One way or another, almost every one of us encounters a teenage subculture. Maybe the child hung a poster in his room depicting dubious-looking people in black leather. Or, instead of decent clothes, he asked to buy him a black robe with inscriptions. Or constantly listens to loud, incoherent music. In short, the ways in which adults come into contact with teenage culture are extremely diverse.
But if so many teenagers stubbornly remain fans of youth culture, it means that it has some meaning for them. Let's try to figure out which one it is.
Firstly, teenage culture makes it much easier to communicate with peers. It is known that adolescence is an age of intense communication. In psychology, it is generally accepted that communication is the most significant activity for a teenager, which allows him to develop. But in order to communicate, you need to have some common interests and find like-minded people. The presence of culture greatly facilitates this process: once you decide on your subcultural preferences, you will immediately find a huge number of peers with the same interests. If teenagers listen to the same music or enjoy the same sports, this creates a basis for their communication.
As a rule, when friendly relations between teenagers have already developed, the importance of youth culture in communication decreases. Teenagers are interested in discussing a variety of topics, and music or sports fade into the background.
Secondly, youth culture for a teenager is a sphere of self-determination.
Adolescence is a period of active understanding of oneself, one’s essence and one’s place in the world. It is extremely important for a teenager to find his own answer to the eternal question: “Who am I and what am I?” However, in modern society with its contradictory trends, multiple cultural influences and trends, and complex social structure, it is not so easy for a teenager to find his place. And here culture comes to the rescue, offering a simple and clear answer to this question: I am a football fan, I am a computer game player. Moreover, the teenager is offered an appropriate appearance and style of behavior.
Thirdly, youth culture is a unique world, a world without adults. Teenagers understand perfectly well that in real life, where adults control almost everything, they occupy a dependent position. Youth culture is a reality where a teenager is competent and independent, where he can feel like an adult.
Passion for youth culture is not always serious. Sometimes this simply manifests itself as a desire to “be like everyone else,” “no worse than others.” There is no need to rush to condemn our children for this and encourage them to have their own opinions.
Think back to when your children were little and played with toys. Even then they had their own preferences: they had to buy a very specific car or doll. Each age has its own toys: kids have theirs, teenagers have theirs. Very rarely, teenage hobbies last longer than 17-18 years. If you start to fight them, there is a high probability that the teenager, having stood up for the music persecuted by his parents, will retain his passion for it for a long time.
If teen culture makes kids feel competent, you can turn to them for advice as experts. Asking the child “Who is this?”, “What does this word mean?” “What are they singing about?”, we thereby let him know that we recognize his authority and take his opinion into account. But this technique only works if the question is backed by sincere interest and a desire to understand. If the teenager feels our condescension, contact will not work.
Very often we are concerned with the question: “All this, of course, is correct, but what to do if a child spends all his free time on music or football, and his homework remains unfinished?” In this case, it is important to focus specifically on completing the lessons, without opposing them to the teenager’s hobbies: there is a difference in whether the parent is fighting for knowledge or against hobbies. “We all have our responsibilities. I work, and you study. So do your homework first, and in your free time you can do what you like.”
There are also situations when a teenager’s hobby somehow affects our lives, so there is a need to protect our interests. For example, loud music prevents us from relaxing after work, and we don’t like the fact that the new wallpaper is covered with posters. Naturally, in this case we have every right to defend our own space. And again we repeat: the main thing is not to act against the teenager’s hobbies, but to defend their own space. If we say at the end of the working day that loud music bothers us, without evaluating it and keeping silent about the fact that it seems pointless to us, this will cause much less protest.
Is it possible to somehow develop other interests in a teenager? Absolutely yes. The main thing is that the child does not have a feeling of “imposition.” One of the possible ways is to show by your own example your passion for music, reading, and theater. Even if a teenager does not share our interests at first, he has the opportunity to get acquainted with another culture. By showing our own hobbies unobtrusively and sincerely, we create conditions for expanding the horizons of our children.
Along with its positive influence, culture can also have a negative impact on a teenager.
Firstly, it limits and narrows one’s horizons and aggravates relationships between peers. It is known how difficult it is sometimes for teenagers who do not belong to one or another cultural group to find a common language with their peers, and what groundless conflicts arise between representatives of different interest groups.
Secondly, the culture of teenagers is characterized by socially undesirable manifestations: smoking, drug and alcohol use, obscene language.
This is largely due to the anxiety that we, adults, often experience when coming into contact with the world of teenage culture. Is it possible to somehow protect our children from its adverse influence? Since they cannot be isolated and it is impossible to always be nearby, some way must be found so that the child can protect himself.
Let's think back to when our children were little and were given vaccinations to protect them from smallpox or polio. We understood: this is the only way to protect children from this terrible disease. What can act as such a “psychological vaccination”?
This is the ability to make independent decisions. If a child is accustomed to agreeing with others based on the opinions of others, he is much more susceptible to the influence of youth culture. “If everyone around me smokes, it will be right if I do it too” - this is the approximate course of his reasoning. It is important that the teenager not only knows about the need to think independently, but has such experience. If you consult with a child, ask his opinion, give him the right to choose and decide, he realizes that he can make a decision himself, and not just agree with the opinion of the majority. It’s best if the teenager’s expression of his opinion has some consequences: for example, it is he who decides which film you will go to watch with him, and you actually go to watch this particular film.
