The spiritual world of young people is developing against the backdrop of pragmatism currently dominant in Russia, preoccupation, first of all, with material problems. It’s not surprising for a young man to become disoriented. As can be seen from the survey results, many students (especially at universities where they do not study ethics and aesthetics) are confused about the concepts of morality, do not see the difference between beauty and prettiness, and are subject to stereotypes in assessing works of art and the work of various artists. Only a few develop independent cultural interests; the majority simply go with the flow.

Our survey of students using a representative sample (250 people participated) confirms the concerns expressed. We do not pretend to make broad generalizations, but we believe that we have been able to identify the general features of the spiritual development of modern students. These are young people who do not deny traditional culture and recognize the values accepted in society and instilled in them by their elders. Their cultural and aesthetic needs are formed thanks to information received, first of all, in the media, as well as in the process of study. It cannot be said that the majority of students have any independent interests in the fields of culture and art.

Young people are very suggestible, they confuse the real and the imaginary. The level of their spiritual and cultural development needs to be improved.

This level is approximately the same, although there are still some differences. They are caused, among many reasons, by the fact that future teachers, compared to future engineers, study a wider range of humanities, including, for example, ethics.

And it is no coincidence that the greatest difference between the students of the two universities was revealed in their views on general humanistic issues. Polytechnic students are less likely to think about moral issues. Thus, 41% of respondents from the Polytechnic Institute admit that “any means” are applicable to achieve a noble goal. Among future teachers, only 19% are like this, i.e. less than twice. 55% of the surveyed students at the Polytechnic Institute and 71% at the Pedagogical Institute believe that “there are unselfish people.”

Students' attitudes toward religion reflect a general trend characteristic of post-perestroika Russia. About half of those surveyed feel the need for prayer and want to better understand the essence of Christianity; 45% attend church to pray. However, 96% of respondents from the Pedagogical Institute are convinced that a person’s morality does not depend on his religiosity. 91% of respondents from the Polytechnic Institute think the same.

In general, the values that young people follow are traditional and even patriarchal in some ways. In first place is the level “me - my family - my goals”. For example, more than one student surveyed expressed their willingness to risk their lives for certain purposes. But, mostly, “for the sake of loved ones.” The number of answers “for the sake of the homeland” is small.

One can notice a restrained (in some cases hostile) attitude towards the “stranger”. Almost half of the respondents have limited views on people. What are the cultural needs of respondents? They were asked the question: “What do you associate with the word “rest”?” 14% of polytechnic students and 17.5% of future teachers noted the word “sleep”. Next among the students of the Polytechnic Institute were the words “entertainment” and “beer” (5% each), among the students of the Pedagogical Institute - “nature” (9%) and “entertainment” (7.5%). Only in fourth place was “reading” (on average 4%).

To the question “What are you reading now?” - answered: “Nothing” - 54% of respondents from polytechnic and 36% from pedagogical institutes. At the time of the survey, the rest were reading mainly entertainment literature - detective stories, adventures. Only a few at that moment mastered the heritage of Dostoevsky, Hemingway, Dante, Balzac (all were students at the Pedagogical Institute). As for newspapers and magazines, 30% of the surveyed students from both institutes do not read any newspapers at all. Of the remaining 70% of readers, the vast majority prefer advertising and entertainment media.

Information received from this type of press cannot be assessed positively. Young people learn rumors, sensational details of events, and receive advice like “How to meet a girl?” or “How to please a man?”, read horoscopes and other mysticism, look at advertising pictures. Students do not take this kind of press seriously, yet it has a subtle but significant influence on them. spiritual world, focusing on the fleetingness of feelings, ease of relationships, selfishness. Mass culture in general has the same influence.

Also indicative is the respondents’ interest in different types art. As an art form, television ranks first among Polytechnic students and third among Pedagogical Institute students in terms of level of interest. What do young people prefer to watch on TV? The programs “What? Where? When?”, “Own Game” and music programs. In general, respondents give preference to game programs and various talk shows, as well as frankly entertaining programs.

For respondents, cinema “exists” mainly on the TV screen. Less than 2% of students at the Pedagogical Institute answered that they go to the cinema to see every new film. Among the polytechnicians surveyed, there were no such people at all. 37% of respondents never go to the cinema on their own initiative. The rest go occasionally or whenever possible.

A slightly different attitude towards the theater. On average, about 3% of respondents from both universities go to every premiere, 26% of the surveyed students of the pedagogical institute attend the theater as soon as they are given the opportunity, half of the respondents go to the theater at least occasionally. Almost 22% of respondents never go to the theater on their own initiative. Drama theater occupies a place somewhere in the middle in the scale of student interests.

Worse attitude towards fine arts. None of the respondents answered that they visit every new exhibition. 28% and 30% of respondents noted that they never attend exhibitions on their own initiative. The rest do this rarely or whenever possible. Therefore, it is not surprising that students’ views on fine arts are not broad. They have seen few paintings and know only the textbook famous artists. In this regard, students from both institutions find similarities. In general, respondents' interest in fine arts is low. It is lower than, for example, classical music. Survey data indicate that the most popular among students are those types of art that are most accessible to them as people living outside the capital city. That is, those whose samples you can listen to or see at home - movies, music. At the same time, interest in the theater, which is quite large, suggests that respondents are drawn to art that requires direct perception, without the participation of technical means. Although the survey materials show that students are not indifferent to serious music, there are only a few true connoisseurs of it among the respondents.

In a situation where mass culture dominates, teachers of the humanities remain almost the only people who can give students right direction their cultural development, teach them to distinguish the real from the imaginary. If we do not want our higher schools to graduate narrow specialists who are satisfied only with themselves and who do not strive for spiritual development, then universities should pay more attention to cultural and educational work with students. First of all, it seems advisable not to reduce disciplines that contribute to improving the general cultural level of students. For example, the basics of ethics should be included in the course of study as a compulsory subject along with the history of the Fatherland, philosophy, cultural studies, sociology, etc. This is especially important now because there is moral confusion in Russian society. Young people want to have moral ideals, but modern society cannot offer them anything positive, except perhaps religious values. However, religious morality requires deep faith from a person.

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Ministry of Education and Science of the Russian Federation

Federal State Budgetary Educational Institution

higher professional education

"Ulyanovsk State Pedagogical University named after I.N. Ulyanov"

Department of Cultural Studies and Museum Studies

Topic: "Mass culture and its focus on youth."

Completed by: student of group NA-13-2

Ovcharenko Ekaterina Igorevna

Accepted by: department assistant

Galkina Marina Vladimirovna

Ulyanovsk 2015

Content

Introduction
Main part
Subcultures and counterculture
Counterculture
Subculture
Conclusion
Bibliography

Introduction

Mass culture plays a huge role in all spheres of society. The purpose of this essay is to study the influence of mass culture on youth and youth subcultures.

This essay will examine the definitions of mass culture, counterculture, subculture, and how they interact with each other.

The work consists of an introduction, main part, conclusion and bibliography.

Main part

Youth culture is one of the most complex phenomena. This is evidenced by the fact that until recently its very existence was questioned. Nowadays, the number of doubters about its existence has become insignificant, but the problems and difficulties associated with it remain.

The starting points for the study of youth culture are the concepts of youth and youth. Youth is a long phase or stage of life during which each person transitions from childhood to adulthood. The content of this transition is the process of socialization. Since this transition is not carried out alone, all those making such a transition constitute youth. The latter is a socio-demographic group whose common characteristics are age, social status and socio-psychological properties.

It should be said that these signs are very unstable and uncertain; they depend on the nature and level of development of society, culture and the characteristics of the socialization process. In general, the stage of socialization is increasingly extended. Thus, back in the last century, the period of youth most often ended by the age of 20, since by this age a person began his labor activity and entered adulthood.

Today, due to the sharp increase in the period of obtaining education, the upper limit of youth has risen to 30 years or even more. The same thing happens with the lower boundary, although in the opposite direction. Previously, it corresponded to 14 years. Now, due to the phenomenon of acceleration, it is sometimes pushed back to 10 years, especially if we're talking about about youth culture. However, most scientists agree that the age limits of youth are between 14 and 30 years.

