Youth Culture: Transition To Adulthood

Youth culture is the way in which youths live their life and the way in which they have unity via similar sharing norms and values. Youth culture has notable differences from older generations, and is often associated with the idea of being a period of time in your life that transitions you from child to adulthood. Or, as the functionalist Eisenstadt phrases it, it is the transitory stage in which children transition to adulthood. It is also important to note that the ideology surrounding youth culture is distinct from the idea of sub cultures, the functionalism view point emphasising this via the idea of a homogenous group. However, youth subcultures can be seen throughout history and todays society, and I will be explaining more about this within my essay. In this essay I will make note of the different views of the role of youth culture in this transition period, and will be evaluating how influential youth culture actually is in the transition to adulthood.

It is an expectation from society that you must mature, understand your responsibilities and have the ability …show more content…
By grouping teenagers together as experiencing the same transition, it disregards youth sub cultures and other lifestyles other than the dominant white middle class perspective. However, Eisenstadt argues that youths are united by the same desire to have a purpose and specific place within society and he thus argues that different styles and attitudes are not important as the transition itself establishes unity and should be the main focus. However, this does not deny the fact that it can also lead to negative stereotypes and discrimination causing youths themselves to feel abandoned by society which in turn will establish a youth culture that rebels against adulthood and this youth culture will not assist with the transitioning stage but cause