Youth representation in 1950-1959

Youth representation in 1950-1959

After the war there was a baby boom that brought by the first strong youth subcultures. At this time teenagers were starting to become more independent and get further away from their parents and tradition.

Groups like the ‘Teddy boys’ introduced a form of anarchy in British society by using early American rock and roll. After American rock died down Britain became the new major producer of rock and roll music, which appeal to a lot of young boys.

Elvis Presley started to play a big part in peoples lives because he was controversial and teenagers liked it.

Britain relied a lot on America to get things and were usually just copies of American things but in the 1950s a uniquely British sound developed called ‘Skiffle’ this was a simple folk music usually played by a small group mainly with rhythmic accompaniment and usually had a singing guitarist.

Commercial television was introduced in Britain in 1955 this meant that teenagers had access to things that they didn’t have before and magazines became cheaper so people were reading about the sort of lives that they wanted to have. Films started to play a part too like the 1955 film ‘Rebel without a cause’ which shows the lifestyle of a middle class teenagers that is frustrated and full of angst which would appeal to British teenagers because even though many watching it weren’t as well off as this character they felt many of the same feelings as this character so they could relate themselves to it.
The Notting Hill race riots of 1958 were a result of the increased hostility that middle class white people had towards black people and many youths were the ones at the forefront of this because of the influence that the youths had from groups like the 'Teddy boys'.

 

Theory:

There are many different theories that apply for this era because teenagers went through a phase of change. One of the main theories that applies is Stanley Halls storm and stress model because it says that ‘all young people go through some degree of emotional and behavioural upheaval’ which at this time was becoming more rebellious and wanting to have excitement and creating chaos by committing criminal activities because of the influence from groups like the Teddy Boys. Another theory that applies here is Laurie’s theory that ‘youth are a class in themselves’ in the 1950s youth started to come out of there shells and become much less independent and coming away from their families and creating social groups of their own.

Youth Representation 1910-1949

Youth representation 1910-1949

Britain was in a golden age before the First World War so people had a lot of money and it was a time when people were at a stage where they didn’t have to be born into money anymore to have money. Youth at this time would have been relaxed and having a good time. However come 1914 the first world war started so the youths had to go out and fight in the war both male and female and they would have probably only gotten basic training. At this time the youths would have been positive about going out to fight in the war because all of the propaganda going around Britain at the time made people think that they would be seen as heroes by everyone by going out and fighting in the war it wasn’t until they were actually there that they saw what it was like.

Things were slightly different with the second world war as people were a bit more reluctant to joining the war front because it was harder for the media to try and hide now what was really going on and in world war two women were more likely to have to stay at home instead of going to the war front so female youths might be taken out of schools and be put at home to help their mothers or be put to work in factories to produce things needed by the troops. The males would still have been sent off to war but with a bit more of a realistic view of what war would be like especially when the media had portrayed war as a bad thing with things like Wilfred Owen’s ‘Dolce et decorum est.’ poem.

Newspaper representations

In general the newspapers from the time of the Second World War were quite positive about young peoples efforts to help out with the war efforts. One article from the ‘Western Morning News’ from 1939 talks about how young women volunteer themselves to be nurses at St. Lawrences Hospital and there is a quote from the matron praising them for their work: “I should like to thank the nurses for the noble work they have done in preparing the hospital, the whole of the staff have volunteered for the work.”

A theory that applies to this is Cohen because he suggested that youth is a subculture and although they like to be individual and different they will come together for their subculture this one being that they are soldiers.
A theory that would not apply would be Stanley Hall. He was around during 1910-1949 and he says that youth commonly has the need to look for excitement and tend to be depressed and this could be because of the fact that they had nothing to do so when the war came about it gave them something to do and be a part of removing the need to sensation seek, commit criminal activity and feel depressed.