It is also very important to teach your child to say “no” and insist on his decision. It is necessary that he has experience of successfully defending his own opinion. If you give in to a teenager in some controversial situation, give him the opportunity to insist on his own and do it his own way, he will feel that he is able to rely on his own strengths and make his own decisions.
Another important point is to demonstrate to the teenager your neutral attitude towards his hobbies and interest in his life. If he understands that we condemn his interests, he will stop sharing them and in a difficult situation (if, for example, everyone in his company started smoking) he will be left alone with his doubts and worries.
It is clear that it is impossible to show a positive attitude or approval where there is none, and this is not required. It is quite enough to simply accept: “These are your hobbies, I may not share them, but I am interested in what you are interested in.” If a teenager knows that we will not judge him, it will be easier for him to turn to us for support in difficult times.
There is no need to “fight” the teenage subculture, because... This does not contribute to the cultural development of children and can lead to disruption of contact with the child. It is very important that parents understand: the teenage subculture has certain psychological functions, this must be taken as a given.
Literature
Personality, family, school (problems of socialization of students). St. Petersburg, 1996.
Modern trends in youth socialization: observation, assessments, judgments. Ed. A.G. Bystritsky. M., 1992.
Adolescents are often defined as a marginal group that, from the point of view of cultural and historical development, does not belong to traditional, culturally dominant communities. The concept of “marginality” in relation to the teenage subculture is used to emphasize non-standardity, extreme variability and a certain alienation from the main lines and traditions of national cultures. At the same time, marginality itself has become a traditional (over centuries) typological feature of the teenage subculture.
Marginality (from lat. marginalis- located on the edge) - the borderline position of the individual in relation to any social community.
Teenage subculture is a set of norms, values, attitudes, customs and behaviors that are recognized by members of the teenage community and are implemented in life.
The teenage subculture, uniting growing children, manifests itself primarily in such traditionally youth aspects as clothing and music. Each new generation “discovers” a new style in music and appearance, striving to separate itself from other generations and declare its uniqueness. Research shows that adolescents, as a rule, feel loneliness more acutely than adults due to the high uncertainty of the adolescent’s developmental situation and the changing system of relationships. In addition, the teenage subculture puts forward persistent demands for broad contacts with peers, intensive time spent together, and inclusion in a group.
The increased attention to clothing, hairstyle, and appearance in general, characteristic of adolescents, is an integral part of the emerging identity, the awareness of belonging to a certain social group. Teenagers understand perfectly well that clothes carry information about the owner and inform those around them about the role that a person is trying on. If a young man is dressed in black leather and adorned himself with powerful chains, then he wants to talk and act in the spirit of a “cool pariah.” The teenager expects an appropriate attitude towards himself from those around him.
By choosing this or that clothing, a teenager creates his own image, while simultaneously engaging in role-playing experimentation, trying on different models of behavior: today he is a hippie, and tomorrow he is a dandy. Appearance reflects a particular worldview, and using a new way of dressing makes it easier to penetrate the layer of culture that lies behind this or that style. Gradually, the choice is concretized on the image that turns out to be closest and most comfortable to the teenager. This image is most often traditionalized. The choice of clothing emphasizes the teenager’s independence and individuality. But it also allows you to “hide” through the mechanism social mimicry in a group of people like him, to be invisible among the bright ones.
Social mimicry is a mechanism of social adaptation of the individual, the desire to dissolve in a group without standing out in terms of external characteristics and manner of behavior.
Provocative clothing and hairstyles are worn by teenagers who want to declare their disagreement with adults and their rejection of the world of the older generation. Rebellious teenagers adhere to their style as a certain ideological position, stubbornly defending the right to, say, purple hair. However, the main motive in building one's own image, as researchers have discovered, is the desire to gain recognition and be accepted in the company of peers. A sense of belonging to a group provides additional opportunities to build one's own identity, and in our time, clothing still affects social status, especially among young people. The desire to be like others or the desire to gain superiority is reflected in the choice of clothing and appearance in general. Finally, clothing that you like increases your self-esteem and makes you more confident—teenagers who are satisfied with their appearance adapt better in their social environment.
Another significant component of the teenage subculture is music. The tastes of teenagers are extremely varied, but most often boys and girls listen to songs about love. They can be performed in the style of rap or heavy metal, but the theme of love is almost always present. Music, like the subculture as a whole, reflects the life philosophy of a growing teenager and allows, if not to find answers, then to formulate questions.
Music is a powerful means of communication between teenagers and a way to consolidate traditions. Communication through music goes back to pre-speech communication and is based on emotional reactions. Music allows teenagers who are not too prone to verbal expressions to express their state of mind, impressions, experiences and moods. Expressive musical communication essentially carries the function of unity, empathy, psychological cooperation and mass infection of each other’s emotional state.
The rhythmic organization of melodies naturally synchronizes with the activity and biological rhythm of the human body, and for adolescents it also opens an adequate channel for the release of sublimated sexual energy.
Thus, F. Rice presents the results of a study of the influence of hard rock and heavy metal music on young men aged 14 to 20 years. The study clearly showed that music not only plays an important role in the lives of young people, but is often a passionate hobby that constitutes the system of relationships, worldview, spending patterns, mood and ideas about the future. The criteria for choosing a rock direction for teenagers were the art of the performers, the perception of sound and the content of the songs, reflecting their own experiences)
