Youth Subcultures: Independent
An alternative form of explanation for the development of youth subcultures is provided by this interpretation. This involves the argument that we should see youth subcultures as developing independently of other groups. That is, out of the experiences and cultural needs of the people who form such groups.
In this sense, the development of youth sub-cultural values and norms represent an independent product of - and solution to - the specific interests and / or problems faced by (young) people in their everyday lives.
There are a number of different explanations for the development of independent youth subcultures that we can examine:
Writers such as Parsons ("Essays in Sociological Theory", 1964) and Eisenstadt ("From Generation to Generation", 1956), for example, argue that it is significant that youth subcultures are a modern phenomenon. In this respect, such writers argue they represent an attempt by young people to manage the transition from childhood to adulthood in modern societies.
Another example is provided by Walter Miller ("Lower Class Cultures", 1962). As the title suggests, Miller rejects the idea that delinquent sub-cultures arise as some kind of "reaction" to the pervasive, dominating, influence of "middle class value systems".
He wanted to explain fact that youth subcultures seem to be mainly male groups and he argued we should see delinquent subcultures as an independent cultural phenomenon that develop as an extension of lower - or working class - culture (as an American, Miller tends to use the term "lower class" rather than "working class"). In this respect, Miller argued that working class life and experience produced a range of "focal concerns" that were used by lower class youth to guide their social development and experience. These focal concerns can be summarised as:
1. Trouble
2. Toughness
3. Smartness
4. Excitement
5. Fate
6. Autonomy
The idea of focal concerns is also illustrated by the work of Howard Parker ("A View From The Boys", 1974), whose study highlights six basic concerns of young, working-class, males.