These boundaries indicate that youth constitute a huge social group - almost half of the population of society. Because of this, its role in social and cultural life is constantly increasing. Largely for this reason, a completely new phenomenon has arisen in our time: if previously young people sought to become adults or look like them as quickly as possible, now there is a counter-movement from adults. They are in no hurry to part with their youth, they strive to maintain their youthful appearance, borrowing from the youth its slang, fashion, form of behavior and methods of entertainment. This phenomenon once again demonstrates that youth culture exists, that it forms, first of all, a phenomenon of our time.

At the stage of socialization, the noted signs of youth - age, social status and socio-psychological properties - undergo profound, qualitative changes. As age increases, physical, physiological and sexual development and maturation occur. The practically absent social status acquires very specific features: at the age of 18, a person is officially recognized as an adult, which implies corresponding rights and responsibilities.

Social and psychological properties also become quite definite and stable, forming a unique character. In addition, a person entering life receives an education, acquires a profession and qualifications, and masters the traditions, customs, ideals and values existing in society.

The main channels of socialization are family, school and higher education institution, peer society, and mass media. At the same time, cultural socialization itself constitutes the predominant in its scope and extremely important in its significance part.

Youth culture is one of the consequences of the process of socialization in general and cultural in particular. Its socio-psychological origins are in the desire young man and youth in general to self-awareness, self-affirmation, self-expression and self-realization. These natural aspirations do not always receive the necessary support. The fact is that almost all of the channels of socialization mentioned above, with the exception of peer society, consider a young person mainly as an object of influence.

In this case, the latter is simply required to accept and assimilate the content and values of the existing culture. However, a person entering the world does not agree to be a passive object; he does not accept everything in the proposed culture. His fresh perspective allows him to see more acutely that some elements of the culture of the older generation no longer correspond to the spirit of the times, while others need updating.

It is this process of critical reflection and creative renewal of culture, allowing one to truly make it one’s own, that ultimately leads to the emergence of youth culture.

In Western literature, the origins of youth culture are often considered in the light of the theory of “generational conflict”, the conflict of “fathers” and “children”. Such theories, as a rule, are based on Freud's system of psychoanalysis, the core of which is the well-known Oedipus complex. In the ancient myth of the tragedy of King Oedipus, who killed his father and married his mother, Freud saw a universal explanation of all interhuman relations, including relations between generations and peoples.

His modern followers view the conflict of generations as the main and universal driving force of history. In their opinion, all previous history was a history of struggle between old and young, fathers and sons, mature masters and young apprentices, old professors and young students. Student and youth movements and youth culture are pointed out as modern manifestations of the struggle of generations.

Although the concepts of youth culture based on the theory of generational conflict reflect some features of this phenomenon, in general they suffer from obvious exaggerations, simplifications and schematism. First of all, they contradict the facts of history. In primitive society, the culture was homogeneous, there were no subcultures, as well as generational conflict. At subsequent stages of history, culture begins to differentiate, subcultures arise in it, in particular, urban and rural. However, young people do not yet constitute a special socio-demographic group, which does not give grounds to talk about a generational conflict.

Only in our time do young people become a relatively independent group and become the bearer of a special youth subculture, which, however, exists along with others - women's, urban, rural, etc. Now there are real opportunities for disagreements and contradictions to arise between generations.

Indeed, today the pace of social development is accelerating significantly. This leads to the fact that many principles of relationships, norms and rules of behavior, knowledge, ideals and values, the very conditions and way of life of the older generation, who underwent socialization 25-30 years ago, and the new generation turn out to be so different that they are fraught with potential opportunities for disagreements and contradictions that may develop into conflict. In addition, with age, a person’s ability to adapt decreases; he can no longer perceive and assimilate new things on an equal basis with young people. Therefore, older people are increasingly falling behind the accelerating pace of life. All this increases the likelihood of possible conflicts.

Nevertheless, there is always a fairly strong and solid layer in culture that ensures continuity between generations. But even if at a certain stage a culture does experience deep, radical changes, their real source is not a “conflict of generations.” The latter can only act as an external form of the changes taking place, while the real reasons are hidden much deeper. In addition, cultural revolutions do not occur so often, which also does not support the theory of “generational conflict.”

Young people most often disagree not with the entire culture of previous generations, but on specific positions. First of all, she is not satisfied with the existing hierarchy of values. Typically, the elements that make up culture are arranged in the following order: education and intelligence, skill and skill, moral values, aesthetic values, etc. However, young people put morality first, followed by aesthetic, intellectual and other values. But she often looks at aesthetic and other values through the prism of morality. In art, she is primarily interested in moral issues. As sociological studies show, a cultured person for her is, first of all, a moral person.

In general, young people are characterized by an emotional and moral perception of the world. Her behavior is dominated by movements, actions and dynamics. It is equally characterized by a sharp contrast between good and evil, categoricalness and maximalism, intolerance to lies, injustice, hypocrisy, insincerity, indifference, etc. It is in this area that young people most often diverge from the culture of older generations.

Here it is most difficult for her to find mutual understanding and mutual trust. Therefore, often the best environment for it is peer communities, which can be both formal and informal. The latter are given clear preference, since they have less hierarchy, any rules and restrictions.

They are where young people feel most at home. Here it is easiest for her to find mutual understanding. They allow you to spend your leisure time with interest, discuss personal problems, and have fun. Through these communities, young people achieve emotional and moral self-affirmation. They turn out to be the main place for the creation of youth culture, which serves as the main form of self-expression and self-realization.

In a narrow sense, youth culture is a culture created by young people themselves. In this respect it is similar to folk culture. In terms of its level, it is also often not too high, but this is compensated by genuine sincerity and honesty, frankness and captivating naivety. Like folk culture, youth culture to one degree or another contrasts itself with official, mass culture and, partly, high culture.

At the same time, youth culture goes beyond what is created by the youth themselves and includes culture specifically created for youth, including mass culture. A significant part of the cultural industry is focused on satisfying the needs and tastes of young people. This especially applies to leisure and entertainment, as well as fashion, the production of clothing, shoes, jewelry, cosmetics, etc.

The main types and forms of youth culture are determined by the world of feelings and emotions. Music occupies a central place in it, since it is music that has the strongest emotional impact. Only music can express feelings most deeply. It fills life with poetry, infects with energy, changes and lifts your spirits. Music can become the main means of communication. She happens to be the best way self-expression. The main genres are rock and pop music, and the entire culture is often called rock culture. Rock music in popular culture truly goes beyond art and becomes a style or way of life.

Along with rock and pop music, elements of youth culture also include slang (jargon), clothing, shoes, appearance, manners of behavior, ways of entertainment, etc. Slang, or youth speech, differs from the generally accepted literary language in its special and small vocabulary, as well as increased expressiveness and emotionality. Clothing and footwear include primarily sneakers, jeans and a jacket. In appearance, great importance is attached to hairstyle and hair length: hippies have long hair, punks have short hair and are dyed in bright colors. All elements of culture carry a symbolic load; they signify the community and unity of the carriers of culture and emphasize its isolation and isolation from the general culture.

Youth culture is a subculture that exists alongside others. It is a rather amorphous education, covering student, creative, working, rural youth, various kinds of marginalized people, etc. A significant part of young people are either not connected with it, or this connection is very weak, purely symbolic. Youth culture is divided into many groups and movements, the most active of which unite around certain rock ensembles.

Some of them are fans of some sports team - football, hockey, basketball, etc. For some time, one of the leading groups becomes a leader, then ceding its leadership to another: after the beatniks and hippies, punks appeared, then rockers, metalheads, etc.

In general, the role and significance of youth culture and its influence on general culture remain local. They are not comparable to the role and influence of mass culture. However, at certain historical stages, the role and influence of youth culture can increase sharply both in scale and in importance. A striking example This was due to the counterculture movement that took place in the West in the 60s, the main driving forces of which were students and the intelligentsia.

Initially, the movement arose as a left-wing political movement. In the early 60s. it merged with the cultural movement and began to quickly gain momentum, becoming a powerful counterculture movement. Without abandoning political goals, it decided to go towards them not directly, but through culture and art, through a revolution in consciousness, lifestyle and value system. The movement was based on the ideas of J. - J. Rousseau, F. Nietzsche, Z. Freud. The guiding thread of the movement was the concept of the modern follower of Freudianism G. Marcuse, outlined by him in the book “Eros and Civilization” (1955).

