the sociology of the life course 3- youth and adolescence
DESCRIPTION
This series of presentations are an accompaniment to terrific textbook 'Sociology, 7th edition' by Giddens and Sutton (2013). There is a very strong focus on visuals, with many additional short activities designed to foster interaction between teachers and students. The text from Giddens and Sutton is usually paraphrased and reworded to aid the comprehension of students, particularity those of lower language ability than Giddens and Sutton had in mind. The sociology of the age and the life course is the perfect embodiment of contemporary sociology as a whole, and a branch of the discipline with direct relevance to every individual in late-modern capitalist industrial societies. Sociology is the study of how the structure of any particular society largely dictates how individuals must live; the analysis of the plight of the modern individual in a rapidly changing world. By using this frame of reference, we often reveal social phenomena previously regarded as "natural" and eternal as -in actual fact- "social constructions" that are completely dependent on the socio-historical era for their own existence. The sociology of the life course looks at how the meanings attached to something as fundamental as a "stage of life" (e.g. childhood) change across time and space; in other words, in different historical eras and -still today- in different places around this complex and diverse planet, the expectations attached to -say- being pre-teen, a teenager, or someone over the age of 50 are products of capitalist, industrial modernity and therefore very, very recent developments in our 800,000 year human history. This series begins with an introduction to the different aspects of ageing, with an emphasis on the development of social self (looking-glass self), which is something all humans do regardless of time and space; it is part of the psychological process of growing up in all societies. We then establish what social ageing is; the fundamentals of the sociology of ageing. Later chapters of the series analyze the different stages of life, in turn, in socio-historical perspective; beginning with what we would today call "childhood" (pre-teen), before looking at "youth", "young adulthood", "mature adulthood" and finally "later life".TRANSCRIPT
The Sociology of the Life Course
3 – The sociology of youth and adolescence
Accompaniment to the superb Giddens and Sutton (2013) (left) Chapter 9, with an assortment of additional accompanying resources and activities
Contents
Also in the series…1 Introduction to the sociology of age and the life
course2 The sociology of childhood4 The sociology of young adulthood5 The sociology of mature adulthood6 The sociology of later life
3 The sociology of youth and adolescence
2 The life stages in socio-historical perspective:
2- Youth and adolescencesee G&S 2013:350
A teenager is anyone aged 13-19…
…the period in which most of our
biological development from
“child” to “adult” takes place
Puberty : when a person becomes capable of “adult” sexual
activity and reproduction
Activity:
Why might one’s teenage years be a more difficult life stage that childhood or young adulthood?
These biological changes are universal across
time and space- puberty, and being literally a
“teenager” are not specifically modern phenomena!
Activity:
If the biological aspect is universal, what aspects of being a “youth” may be socially constructed?
However, many of the
social meanings associated
with being a teenager in industrial societies are
culturally specific
“…in many cultures (puberty) does not produce the
degree of turmoil and uncertainty often found among young people in
modern societies.”
Giddens & Sutton 2013:350
In many cultures across time
and space, there seems to be much less of a concept of
“youth” as transition
between child- and adulthood
In some cultures, a distinct
ceremonial event signals one’s relatively brief
transition to adulthood: there is
little or no awkward, halfway stage
And in these pre-modern environments “the process of
psychosexual development is far easier to
negotiate”
Giddens & Sutton 2013:350
Activity:
Discuss the Giddens quote (left). What is ‘pyschosocial development’? Why might it difficult to negotiate in modernity, but easier in more traditional settings?
In cultures where children are already
working alongside adults, there
is very little social relevance
of the “youth” stage apart from its biological aspect.
Many are now realizing that in pre-
modern settings, there is very little concept of
“youth” at all.
Procreative sexual activity
(ie conceiving babies)
generally takes place earlier in pre-modern settings, also.
In many pre-modern settings,
one becomes “adult” when one becomes a parent!
Activity:
Find statistics on the age of first childbirth in modern industrial societies over the last 100 years. Why such a long wait between puberty and first childbirth?
This is certainly not the case in modern industrial
societies
Pregnancy is
biologically possible
after puberty; yet in modern industrialized
societies, teenage pregnancy is highly
stigmatized and
discouraged
The concept of
“youth”, and
“youth culture” is a
modern one, specific to industrial
societies and not fully flourishing until the post-World War II
“ baby boom” cohort
Activities:
(i) We’ve already seen how childhood was to an extent a socially constructed , early-modern phenomenon. Review the factors that contributed to this.
(ii) Can you guess which factors might be relevant to the social construction of “youth culture”?
Pre-modern youth in the UK
The industrialized West experienced a “baby boom” after WWII
The
Hippy youthmovement
Post-war affluence, rapid
mass-media expansion, and
the rapid onset of
consumerism, created and fostered a
growing concept of youth culture
Activity:
How does increased opportunity for consumerism contribute to the creation of youth culture and various subcultures?
Youth was constructed as a time of
individual identity-formation…
Activities:
(i) What is ‘identity’ and why is it such a crucial concept in sociology?
(ii) How is the late-modern concept of identity different today than in pre-modern times?
new-found autonomous
consumer freedom;
“teenager” as old enough to be free of
the constraints of parental controls and yet young enough to be
without the
responsibilities of
real adult life …
Activity:
For how many years might a late-modern youth expect to live in such a transitory state?
…and often, the participation in various
subcultural trends and groups such as
hippies, mods, rockers, skinheads, emos, ravers etc.
Activity:
Can you identify the subcultural trends depicted here?