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.