The counterculture came out with a complete rejection of the entire Western civilization and the dominant culture. According to its supporters, at the very beginning, Western civilization had two development trends, one of which was symbolized by Orpheus (Dionysus, Narcissus), and the second by Prometheus (Apollo, Hermes). Orpheus embodies free play and pleasure, love and beauty, sensuality and bliss.

Prometheus, on the contrary, symbolizes labor and necessity, reason and domination over nature, refusal and suppression of freedom, rationalism and practical benefit, limitation and repression of human natural, sensual drives. The Western world chose Prometheus, and its entire evolution can be seen as a consistent forgetting of what Orpheus symbolizes - feeling, play and pleasure, and the affirmation of what Prometheus embodies - reason, work and benefit. The result of this evolution was a “repressive civilization”, based on the dominance of soulless technology, hard forced labor, the conquest of nature and the suppression of man’s sensual and aesthetic abilities. The counterculture rejected technocrats, reason and intellect, which fettered and limited sensuality, and rejected technology as a threat to art. The harshest criticism was directed against the cult of consumerism of mass society and mass culture. Of all the existing culture, according to supporters of the counterculture, the art of the avant-garde, which represented the real “kingdom of freedom,” was declared worthy of preservation and further development.

The counterculture proclaimed a new system of values, in which a special place was occupied by a “new sensuality” freed from all external restrictions, freedom of expression, play, imagination and fantasy, “non-verbal” methods of communication, etc. On the path to achieving new values, great importance was attached to the search for a “new community,” the specific forms of which were various kinds of “communes” that arose on the basis of natural, spontaneous relations of brotherhood and love, devoid of any hierarchy or subordination.

A special role was assigned to the “sexual revolution,” which was supposed to make love truly free, freeing it from any restrictions of the former sanctimonious morality. The sexual revolution was one of the main ways of forming a “new sensuality”.

As new values were put into practice, a transition had to take place from Promethean reason to Orphic sensuality, from productive labor to carefree play. The highest and final goal of the counterculture movement is proclaimed to be society as a work of art. Art in such a society - in the spirit of avant-garde - will have to merge with life itself. In this society, the path to aesthetic pleasure and enjoyment will no longer be mediated by art. Pleasure and enjoyment will arise directly in every activity understood as play.

One of the notable phenomena of the counterculture was the “hippies,” whose lifestyle and behavior were especially clearly shown by some character traits the whole movement. Their protest against the existing society and culture took the form of an escape from this life and culture. They chose Jesus Christ, Buddha, Gandhi, and Francis of Assisi as role models. They left the cities and lived in communes. Flowers were symbols of love, which hippies wore in their hair, on clothes, or embroidered on them, cut out of paper, and woven into wreaths. Hence their movement was called the “flower revolution”. Along with love, hippies were addicted to drugs.

In the early 70s. The counterculture movement is experiencing a crisis and is gradually fading away. It gives way to neoconservatism, which proclaimed a new system of values, in many ways the opposite of the counterculture. In the 70s youth culture is returning to its status as one of the subcultures.

Youth culture is a transitional stage in the life of young people. Along with the completion of the socialization process and inclusion in adulthood, young people become either consumers of mass culture or give preference to high culture, to one degree or another remaining faithful to some elements of youth culture.

Subcultures and counterculture

Culture, taken in all its manifestations, is heterogeneous and contradictory. Even within a relatively holistic culture, for example, the culture of a particular people in a certain era, it is possible to distinguish different groups of people (rural, urban, professional, age, etc.) with their own special attitudes, values, preferences, and customs. Consequently, all these groups exhibit relatively independent cultural tendencies. Such independent cultural spheres located within the dominant culture are called subcultures.

Subcultures are characterized by a number of features that are reflected in the main areas of life of a particular group. For example, we can talk about the subcultures of youth, representatives of the art world or the criminal world, where they have their own special moral standards, language (jargon), manners, and style of behavior.

Many of these subcultures not only differ from the official culture, but are directly opposed to it. For example, the youth movements of the 1960s were distinguished by a sharply critical attitude towards the values accepted in the dominant culture. (hippies, rockers, punks, etc.) Taken together, such protest subcultures form a counterculture. Thus, counterculture can be called a set of attitudes directed against official culture.

The entire process of cultural history is sometimes presented as a struggle between official culture and counterculture. For example, Christian communities in the first centuries of the new era sharply contrasted their values with the dominant attitudes of the era of antiquity and the time of decline. In the Soviet Union, all attitudes directed against communist and state ideology were recognized as countercultural. In both cases, the counterculture, after many years of struggle, supplanted the official culture and took its place.

Such global changes in culture occur extremely rarely - in times of crisis, when dominant values no longer correspond to the changed reality. The rest of the time they remain an unclaimed reservoir of innovation. Modern interest in countercultures both in the West and in Russia is due precisely to the fact that modern culture shows all the signs of a systemic value crisis. It is possible that ways out of this crisis are now being formed in protest countercultures.

Counterculture

Counterculture is a sociocultural attitude that opposes the fundamental principles underlying a particular culture, characterized by a rejection of established social values, moral norms and ideals, standards and stereotypes of mass culture. The term "counterculture" appeared in Western literature in 1960. It was introduced by the American sociologist Theodore Roszak (born 1933), who attempted to combine various spiritual influences directed against the dominant culture into a relatively holistic phenomenon. The counterculture theory aimed to overthrow modern culture, which was represented by organized violence against the individual. This protest took various forms - from passive to extremist.

Youth counterculture has become the most significant in the life of modern humanity. Initially it was directed against the technocracy of industrial society. Property, family, personal responsibility and other fundamental values modern civilization were proclaimed prejudices, and their defenders were considered retrogrades.

The most famous example of counterculture were the youth movements of the 1960s and 1970s. beatniks and hippies, who concentrated anti-bourgeois ideas and opposed the Western way of life and bourgeois morality. In the mid-1940s. the founders of beatnikism D. Kerouac, W. Burroughs A. Ginsberg began to experiment with the concepts of friendship, a new vision and a new consciousness, and in the 1950s. their books appeared, where they tried to substantiate a new worldview associated with the poeticization of masculinity, masculinity and rebellion, the rejection of puritanism and hypocrisy of bourgeois morality and the traditions of consumer society. These searches led them to the East, instilling in subsequent generations an interest in Buddhism and psychedelic practices, which hippies were especially fond of.

By the 1960s The range of youth movements in the counterculture has expanded, increasingly involving teenagers from 13 to 19 years old in their ranks.

Rockers are leather-clad motorcyclists who terrify ordinary people, cultivating the “masculine spirit,” cruelty and directness of interpersonal relationships based only on physical strength. They are aggressive, rude, loud and confident. The embodiment of their lifestyle is rock music, a heavy and simple rhythm that fits well into their lives.

The punk movement became especially popular in the 1970s and 1980s. The punks shocked respectable people with their hairstyles of breathtaking color and design and curses, as well as with their outfits - old school uniforms, “decorated” with garbage bags, toilet chains, and pins. They were opposed by the Teds (“Teddy Boys”), who declared themselves the guardians of social order, and the Mods (“Modernists”), who sought to get closer to the middle class. Later, skinheads, or “skinheads”, who were aggressive towards all deviant groups, from their point of view, broke away from the “mods”.

In other words, these movements arise, then decline, but new movements are born and suffer the same fate. But they do not disappear without a trace. Their value orientations dissolve in the bosom of the dominant culture, which begins to change under their influence. It can be said that countercultures have a powerful creative charge that contributes to the dynamics of culture.

The presence of counterculture is not a specific feature of the 20th century. Confrontation with the dominant culture, the birth of new values occurs in world culture again and again. Christianity arose as a counterculture in the Roman Empire, secular culture in the Renaissance, and romanticism at the end of the Enlightenment. Any new culture is born as a result of awareness of the crisis of the culture of the previous period on the basis of existing countercultural attitudes.

