Social Class Replication by Youth Subcultures Within our Schools

Social Class Replication by Youth Subcultures Within our Schools

To investigate the existence and influence over social class

replication of youth subcultures, concentrating on commonly accepted

groups. The study will focus on ‘townies’ and ‘greebos’ and key stage

three of the school system.

From a sociological point of view it is a relevant topic, as there has

been limited research done in recent years, and I wish to follow on

from work such as Cohen and Clarke’s study of ‘skinheads’. Youth

culture is an important factor in the socialization of young people,

and if it influences class replication then its repercussions affect

society as a whole.

Personally, I have experienced youth subculture and consequently have

the advantage of inside knowledge on which to base my study, and

interest in the topic.

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Context and Concept

I am using an article from ‘The Independent’ Education section from 31st

October 2002 as one of my contexts. It describes how tribal youth

subcultures are dividing schools, primarily ‘townies’ and ‘grungers’-

a regional variation of the word ‘greebo’. It goes on to give

definitions of the types, and is based on the author’s personal

experience and knowledge gained through her own children. It raises

the issue of class- the townies are predominantly working class and

misbehave, the greebos middle class and hard working. This could lead

to the assumption that these tribes continue the class structure, by

keeping them apart.

A context I am going to use is Paul Willis’ study ‘Learning to Labour’.

He examined working class boys’ behaviour, and how it was replicated

in the work p...

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...rmining of

objectivity. There is also the theoretical issue, the imposition

problem. The writer is imposing their questions on the candidate,

meaning they are in way directing the candidate, undermining

objectivity and validity.

Theoretically, Interpretivists would argue that methods such as

unstructured interviews and observation are vastly superior to

questionnaires, as they uncover meanings behind actions rather then

just establishing the facts, and they emphasise validity. This is

because these methods attempt to look at the situation through the

eyes of the people themselves, verstehen, and let them speak for

themselves about what they see as important and useful. Questionnaires

do not take into account the fact that whilst people may share the

same views, there reasons for doing so may be totally different.