From the Chicago School to Post-sub Cultural Carriage: A Review and Analysis of Contemporary Trends in Youth Culture Research

Abstract

The historicity of youth culture studies is much challenging to date exactly. Sociologists however, trace its genesis from Chicago School and then leap to Birmingham’s Centre for Contemporary Cultural Studies. Theoretically it was, with the works of post subculturists that youth culture research gained ascendency. Global youth culture posture further revamped the field. This paper constructs a critical dialogue between the wide-ranging theories and research on youth culture and global/local relations in this sphere. It is revealed that the current ascendancy of post-subcultural studies margins the significance of sociological research to broader youth queries and does little to extend the case that youth studies should be more sociologically relevant and important. Youth lives in no island of its own and it is not all young people- who have the possibility of engaging in the consumerism, central to some post-sub-cultures. Conversely, youth and their cultures are framed within and to large extent shaped up by social divisions and inequalities. Against this backdrop, it is suggested that youth culture research would prove fruitful only when clubbed with ‘transition approach.’ Possibly this refit would not only facilitate to widen and thrive the significance of contemporary youth culture studies, rather may help in theoretical sophistication, empirical renovation and a more holistic sociology of youth.