Subculture

Subcultures are large components of integral local cultures (ethnic, national, social), distinguished by certain local specifics of certain features and arising due to the fact that any society is heterogeneous in its composition and includes different social groups - national, demographic, professional and etc. Despite the differences between them, they have some common values and norms, determined by general living conditions - the dominant culture. But the differences between groups at the same time form each of them with their own culture, called a subculture. In essence, it is part of the general culture of a people, in some aspects different from the dominant culture, but in its main features consistent with it. As a rule, subcultures are associated with large, compactly located and relatively isolated groups of people. Typically, subcultures are located on the outskirts of the area of distribution of an integral culture, which is associated with the specific conditions that have developed there. The formation of subcultures occurs according to ethnographic, class, confessional, professional, functional characteristics, based on age or social specifics. The social group that has formed the subculture may differ from representatives of the dominant culture in language, lifestyle, behavior, customs, etc. Although the differences can be very strong, the subculture does not oppose the dominant culture and includes a number of values of the dominant culture, adding to them new values characteristic only of it. Examples of subcultures include rural and urban cultures. Thus, Russian Old Believers differ from the basic culture in the specificity of their religious views; the specific way of life of the Cossacks is associated with their special professional functions as defenders of the country’s borders; the subculture of prisoners arises due to their isolation from the general population; subcultures of youth and pensioners arise in connection with age differences, etc.

As a rule, subcultures strive to maintain a certain autonomy from other cultural layers and groups and do not claim the universality of their culture or their way of life. Because of this, they are distinguished by a certain locality and a certain isolation, but remain loyal to the basic values of this culture. Subcultures are only deviations from the main path of cultural development. They do not set as their goal to remake the dominant culture, but adapt to it in their own way and in this way differ from the counterculture, which seeks to remake the world.

mass culture youth subculture

Conclusion

“Mass culture” is called differently: entertainment art, “anti-fatigue” art, semi-culture. Characterizing it, the American psychologist M. Bell emphasizes: “This culture is democratic. It is addressed to you people without distinction of classes, nations, levels of poverty and wealth. In addition, thanks to modern means mass communication, many works of art of high artistic value have become available to people."

The fight against “mass culture”, with its openly anti-democratic content, has become one of the important tasks in the programs and practices of progressive, democratic forces in capitalist countries. Since the mid-60s, analysis and criticism of “mass culture” in all forms of its manifestation have been successfully developing in the works of philosophers and sociologists - Marxists.

But, nevertheless, mass culture, taking into account all these features of consciousness, provides products that are easily perceived, allows you to plunge into the world of dreams and illusions, and creates the impression of addressing a specific individual.

Bibliography

1. Belyaev, AND.A. Culture, subculture, counterculture / I.A. Belyaev, N.A. Belyaeva // Spirituality and statehood. Collection of scientific articles. Issue 3; edited by I.A. Belyaeva. - Orenburg: Branch of UrAGS in Orenburg, 2002. - P.5-18.

2. Omelchenko E. Youth cultures and subcultures / Institute of Sociology RAS, Ulyan. state University of Technology - I. Center "Region". - M.: Institute of Sociology RAS, 2000. - 262 p.

3. Omelchenko E. Youth cultures and subcultures / Institute of Sociology RAS, Ulyan. state University of Technology - I. Center "Region". - M.: Institute of Sociology RAS, 2000. - 262 p.

4. Shabanov L.V. Socio-psychological characteristics of youth subcultures: social protest or forced marginality?

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The concept of mass culture, its purpose, directions and specific features, place and significance in modern society. Advertising and fashion as a mirror of mass culture, trends in their development. Problems of youth education related to mass culture.

abstract, added 09/18/2010

The diversity of the structure of modern culture: types, types and forms of culture. Carriers of traditional folk and elite culture. Modern mass culture. Features of information culture as a new and progressive type of modern culture.

Original document?

Introduction 3

2. Youth and “mass culture” 11

3. Youth “elite culture” 12

6. Youth and scientific knowledge 13

7. Everyday culture of youth 13

9. Youth subculture 14

Conclusion 22

Introduction

The current stage of rethinking cultural values and the future fate of Russian culture largely depend on the spiritual state, social and civic position every Russian, as well as from the development of the riches of domestic and world culture by Russian youth.

Culture refers to beliefs, values and means of expression, which are common to a certain group of people and serve to organize the experience and regulate the behavior of members of this group. The reproduction and transmission of culture to subsequent generations lies at the heart of the socialization process.

In conditions of economic and political changes In the life of society, the role of a young person who is capable of self-realization, self-expression and self-development, who knows how to make independent decisions, is increasing. It is the youth who bear the historical responsibility for the preservation and development of national cultural traditions and values, for the civilized integration of Russia into the world community.

Today there is a need to talk about a fundamentally new understanding of the role of youth, about considering them not only as a generation determined by age characteristics, but also a desire for active self-determination and self-affirmation. Currently, self-determination of young people occurs without pronounced paternalistic-ideological guardianship from the state and political parties and, it seems, without any special hope for state assistance.

The relevance of studying the problems of youth culture, which sharply worsened towards the end of the 20th and beginning of the 21st centuries, on the one hand, is associated with a sharp drop in the cultural level, the loss of national and cultural self-identification of an increasingly significant part of the younger generations of Russians. On the other hand, this is due to the special historical and social significance of the state of youth culture for the fate of the state and society. It is the qualitative characteristics of youth culture that largely determine the social and state development of Russia, the national mentality, as well as the place that our country and the Russian nation will take in the world community.

Russian youth, like society as a whole, is experiencing a crisis of values. A spiritual vacuum has formed in public and individual consciousness.

Young people highlight their culture and their subculture, which is associated with the uncertainty of their social roles, uncertainty about one’s own social status.

1. Features of modern youth culture

The concept of “youth culture” was created to describe a special type of social space inhabited by people who are in a relatively powerless and dependent position. In fact, the generation entering society lacks real access to meaningful resources. The dependence of young people is also manifested in the fact that at all times they were considered by “socially mature” adults not as a valuable group in their own right, but only as a natural resource of the future society, which must be socialized, educated and used.

In the description of “youth” the biopolitical construct was the earliest, and it remains the most tenacious. Let us list the basic principles of this approach, which presuppose a view of youth as a social problem and provide the basis for intervention in the lives of young people by government officials and professionals (“youth specialists”) both in the West and in modern Russia.

1. Young people are recognized as a homogeneous age group with common psychological characteristics and social needs.

2. Youth is considered a special stage in personality development. Models of behavior and values adopted by young people during this period become ideological guidelines that do not change in the future.

3. The transition (transition) from childhood dependence to adult autonomy includes the so-called “rebellion” phase, which is part of the cultural tradition passed on from one generation to the next.

4. Recently, this transition has been complicated by new conditions of social transformation and modernization, so young people need control and support from professionals.

From these principles directly follows an ideology that substantiates the necessity and “naturalness” of adult superiority and dominance, which in practice leads to open and hidden discrimination based on age. It must be admitted that discriminatory ideas have “grown” into theoretical constructs so deeply that it seems impossible to write and think about young people without using the words “teenagers”, “adolescent age”, “ puberty", "youth transition", "youth problem". It's time, if not to part with these stereotypes, then to try to critically rethink them.

T. Parsons associated the concept of “youth culture” with the idea of stability and expediency of development social systems. This concept reflected the post-war revival of Western societies, the belief in the possibility of well-being and prosperity for all its members. Youth culture was imagined as an independent social space in which young people could find authenticity, whereas in the family or school they were deprived of real rights and were completely controlled by adults. In traditional (pre-industrial) societies, the family fully performed all the necessary functions of social reproduction - biological, economic and cultural. In modern industrial societies, the family, according to the scientist, is losing its traditional functions in the field of culture (education and professionalization). Young people occupy the most vulnerable position in them, being between two value worlds, between patriarchal models of family socialization and adult roles, which are set by market rationality and an impersonal bureaucratic structure.

Any difference from the “Other”, highlighting one’s unique style: manner of play, intellectual passion, and, in rare cases, clothing, becomes valuable. As for clothing, there is no place for shocking and loudness; rather, it is either deliberate and emphasized neglect fashion trends in clothing and the denial of glamor, or the choice of a sporty style.

