Mainstream Youth Culture In The United States

with different juvenile activities. During the introduction of compulsory schooling, youth were more reliant on parental and familial assistance for the provision of food, money, and other basic needs. While some adults saw the emergence of this new culture as a threat to traditional lifestyles, middle-class families in particular, did not see new juvenile activities and behavior as defiant (Mills, 2015).

Before the youth culture was present, the term cool was used to either describe things that were ahead of the norm or stylish items. “Youth Culture and Global "Cool"” states that cool was originally African American slang but by the 1950s, the concept and meaning of cool merged into the youth culture (Bowman, 2004). Many industries use the

There are youth all around the world who have different living situations. Different living situations worldwide explain why the mainstream youth culture in the United States is different from the mainstream youth culture in other countries such as Mexico or France (O’Connor, 2004). Mainstream subcultures vary by country, but similarities in general subcultures still exist. Subcultures found in Russia are very similar to subcultures found in other societies, including youth subcultures in the United States (Laysheva, 2011). There are many studies on youth subcultures that mainly focus on social class, and this is important because scholars believe that social classes show strong evidence that supports the fact that some youth were put at a disadvantage since the beginning (O’Connor, 2004). American sociologists acquired the term “habitus” from French sociologist Pierre Bourdieu to explain the subculture phenomenon that was believed to be dictated by one’s social class. Two critical factors pertaining to this phenomenon are education levels and occupations of parents. Originally, in 1950 American sociology, it was believed that youth who are unable to attain certain societal expectations in school create their own subcultures (O’Connor, 2004). Typically, youth who do not attain a certain level in school revert to dropping out, working dead-end jobs, or getting involved in criminal activity (Mills, 2016). The Chicago School approach says that youth who partake in criminal groups, more specifically, youth who are involved in gangs are part of a deviant subculture and they seek to go against the social norm. The Chicago School believes that deviant behaviors come from social and economic context. British research from the 1970’s show that youth subcultures have less to do with the youth’s inability to succeed, but more to do with the youth’s perspective on how to relate to and function in