Session Information
SES D 08, Paper Session
Paper Session
Contribution
Objectives
There has been a growing body of literature on youth cultures in the sociology
of education since the1960s. As for Taiwan, studies in this field began in the 1970s
and during the past three or four decades researchers have gained substantial
achievements. In my view, it is now high time that we did the job and by doing
so, drew some implications of it for future reference. Therefore, the purpose of
this study is to trace the development of youth culture studies in Taiwan. Through
examining topics, methodologies and findings of related empirical research, we
identify the trends in this field and portray the main features of youth cultures in
Taiwan as well. My further goal is to analyze the domination of youth cultures
within the historical context, to realize the position of youth cultures in the
society, and to frame a theory of identity construction of the youth.
Perspective
In this study, I argue that youth culture is the terrain where the youth voices the subjectivity, constructs identities and demonstrates the creativity. The studies on youth culture therefore should stand from the point of insider.Cultural Studies is the main theory orientation supporting my perspective.
There has been a growing body of literature on youth cultures in the sociology of education since the 1950s. From Chicago School[1] to Symbolic Interactionism[2], it was until the Centre for Contemporary Cultural Studies(CCCS) established by University of Birmingham in 1964 that altered the perspective of youth culture studies significantly and influenced the research in this field after the 1970s dramatically.
Cultural Studies inaugurated by CCCS maintains that “culture is ordinary” (Williams, 1989) and it is where the academic research should start from. It not only erases the traditional distinctions between high culture and popular culture, but also deciphers the hidden power struggles between the domination and the subordination within popular culture through the conception of hegemony proposed by Gramsci(1971). From this perspective, youth culture is viewed in a different way. CCCS emphasizes how youths interpret, resist and re-produce the meanings of popular culture (ex, Hall, 1980), and argues that students’ resistance to the school realizes their subjectivities as well as cultural production (ex, Willis, 1977). They concentrate both on the text and the youth. Through textual analysis, they examine texts of popular culture to identify, on the one hand, the way how texts convey authors’ intentions; on the other, how youths receive, interpret, and interact with those texts. Meanwhile, focusing on youths and the cultural world they create, the research inquires how youths construct meanings of popular culture in order to reveal the active relations of negotiation, resistance and reproduction with popular culture(Dolby, 2003).
[1] Chicago School stands at empirical positivism, viewing youth subcultures as deviant and anti-intellectual, such as Coleman(1961).
[2] Symbolic Intersactionism emphasizes subjectivity and qualitative methods, exploring how students produce different cultures in order to adapt to the schooling system. It is more from the perspective of youths rather than adults. Hargreaves(1967) and Lacey(1970) are examples.
Method
Expected Outcomes
References
Dolby, N. (2003). Popular culture and democratic practice. Harvard Educational Review, 73(3), 258-284. Gramsci, A. (1971). Selections from the prison notes. New York: International. Hall, S. (1980). Encoding/Decoding. In S. Hall et al. (Eds), Culture, media , language: Working papers in cultural studies, 1972-1979(pp.105-114). Birmingham: Centre for Contemporary Cultural Studies, University of Birmingham. Williams, R. (1989). Resources of hope : Culture, democracy, socialism. London ; New York : Verso. Willis, P. (1977). Learning to labor: How working class kids get working class jobs. N. Y. : Columbia University Press.
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