If many modern young people do not have a clearly defined personal self-identification, that is, they have strong behavioral stereotypes that cause depersonalization of attitudes. The position of alienation in its existential refraction is visible both in relation to society and in intergenerational communication, the countercultural orientation of youth leisure. Social alienation most often manifests itself in apathy, indifference to political life society, figuratively speaking, in the position of an “outside observer.”

Another characteristic feature of modern youth culture is the predominance of consumption over creativity. This is a very negative feature, because truly becoming familiar with cultural values occurs only through active independent cultural activity. This qualitatively changes the situation with self-identification. People are embracing or rejecting parts of their identity faster than ever.

In modern conditions of extreme mobility of all social processes in Russian society, youth culture should be considered in several planes, equally determining the level and direction of cultural self-realization, which is the content side of a young person’s cultural activity.

The state of youth culture, according to V.Ya. Surtaev, due to the following factors:

1. Modern Russian culture, both at the institutional and at the subjective-activity level, is today in a state of crisis, like society itself. On the one hand, the importance of the cultural development of the population for the successful implementation social projects and the way out of the crisis is not fully recognized by the authorities; on the other hand, the commercialization of the cultural process, an increasingly noticeable departure from the norms and values of “high” culture to average examples of aggressive mass culture, most clearly manifested in electronic means mass media, also cannot but affect the system of attitudes, orientations and cultural ideals of a young person.

2. Attempts to implement a holistic program of humanitarian socialization on a state scale were unsuccessful. Today, there is practically no unified system of humanitarian socialization, and private initiatives in this area, carried out in experimental or non-state educational institutions, cover only a small group of young people in large Russian cities. In most schools, humanitarian socialization is limited to a standard set of humanitarian disciplines and the so-called “extracurricular work,” which not so much introduces young people to cultural values as turns them away from them in favor of recreational and entertaining self-realization.

3. Adolescence (15 – 18 years), and to some extent the entire period of growing up, is characterized by traits of impetuosity, instability of desires, intolerance, insolence, aggravated by experiences of ambivalence of social status (no longer a child, not yet an adult). It is this specificity that brings young men into peer groups of homogeneous age and social affiliation, which satisfy typical youth needs in behavioral style, fashion, leisure, and interpersonal communication. peer groups perform a socio-psychological therapeutic function - overcoming social alienation. Naturally, such groups develop their own cultural norms and attitudes, determined primarily by the emotional and sensory perception of reality and youthful nonconformism.

4. Features of a generation have a significant impact on the youth subculture, which has not so much age-related as generational characteristics; in this phenomenon, youth forms of consciousness and behavior are most clearly manifested.

However, some stable, unchanging features of youth culture exist, although each new generation of youth enters life with a slightly different attitude towards the culture of society and their own cultural behavior and self-expression.

In youth psychology lies the reason that young people prefer spectacular forms of art (cinema, television), because even fiction is perceived by young people as if in pictures (how long have they been reading fairy tales - the most spectacular of verbal genres).

And on a broader scale, the context of cultural life, the cultural atmosphere become for youth an opportunity for emotional self-realization and an object of sensual adoration. This is one of the reasons for the extreme, unacceptable from the point of view of social norms, behavior of part of the youth public at concerts of rock stars or in stadiums (after all, visiting sports shows is a kind of emotional release for a young fan). All this is a psychologically natural feature of the youth subculture, perceived by mature people (often quite rightfully) as an expression of counterculture and a kind of social challenge.

Sensual perception of culture, the desire for an unambiguous opposition of “good” and “evil”, the expectation of an indispensable and unconditional victory of “ours” over “strangers” lead among young people, especially in adolescence, to the predominance of moral assessments over artistic ones, to an extra-aesthetic perception of art. A young man, sometimes consciously, but more often unconsciously, when opening a book or going to the cinema, wants to cleanse himself morally, to become better, nobler, freer.

The search for emotional and moral content, on the one hand, and entertainment content, on the other, in the cultural sphere is accompanied among young people by the phenomenon of group stereotypes and group behavior within the boundaries of their generation.

How often can you hear passionate words from young people: “You don’t understand us,” and this “us” takes on a generational meaning: us means “all my peers.” Of course, this phenomenon is more universal in nature than just one relation to the artistic or even cultural sphere.

Here the fear of loneliness, alienation from peers is manifested (it is no coincidence that regular visitors to discos call them a “remedy for loneliness”), and finally, a distorted idea of collectivism - the feeling of a “crowd”, “company”, “team” is quite sincerely understood as a feeling of a collective. but first of all, the group stereotype is explained by the insufficient level of formation of the personality itself during the period of socialization; the individual has not yet acquired personal certainty and completeness. But this “blurriness” is not so noticeable in the crowd.

The paradox of this phenomenon is that, opposing himself to the world of adults, a young person still remains essentially “the same,” only this “sameness” is within his generation and therefore is not perceived by him. Youth fashion is the best example of this. When choosing clothes, a young man is guided, first of all, by his surroundings in order to fit in, not be inferior or not dressed fashionably enough.

Young people are characterized by group stereotypes of behavior, which are based on the desire for age identification, environmental communication with the simultaneous rejection of everything “alien”, opposing themselves to the rest - the adult world, which includes parents and teachers.

Home characteristic feature modern youth cultureis its isolation, detachment, often demonstrative, shocking from the cultural values of older generations and national traditions. In the mass consciousness, the perception of youth subculture is often negative. Against this background, youth culture with its specific ideals, fashion, language, and art is increasingly being falsely assessed as counterculture.

The third characteristic feature of youth cultureone might call it avant-garde, forward-looking, and often extreme. Often these features are combined with the lack of a serious foundation of historical and cultural traditions.

So, youth culture as the culture of a certain age group is characterized by the emotional and moral self-affirmation of young people along with the search for entertainment content, under the influence of group stereotypes of relationships, attitudes and interests.

2. Youth and “mass culture”

“Mass culture” has long been habitually perceived as a symbol of something base and stultifying. However, it relies on the most advanced technology of our time: printing, lighting technology, audio and video equipment, computer graphics, etc. Dynamism and “clip art” have become integral features of the psychology of perception of modern youth. Therefore, those who consider it their business to influence culturally on youth must ensure that cultural events of any kind grow into modern ones. technical capabilities and took into account the peculiarities of the perception of young people.

We need to boldly invade the territory of show business and win back the opportunity to speak with young people in the language they are familiar with, but about things that are immeasurably more significant. “Mass culture” should not only be leisure and everyday culture. It should go far beyond the usual show business.

3. Youth "elite culture"

The culture of the 21st century is gradually maturing among young people. For ordinary consciousness, largely shaped by the tastes and habits of a fairly distant past, “avant-gardism,” “absurdism,” “postmodernism,” “conceptualism” in the art of young people seem something incomprehensible, perverted and infinitely far from “ real life"But it is precisely in these “isms” that the actual most pressing problems of existence at the turn of the millennium are complexly refracted, moreover, burdened in our country by a painful change in the social system and value system.

Exhibitions, creative evenings, contemporary art festivals, moral and material support for the creativity of young people are extremely necessary. No matter what the young people declare, no matter how much they shock the public, young culture needs public attention and qualified criticism. Just like all of us, however, we need a youth creative elite, although this does not lie on the surface.

4. Youth and spiritual quests

Only a small proportion of young people have their spiritual aspirations formed in the bosom of their family. For the majority, freedom of conscience and religion is a kind of “carte blanche”, which, however, may not be played out.

Therefore, it seems most reasonable to assist young people in familiarizing themselves with the spiritual experience of humanity and, above all, with the traditional Russian Orthodox culture, in nurturing religious tolerance, in actively protecting young people from the influence of totalitarian sects and aggressive, fascist right- and left-wing radical political movements masquerading as certain religious denominations.

5. Youth and cultural heritage

The cultural heritage of past eras should not simply be imposed on young people. We all have before our eyes the sad experience of compulsory schematized and ideological teaching of literature, which has “instilled” in many a persistent dislike of serious reading.

The culture of the past should be presented as something living, interesting and important for a modern young person. In particular, local history should and can rise from a purely exploratory practice to a living and vibrant enlightenment. Otherwise, there is no need to disturb the “shadows of forgotten ancestors.”

