Youth And Values Term paper

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BIBLIOYouth and Values

In an attempt to challenge societal values, youth cultures, in the form

of rebellion, act and dress radically and form groups in protest. These

dissident actions against the structure of existing society promotes the

beginning of new small groups which reflect their own rules, structures,

class, gender and ethnic ideologies. So, the youth culture, in challenging

societal values, at the same time is reflecting them.

In comparing Margaret Mead's young adults in Coming of Age in Samoa to

Russian youth it is evident where the differences arise. The Samoans

strong cultural values leave little need for individual expression.

Expectations of the children change as they get older. They know what

is expected of them and want to follow the rules.

In contrast, the youth in the Soviet Union, live in a culture of

confusion. They feel constricted by the laws of the society, see families

collapsing around them, and believe things should change. They want to be

individuals and they want to live by their own values and ideas. Many come

from broken homes and poor communities with little respect for authority.

They rebel against what they feel is an unjust society and look for a

culture or group that they can identify with.

Often society depicts these groups as dangerous, deviant and

delinquent. These groups, however, just show many of the valued structures

of society, but in a more radical way. They have a standard code of dress,

values, ethics and rebel in order to force their ideas onto the public and

to feel part of a recognizable group.

Margaret Mead noticed little individual differences among the Samoans.

"We have seen that the Samoans have a low level of appreciation of

personality differences" (Mead, 1973, 161). The Samoan's strong cultural

and family traditional values do not allow for individualism. In

comparison, Soviet youth express their individualism through youth cultures

such as punk, 'metallist' hard-rock groups and "golden youth". Although

they feel they are expressing individuality through these groups, they are

actually fitting into different structures, values and in fact, a totally

different societal group.

Soviet society is concerned about what these youth cultures stand for,

in particular the 'metallist' hard-rock groups. "They hate and despise our

whole system, all our values. That's why they're dangerous, and why I'm

pessimistic about the future" (Wilson, 1988, 22). In their defence, Alexei

Kozlov, a member of a band, "extolled the virtues of heavy-metal rock." He

said it was "an emotional outlet for underprivileged and unemployed young

people...to work out their resentment...if we forbid this music, they will

display their aggressiveness in other forms" (Traver, 1989, 1991).

In combining their musical talents with their rebellion against an

unjust society, these groups find an outlet for their anger and combine

with others having the same interests. They work together with a goal

similar to normal society groups.

Over the centuries the importance of the extended family, in Russia,

has decreased considerably. At one time the family included grandparents,

aunts, uncles and cousins and it was more important than the society in

which it lived. The children were protected and controlled from outer

forces by this large family with strong religious, cultural and family

ties.

Similarly, the Samoan children share this strong value system. The

longer the child is kept in controlled state, the more of the general

cultural attitude it will absorb and the less of a disturbing element it

will become (Mead, 1973, 163).

In recent years, with Russian urbanization, family has become limited

to parents and their children. They have more material goods but lose out

socially and emotionally (Wilson, 1988, 28). From a young child nursery

schools or kindergarten have taken over previous parental obligations. The

schools help them do morning exercises. It feeds them, takes them out for

walks, puts them to bed, teaches them to keep things tidy, paint, model,

read, write, sing and dance. It also teaches them to be kind, considerate

and honest, organizes parties for them, and takes them for health check-ups

(Vishneva, 1984, 161). While the biological parents work, the state

educational system becomes a new "parent" to the child. The close

relationship between child and parent no longer exists, however, "the state

sees the family as respon-sible for the children's welfare and for

instilling in them behaviour acceptable to the existing social norms. The

broken family is seen as a factor in juvenile delinquency. Good citizens

are obligated to "monitor the political conscience of family members,

especially that of children" (Shlapentokh, 1988, 34).

Another negative aspect of the decline in family life is the rising

incidence of divorce which is said to be caused by sexual incompatibility,

inadequate housing, infidelity and a high rate of alcoholism (Traver, 1989,

64/65). These all leave the child confused, feeling alone and angry at

society. He then looks for ways to express himself and usually finds it in

a youth group culture with similar concerns.

The Samoan villages have a very strong system of discipline, respect

and authority. Villages contain thirty to forty households each presided

over by a head man with chiefly titles. They are the official orators,

spokesmen and ambassadors and are responsible for all the members of their

household. Everyone else in the household has authority according to their

age, even the adolescent (Mead, 1973, 42/43). From the age of four or five

years old, Samoan children perform definite tasks according to their

strength and intelligence and which have a meaning in the structure of the

whole society (Mead, 1973, 164). This gives a feeling of self-worth and

shows that everyone is a valued member of the community.

In contrast, Russian youth have no control over others and little

control over their own lives. Soviet society stresses more importance on

society and the current political regime. They see social interests as

much more important than individual ones. Personal interests must always

be sacrificed if in conflict with societal interests (Shlapentokh, 1988,

19). Youth coming from broken homes and living in a society which gives

them little freedom, look for ways to show their discontent with authority.

"Mocking the police has become the Moscow rockers' favourite game. Another

kick was to taunt the Militia...have drunken parties, group sex" and hire

young prostitutes (Wilson, 1988, 138).

Many informal groups were organized in Russia in the late 1980's,

especially in the working class districts. Young people who were not always

welcome in official clubs found it necessary to form their own clubs to

combat loneliness and reveal their reactions against a world of

over-organization. They want to make contact with one another as human

beings and do something "real" (Wilson, 1988, 139).

The influence that Western culture has had on the youth of the Soviet

Union has been a source of worry for the political leaders. Western

culture is seen as "shallow and harmful to Soviet youth" It lures the

"young away from rich communist ideals". Seen as "untidy" and "vulgar",

"Soviet rockers were given an ultimatum: clean up or break up". Some

groups went underground, others conformed to official approval and found

themselves confined and suffocated, "their lyrics purified and their

costumes polite". Official rock music was then easier to control and

supervise. One of the sanctioned groups played in a youth club of a

working-class suburb of Moscow. Some of the fans wore clothes with foreign

labels and were known as "golden youth". They were children of the elite

who had travelled and brought home Western goods. Some punks wore black

leather jackets and had splotches of pink and orange hair. They and many

others in the audience knew the "taboo" words,...

GRAPHY
Mead, Margaret. Coming of Age in Samoa. New York: Dell
Publishing Company, Inc., 1973.
Shlapentokh, Vladimir. Public and Private Life of the
Soviet People. Changing Values in Post-Stalin Russia.
Oxford: Oxford University Press, Inc., 1989.
Traver, Nancy. Kife. The Lives and Dreams of Soviet
Youth. New York: St. Martin's Press, 1989.
Vishneva-Sarafanova, N. The Privileged Generation:
Children in The Soviet Union. Union of Soviet
Socialist Republics: Progress Publishers, 1984.
Wilson, Andrew and Bachkatov, Nina. Living With
Glasnost. Youth and Society in a Changing Russia.
London: Penguin Books, 1988. You should cite this paper as follows:

MLA Style
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    <http://essaymania.com/28351/youth-and-values>

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