youth-based subculture with distinct styles, behaviors, and interests. Youth subcultures offer participants an identity outside of that ascribed by social institutions such as family, work, home and school.

The study of subcultures often consists of the study of the symbolism attached to clothing, music, other visible affections by members of the subculture and also the ways in which these same symbols are interpreted by members of the dominant culture. Youth subcultures are often defined or distinguishable by elements such as fashion, beliefs, slang, dialects, behaviors or interests.

Some of youth movements

The goth subculture has associated tastes in music, aesthetics, and fashion, but not all individuals who share those tastes are members of the goth subculture. Styles of dress within the subculture range from deathrock, punk, androgynous, Victorian, some Renaissance and Medieval style attire, or combinations of the above, most often with black attire, makeup and hair. By the late 1970s, there were a few post-punk bands labeled ‘gothic’. However, it was not until the early 1980s that gothic rock became its own subgenre within post-punk, and that followers of these bands started to come together as a distinctly recognizable movement. Goths, in terms of their membership in the subculture, are usually not supportive of violence, but rather tolerant. Their ideology is formed in part by recognition, identification, and grief over societal and personal evils that the mainstream culture wishes to ignore or forget. These are the main themes in goth music.

Hip Hop (Hip-Hop) is an artistic sub-culture that originated in the 1970s in the inner city African American, Afro-Caribbean and Latino American community of New York City. Since first emerging in the South Bronx, Hip-hop culture has spread around the world. When hip-hop music first began to emerge, it was based around disc jockeys who created rhythmic beats by looping breaks on two turntables, which is now more commonly referred to as sampling. This was later accompanied by ‘rap’.

The hippie subculture was originally a youth movement that arose in the United States during the mid-1960s, swiftly spreading to other countries around the world. The etymology of the term 'hippie' is from hipster, and was initially used to describe beatniks who had moved into New York City's Greenwich Village and San Francisco's Haight-Ashbury district, such as Jimi Hendrix. The early ‘hippies’ ideologies included the countercultural values of the Beat Generation. Some created their own social groups and communities, listened to psychedelic rock, embraced the sexual revolution, and used drugs such as marijuana and LSD to explore alternative states of consciousness.

Mod (from modernist) is a subculture that originated in London, England in the late 1950s and peaked in the early to mid 1960s. Significant elements of the mod subculture include: fashion (often tailor-made suits); pop music, including African American soul, Jamaican ska, and British beat music and R&B; and Italian motor scooters. From the mid to late 1960s onwards, the mass media often used the term mod in a wider sense to describe anything that was believed to be popular, fashionable or modern.

Metalhead is a popular term for a devoted fan of heavy metal music. In continental Europe metal culture appeals to a more diverse audience, often spanning into the 30s and 40s and more frequently with a middle-class background and a higher cultural profile. Metalheads affirm their membership in the subculture or scene by attending metal concerts, buying albums, and most recently, by contributing to metal websites and by growing their hair.

The New Age (also referred to as the New Age movement, New Age spirituality, and Cosmic Humanism) is a decentralized Western social and spiritual movement that seeks ‘Universal Truth’ and the attainment of the highest individual human potential. It includes aspects of Occultism, astrology, esotericism, metaphysics, alternative medicine, music, collectivism, sustainability, and nature. New Age practices and philosophies sometimes draw inspiration from major world religions: Buddhism, Chinese folk religion, Christianity, Hinduism, Islam, Judaism. It incorporates aspects of the Earth, Moon, and outer space.

The punk subculture emerged in the USA, the United Kingdom, and Australia in the mid-1970s. Exactly which region originated punk has long been a major controversy within the movement. The earliest form of punk rock, named protopunk, started as a garage rock revival. Common punk viewpoints include anti-authoritarianism, non-conformity, direct action and not selling out. Other notable trends in punk politics include nihilism, anarchism, socialism, anti-militarism, anti-capitalism, anti-racism, anti-sexism, anti-nationalism, anti-homophobia, environmentalism, vegetarianism and animal rights. However, some individuals within the punk subculture hold right-wing views (such as those associated with the Conservative Punk website), neo-Nazi views (Nazi punk), or are apolitical (e.g. horror punk).

Straight Edge is a subculture of hardcore punk, a direct reaction to the sexual revolution, hedonism, and excess associated with punk rock. Straight edge is a philosophy of staying clean and sober: meaning refraining from using alcohol, tobacco, and any other recreational drugs. The term was coined by the 1980s hardcore punk band Minor Threat in the song ‘Straight Edge’. The letter X is the most known symbol of Straight Edge, and is worn as a marking on the back of both hands, though it can be displayed on other body parts as well. Some followers of Straight Edge have also incorporated the symbol into clothing and pins.

Rave, rave dance or rave party is a term first used in the 1980s to describe Acid House Parties (often all-night events) with fast-paced electronic music and light shows. At these parties people dance music played by DJs and occasionally live performers. The genres of electronic dance music played include house, trance, techno and jungle (often collectively referred to as ‘rave music’).

Rockers, leather boys or ton-up boys are a biker subculture that originated in the UK during the 1950s. It was mainly centered around British cafe racer motorcycles and rock and roll music. British mods and skinheads commonly called rockers greasers or grease as an insult. Since then, the terms greaser and rocker have become fairly interchangeable in the UK but are used differently in North America.

A skinhead is a member of a subculture that originated among working class youths in the United Kingdom in the 1960s, and then spread to other parts of the world. Named for their close-cropped or shaven heads, the first skinheads were greatly influenced by West Indian (specifically Jamaican) rude boys and British mods, in terms of fashion, music and lifestyle. Originally, the skinhead subculture was primarily based on those elements, not politics or race. In the late 1960s, some skinheads in the United Kingdom had

engaged in violence against South Asian immigrants (an act known as Paki bashing in common slang). By the late 1970s, the mass media, and subsequently the general public viewed the skinhead subculture as one that promotes racism and neo-Nazism. The white power and neo-Nazi skinhead subculture eventually spread to North America, Europe and other areas of the world. The mainstream media started using the term skinhead in reports of racist violence (regardless of whether the perpetrator was actually a skinhead); this has played a large role in public perceptions about the subculture.