6. Youth and scientific knowledge

Thanks to one-sided propaganda, young people associate science primarily with global threats to humanity and with the reluctance of “official science” to turn to the sphere of the supersensible, mysterious, to “subtle and parallel worlds.” And this is despite the remarkable successes of science in biology, psychology, cosmology, computer science, synergetics, etc.

Against the backdrop of a total economic crisis, the traditionally strong educational activities of scientists have practically dried up. But this dooms science to an influx of young talent, and young people to ignorance. Society must find the strength to break this tragic vicious circle.

7. Everyday culture of youth

The everyday environment of young people is alarming with increasing negative manifestations: bad destructive habits (drug addiction, substance abuse, alcoholism), promiscuity, superficiality of relationships in the sexual sphere, practically legalized prostitution, vulgarity, the triumph of brute force in relationships, criminalization of a significant part of young people, declining interest in sports, low sanitary culture, impoverished language, primitiveness of leisure, perversion of relations with “ancestors”.

In these conditions, it is unacceptable to curtail the education system, because this will aggravate the already threatening unemployment among young people. It is necessary to create effective mechanisms of public influence on the media, not for the purpose of regulating their activities, but to create unique “public mirrors”.

8. Education of youth educators

It is necessary to develop effective mechanisms for raising the cultural level of teachers and educators from kindergartens to universities, present and future parents, and the adult population in general. This natural idea, repeatedly compromised in “people's universities of culture”, “universities of health”, “universities of Marxism-Leninism”, etc., still remains key and awaits worthy implementation. Otherwise, our society has no future.

9. Youth subculture

9.1 General concepts of youth subcultures

In a broad sense, subculture is understood as a partial cultural subsystem of the “official” culture, which determines the lifestyle, value hierarchy and mentality of its bearers. That is, a subculture is a subculture or a culture within a culture.

In a narrower sense, a subculture is a system of values, attitudes, behaviors and lifestyles of a certain social group, different from the dominant culture in society, although related to it.

Frolov S.S. proposed the following typology of subcultures:

1.Romantic-escapist subcultures - focused on escaping real life and building their own philosophical systems(hippies, Tolkienists, Indianists, bikers).

2. Anarcho-nihilistic groups - rejection of generally accepted standards, a critical attitude towards many phenomena of life (anarchists, punks).

3.Entertaining-hedonistic – focused on providing leisure time (“golden youth”, ravers, snowboarders, rappers).

4. Criminal subculture - focused on opposition to law and order (goths, skinheads, gangs, gopniks, lubbers).

9.2 Characteristics of individual subcultures

The social composition of hippies is heterogeneous, but first of all they are creative youth: aspiring poets, artists, musicians.

Appearance, dress code: regardless of gender – long hair combed in the middle, a special ribbon around the head (“hair” from the English. Hair), on the hands there are “baubles”, i.e. homemade bracelets or beads, most often made of beads, wood or leather, often a disproportionately large knitted sweater, decorated with beads or embroidery, a denim pouch around the neck for storing money and documents (“xivnik”: from ksiv - document, thieves’ jargon), color of clothing mostly light (experienced hippies never wear black), but not flashy. The latest generation of hippies is distinguished by such attributes as a backpack and three or four rings in the ears, less often in the nose (piercing). Characterized by the frequent use of diminutive suffixes and words that have no analogues in the literary language to denote specific concepts characteristic only of hippies (for example, the already mentioned “bauble”, “xivnik”, etc.). Entertainment: among alcoholic drinks, hippies prefer wines and ports. Frequent use of drugs (usually mild) has been noted. Part of the hippie ideology is “free love” - with all the ensuing consequences. Hippies are not warlike, they are usually pacifists. One of the first was the slogan “Make love, not war.” (Make love, not war). Ideology: The hippies themselves often express it with the words “Peace, friendship, bubblegum.” Disregard for material values such as money and expensive things is typical; There was genuine indignation among hippies when someone tried to buy expensive things instead of cheap ones.

In youth culture of the 90s. The Tolkien movement and the Tolkien subculture associated with it and generated by it appeared. Tolkienists and roleplayers in general (role-playing game enthusiasts) were originally part of the hippie subculture, but recently their movement has grown so much that they have begun to include many non-hippies in their ranks. Tolkienists are fans of the famous English philologist and writer John Ronald Reuel Tolkien, (in Tolkienist slang - Professor), he was born in 1892 and died in 1973. Books by J.R.R. Tolkien's "The Lord of the Rings", "Silmarion" and others belong to the fantasy genre - fairy-tale fiction. Tolkien created in his works the magical world of Middle-earth, inhabited by wonderful creatures, one of which was borrowed by him from the folklore of various peoples of the world (elves, trolls, gnomes, etc.), others were invented by the writer (for example, hobbits, a hybrid of a human and a rabbit ), each with its own history, geography and even the beginnings of its own language (say, Elvish). Tolkienists get used to this world, imagining themselves as its inhabitants. Hence the unusual patterns of behavior in everyday life.

It can be stated that the subculture of Tolkienists and role-players is developing in last years most active and dynamic.

Punks (from the English Punk - garbage, rottenness, something unnecessary) are to some extent antagonists of hippies, despite the fact that they have many similarities with them. Social composition: unlike elitist hippies, most Punks are children of working-class areas, although, of course, there are exceptions.

Appearance, dress code: the standard punk hairstyle was the “Mohawk” - a strip of long vertical standing hair on a shorn head, but shaved half of the head with long hair and even simply shaved temples with long hair are also common. Punks prefer torn, dirty clothes. You can often see a punk in jeans, where strips of fabric alternate with holes secured with pins and chains (in general, Punks’ love for safety pins is extremely great; they are inserted everywhere - in jackets, T-shirts, jeans and even in their ears). For footwear, punks mostly wear high combat boots.

Musical style: the English group “Sex pistols” is considered the founder of punk culture. Language, jargon: typical use of words from thieves’ jargon (“maza”, “havat”, “labat”) and marginal use of “smart” words (“parallel” in the meaning of “all the same”, “purely” in the meaning of “indifferent”) . Entertainment: unlike hippies, punks prefer vodka among alcoholic drinks and willingly use drugs. Another interesting entertainment is “walking around the goodies”, i.e. eat leftover food left uneaten by someone, pick up and finish smoking cigarette butts.

The ideology of the Punks is quite close to the hippie one in everything related to the neglect of material values, however, if the hippie idea is expressed as “why have money, the world is already infinitely beautiful,” then for the Punks it’s more likely “the world is still g...o and nothing will help it "

Extremely close to hardrock (hard punk) is the musical style “oh”, the favorite music of the recently appeared skinheads, or skins (from the English Skin head - shaven-headed, literally skin-head).

Appearance: In keeping with their self-name, skins are distinguished primarily by their clean-shaven head. The skin's standard attire is high combat boots, camouflage pants or high-rolled jeans with suspenders and another jacket ("bomber").

Ideology: almost all Russian skins profess extremely aggressive nationalism and racism. The ideal regime is German National Socialism. In the West, there are “sharps”, “sharp-skins” (from the English Sharp - sharp, sharp), acting under the slogan “skins against racial prejudice” and being an extreme left, pro-communist ex-peremist organization, also “gay skins” (from the English . Gay - homosexual), although ordinary skins hate sexual minorities even more than racial ones. Entertainment: frequent entertainment for skins is fights with blacks in the vicinity of the Patrice Lumumba People's Friendship University, as well as beating up representatives of other national and racial minorities wherever they meet.

One of the most “severe” subcultures, both here and in the West, has always been considered bikers (from the English colloquial Bike - bicycle, motorcycle), who light hand Soviet propaganda often called rockers. However, almost all rock fans consider themselves rockers - punks, metalheads and many others. Therefore this definition cannot be considered correct.

Appearance: quite widely replicated by Soviet films depicting the corrupted West. In this form, he came to Russia, where he underwent significant changes: long hair, combed back, and, as a rule, tied in a ponytail, a scarf on the head (“bandan”, “bandana” or even “bandanna”), a beard, Leather Jacket with slanting zippers (“biker jacket”), leather pants, cowboy boots (“Cossacks”).

