Poised between the commercialism of mass consumption and a questioning of prevailing social norms, youth cultures offer a fascinating insight into the social and cultural state of Western societies. This innovative collection provides a lively exploration of such cultures, with all their implicit ironies and contradictions, at the end of the twentieth century. Highlighting the current forms of expression - music, style, fashion, entertainment - and the richness of youth culture's historical and contemporary variety, the contributors address key issues including: why young people are seen as at risk from popular culture; how late modernity affects changing shifts in gender relations; how young people relate to texts, from the literary to the the transgressive; and how the young construct alternative social spheres and symbolic forms.
Youth Culture in Late Modernity outlines the range of approaches to understanding youth culture and subculture and their relations to, or differences from, popular and high culture.