Musical style: hard rock. In general, bikers are distinguished by a fairly wide variety of musical tastes, which is noticeable at least from the bike show held annually in the Moscow region, where performers who are completely different from each other perform: Garik Sukachev and the group “Malchishnik”, Time Out and “IFK”. Language, jargon: apart from words denoting specific concepts related to a motorcycle or “outfit,” the language of bikers has no other specificity, except, perhaps, significant inclusions of obscene language.

Ideology: the main concept in the ideology of bikers is the motorcycle. The whole world is divided into those who move on it, and those who prefer any other method, and the latter do not arouse any interest in themselves among bikers. Meeting places: bikers are divided into members of a motorcycle club and individuals. Of all the motorcycle clubs, the most famous is undoubtedly the “Night Wolves” (the leader is nicknamed “The Surgeon”).

By external signs Close to bikers are metalheads, or metallers, probably the most famous of the current youth subcultures (metalheads themselves protest against this term, considering it, like the name of a musical style, “metal”). In their opinion, there are at least three main directions of “metal” (in fact, much more): thrash, doom and dead (from the English thrash - to beat, doom rock, fate and dead - dead man, respectively) and, therefore, thrashers, doomers and dead metalheads. Appearance: virtually the same as that of bikers. Of all the colors, black is preferred. Metallists of the late 80s and early 90s were characterized by the presence of a large number of metal rivets and chains in their clothes, but now mostly “pioneers” dress this way. Ideology: Of all the movements, metalheads are the least ideological. In some ways they are close to punks, but without contempt for material values. Meeting places: the main place in Moscow is the “pipe”, an underground passage from the Arabskaya metro station to the Prague restaurant, where until mid-1996 heavy music concerts were held every weekend.

Hackers (computer fans) are a youth subculture in the process of formation. The number of characters is still small - they are mostly students technical universities, high school students of schools with a physics and mathematics focus. It is also difficult to determine the exact number of characters because they communicate mainly through computer networks. In addition, not all computer fans recognize themselves as a community with their own values, norms, and specific style. This is probably a matter of the future.

In the mid-90s. A new generation of “gopniks” is emerging, uncontrolled by organized crime or controlled to a lesser extent. They quickly proved themselves to be the “cultural enemies” of most youth subcultures: bikers, ravers, roller skaters, etc. Any teenager, not only those belonging to a different subculture, can be beaten, sexually assaulted, or robbed. The confrontation between youth gangs also has not become a thing of history, but has moved to the periphery.

Football fans. A group close to criminal subcultures are fans of football teams. Football fans are a complex community to organize. Among the fans of the Moscow “Spartak”, in particular, such groups as “Red White Hooligans”, “Gladiators”, “Eastern Front”, “Northern Front”, etc. stand out. The group that maintains control over the entire community is the “right” . It consists mainly of young people who have served in the army. The “rightists” go to all the team’s matches, their main function is to run the stadium, organize the fans’ reaction (“wave”, etc.), but also to command “military actions” - battles with fans of hostile teams and the police. Travel to other cities is very often associated with fights - often on the station square. In general, the hooligan mass of young people is well controlled by the leaders (leaders) from the “Right”.

Subculture of Satanists. Back in the 80s. A group of “black metalheads” separated from the heavy metal subculture and became close to adherents of the Church of Satan. By the mid-90s. We can already talk about the formation of a Satanist subculture in Russia. Interviews with Satanist leaders appear from time to time; the latter, of course, try to deny or obscure the antisocial and antihuman nature of the rituals and values of Satanism.

The rave subculture (from the English Rave - nonsense, incoherent speech) arises in the USA and Great Britain. Distributed in Russia since 1990-91. Musically, the rave style is a successor to techno and acid house styles. An integral part of the raver lifestyle is night discos with powerful sound, computer graphics, laser beams. The basic values that underlie this subculture: an easy, carefree attitude to life, the desire to live for today, to be dressed in the latest fashion... The development of the rave subculture went in parallel with the spread of drugs, in particular ecstasy. Taking hallucinogens for the purpose of “expanding consciousness” has, unfortunately, become an almost integral part of the raver subculture. At the same time, many youth culture figures, including DJs - key figures in the rave subculture - have expressed and continue to express an extremely negative attitude towards drug use.

Among the relatively recently emerging subcultures in Russia, the following four should be noted: roller skaters, rappers and skateboarders.

Roller skaters are called roller skaters. They prefer sportswear in bright colors: they can also be identified by multi-colored patches on their knees. The ideology of roller skaters is similar to that of bikers, with the difference that the motorcycle is replaced by roller blades. Mostly roller skaters are high school students (13-16 years old), but there are also students and junior schoolchildren. Interestingly, roller skating companies are led by girls.

A subculture of skateboarders, fans of riding a skateboard (board on wheels). The ideology and appearance are similar to those of roller skaters.

Rap subculture. Rap is the music of black Americans. Russian rappers dress like black American rappers (mostly sporty style with a predominance of bright colors), borrow many words from them and sometimes even give themselves hairstyles characteristic only of African Americans. The rap subculture largely overlaps with the subcultures of roller skaters and skateboarders, since many roller skaters and skateboarders listen to rap music, and rappers roller skate and skateboard.

Conclusion

Youth culture is, first of all, age-related assimilation, the processing of the general culture inherent in society at this stage social development, this is the culture of a certain young generation, but at the same time it is also the culture of a certain age stage in the life of each person, when the formation of personality, self-determination and self-realization of the individual takes place, which cannot but include the cultural aspect.

At the same time, youth culture is also determined by the society in which it functions, social psychology, norms, needs, and ideals of the social organism. Thus, youth culture is both temporary and timeless in nature, reflecting the social and psychological appearance of its time and society.

List of used literature

1. Volkov Yu.G., Dobrenkov V.I. and others. Sociology of youth. 2001.

2. Markova T.I. Cultural intervention., - M., 2005.

3. Omelchenko E. Youth cultures and subcultures. M., 2000.

4. Pilkington H., Omelchenko E. Looking to the West: Cultural globalization and Russian youth cultures / Transl. from English O. Oberemko and U. Blyudina. St. Petersburg: Aletheya, 2004.

5. Polishchuk V.I. Culturology., - M., 1998.

6. Rozin M. V. Psychological reasons for demonstrative behavior of members of informal youth groups.// Social, amateur movements., - M., 2004.

7. Sergeev V.K. Youth subculture in a metropolis // Institute of Socio-Political Research of the Russian Academy of Sciences. M., 2001.

8. Surtaev V.Ya. Youth culture. 2002.

Both rhythm and frequency lead to dependence on them - there is a need for increasingly higher frequencies, approaching ultrasound.

With all the outwardly demonstrated desire for independence, the teenager essentially manifests himself as a negative and conformist. It is precisely in dependence on his peers that he asserts his “self.” Music is the best way to immerse teenagers in dependence on rhythms, pitch, strength, etc., unites everyone with metabolic sensations of dark bodily functions and creates a complex range of auditory, bodily and social experiences. Moreover, the more powerful the psychophysiological impact music has, the more “high” the mass of teenagers immersed in music gets, the more each teenager renounces himself. Japanese journalists conducted an express study in the largest rock halls in Tokyo. They randomly asked the young audience three questions: “What is your name?”, “Where are you?”, “What year is it now?” It turned out that none of the respondents could answer these simple, ordinary questions. Under the influence of music, there was a loss of self-identity. (2, p. 14)

Passion for rock music (rockers) is often compared to drug addicts, since they can no longer refuse to spend time outside of rock music. Indeed, getting used to high frequencies and a pronounced rhythm is explained by the emerging psychophysiological and social dependence.

One of the needs of music perception is a musical-rhythmic sense, that is, the ability to actively (motorly) experience music and accurately reproduce it. Hearing music is completely directly accompanied by motor reactions. In the teenage subculture, these reactions are formalized into certain (modern) dance movements. The more distinct the rhythms, the more the dance movements coincide with them.

What happens in most cases to teenagers in this area is a phenomenon that reflects the initial level of development of music perception. Essentially, it comes down to experiencing the rhythm and high frequencies of musical sounds in combination with bodily movements. This phenomenon relates to age, so later on, people who grow out of adolescence cease to devote themselves with the same enthusiasm to high-frequency music.

Along with the massive immersion in pop and rock music, one can note the tendency of some teenagers to perceive classical music. The latter requires three basic musical abilities. B.M. Teplov characterizes these abilities as follows:

Modal sense, that is, the ability to emotionally distinguish the modal functions of the sounds of a melody or feel the emotional expressiveness of pitch movement. This ability can be called differently - the emotional, or perceptual, component of musical hearing. The modal feeling forms an inextricable unity with the feeling of musical pitch, separated from timbre.

It manifests itself in perception, recognition of melody, and sensitivity to the accuracy of intonation. Along with the sense of rhythm, the modal sense forms the basis of emotional responsiveness to music. IN childhood A characteristic manifestation of this feeling is love and interest in listening to music.

The ability to auditory representation, that is, the ability to voluntarily use auditory representations that reflect pitch movement. This ability can otherwise be called the auditory or reproductive component of musical hearing. It forms the main core of musical memory and musical imagination.

Musical and rhythmic feeling. The complex of basic musical abilities forms the core of musical perception. A special ability formed on the perception of music is musical ear. (8, p. 322)

In musical hearing, the perception of pitch, strength, timbre, as well as more complex elements: phrasing, form, rhythm, etc. are merged into an inextricable whole.

S.L. Rubinstein wrote that “musical hearing in the broad sense of the word actually goes not only beyond the limits of sensation, but also beyond the limits of perception. Musical hearing, understood as the ability to perceive and imagine musical images, is inextricably linked with images of memory and imagination.” (7, p. 111)

A teenager, keen on listening to music and involved in performing musical activities, is immersed in the development of his musical abilities: he strives to improve his melodic ear, modal sense, strives to develop harmonic hearing and the ability to auditory ideas. By developing his inner ear, he is immersed in the flow of musical imagination and experiences a deep spiritual feeling. (6, p. 389)

But often teenagers get pleasure from not allowing adults into their musical culture, and for parents this becomes a reason for frustration.

Parents are often concerned about serious deterioration in the subject matter of some rock music, including best-selling albums promoted by major record labels, such as:

Promotion and glamorization of drug and alcohol use;

Imagery and explicit lyrics presenting suicide as an "alternative" or "solution";

Scenes of violence in the videos;

Occult studies; songs about Satanism and human sacrifice, frequent dramatizations of these rituals during concerts;

Sex that focuses on sadism, masochism, incest, devaluation of women, and violence towards her.

Parents should help teens by paying attention to their purchases, listening and viewing samples, and helping them identify music that may be disruptive.

Music will not pose a threat to a teenager whose life is happy and healthy. But if a teenager is constantly surrounded by music that reflects serious destructive themes, and at the same time he experiences changes in behavior such as isolation, depression, abuse medicines, alcohol or drugs, then in this case it is necessary to pay attention to his mental health.

1.4 Teenager and computer

The computer has firmly entered our lives. Technical progress it is impossible to stop, and whether we like it or not, computer literacy is becoming a component of general literacy, evidence of a person’s education, if you like, civilization. It is difficult to imagine a person applying for a good position and not knowing a computer. The current state of affairs is as follows: if in the mid-to-late 90s, teenagers named listening to music and watching TV shows among the most frequent activities, now the passion for computers has replaced previous hobbies. About 70% of modern schoolchildren, when asked about their interests and hobbies, mention the computer, the World Wide Web, almost on a par with playing sports, walking and chatting with friends. What is the Internet? "The Internet is a global computer network, providing enormous freedom to users." But now, this is something more than just a network. Now the Internet has also become a source through which terrorists organize terrorist attacks, through which they sell drugs, through which they sell children. The Internet is home to thousands of perverts and mentally disabled individuals.

More than 54% of Internet users believe that the Internet has a positive impact on their lives, but 46% feel Negative influence Internet. This part of users is afraid negative influence“networked lifestyle” on your health and physical fitness. They most often noticed the negative impact of the Internet on the condition of their hands and fingers, sleep patterns, and vision. And young people from 14 to 34 years old, who are more likely to see the Internet as a strong positive factor, are much more likely to complain about damage to their vision and posture due to sitting at the computer for a long time. (4, p. 211)

What is the Internet through the eyes of a teenager? First of all, it is a means of entertainment, and only then a source of knowledge and an assistant in study. And, to be honest, not everyone uses the latter. A very small percentage of teenagers use computers and the Internet for educational purposes. Most teenagers spend a huge amount of time in various chat rooms and forums, which, in their opinion, broadens their horizons and worldview. But in reality this is absolutely not the case. This only makes them stupider and more limited - in communication and in freedom in general. In some cases this already develops into addiction. But, unfortunately, it is impossible to prove this to the teenager himself. He must understand and realize this himself, only then is it possible to change everything. For most teenagers, the World Wide Web is just another toy for obtaining information that interests them, useful from their point of view, but not from the point of view of adults. Millions of people are somewhat dependent on the Internet, and these are not only teenagers, but also fully grown men and women. The Internet helps many people replace communication in real life. The Internet gives the illusion of permissiveness. There are suicide clubs, drug clubs, and novice terrorist clubs online. In such clubs you can order your own death, buy a couple of sticks of dynamite, and learn how to select and inject drugs correctly. The Internet is full of pornography. Most young people buy a modem just to access a porn site. On the Internet you can easily find sites where videos of child pornography are freely sold. But anyone can visit such a site, including children 13-16 years old. Unfortunately, negative information on the Internet this moment prevails. Long work using a computer has a negative impact on many functions of the human body, the effect is especially harmful during adolescence, since it is now that the child’s body is rapidly growing and developing.

Modern mass culture in the lives of young people. Mass culture and its focus on youth

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Introduction

Mass culture plays a huge role in all spheres of society. The purpose of this essay is to study the influence of mass culture on youth and youth subcultures.

This essay will examine the definitions of mass culture, counterculture, subculture, and how they interact with each other.

The work consists of an introduction, main part, conclusion and bibliography.

Main part

Youth culture is one of the most complex phenomena. This is evidenced by the fact that until recently its very existence was questioned. Nowadays, the number of doubters about its existence has become insignificant, but the problems and difficulties associated with it remain.

Social and psychological properties also become quite definite and stable, forming a unique character. In addition, a person entering life receives an education, acquires a profession and qualifications, and masters the traditions, customs, ideals and values ​​existing in society.

The main channels of socialization are family, school and higher education institution, peer society, and mass media. At the same time, cultural socialization itself constitutes the predominant in its scope and extremely important in its significance part.

It is this process of critical reflection and creative renewal of culture, allowing one to truly make it one’s own, that ultimately leads to the emergence of youth culture.

Only in our time do young people become a relatively independent group and become the bearer of a special youth subculture, which, however, exists along with others - women's, urban, rural, etc. Now there are real opportunities for disagreements and contradictions to arise between generations.

Here it is most difficult for her to find mutual understanding and mutual trust. Therefore, often the best environment for it is peer communities, which can be both formal and informal. The latter are given clear preference, since they have less hierarchy, any rules and restrictions.

Some of them are fans of some sports team - football, hockey, basketball, etc. For some time, one of the leading groups becomes a leader, then ceding its leadership to another: after the beatniks and hippies, punks appeared, then rockers, metalheads, etc.

A special role was assigned to the “sexual revolution,” which was supposed to make love truly free, freeing it from any restrictions of the former sanctimonious morality. The sexual revolution was one of the main ways of forming a “new sensuality”.

Subcultures and counterculture

Counterculture

By the 1960s The range of youth movements in the counterculture has expanded, increasingly involving teenagers from 13 to 19 years old in their ranks.

Subculture

Conclusion

But, nevertheless, mass culture, taking into account all these features of consciousness, provides products that are easily perceived, allows you to plunge into the world of dreams and illusions, and creates the impression of addressing a specific individual.

Bibliography

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Social and psychological properties also become quite definite and stable, forming a unique character. In addition, a person entering life receives an education, acquires a profession and qualifications, and masters the traditions, customs, ideals and values existing in society.