Teenagers and Their Role in Society .
The term teenager was first introduced post World War II , during the 1950’s.
The lead up to the 1950’s was crutial time period for the first teenagers. Stateside in America there was more of a separtation between young and old , with the introduction of age resistricted laws in the areas of employment , sexual consent and marriage. This separtated “young “adults (13-17), from “old” adults (20’s-60’s) because this gap that was created by these laws, this further fueled the spilt between the age groups and helped with the creation the term teenager .
When these laws were changed young children got to stay on and continue with their education. Before these laws , only the children of wealthy families continued their education after primary school ,where the children of working class families left school to work . These children would be taking on an adult role in life by making a living ,bearing in mind that these children would have been no older than 12 , it comes as no suprise as to why they had no identity and no recognition for being a teenager.
During the 1950’s when teenagers began developing their own identity. They wanted to be different from their parents. And thats exactly what happend ! After the war the economy was booming , this left families with more money to spend and a lot invested in they’re childrens future . Because of this parents paid for their children to attend secondary schools. Because teenagers were now attending school they had no jobs , which gave them free time when their school day ended . This is possibly the time in which a teenager found his/her identity . They now had free time for sociable activites , they might meet up with friends from school or go out and form new friendships with other kids around their age. Teenagers where given allowances or worked part time , this lead to teenagers having disposable income.(WRITE MORE SHITE HERE!!!!)
Media played a very important role in the life of the teenager as the Television was a household staple in the 50’s. Other media was just as important such as radio and cinema. Having exposure to media , teenagers began to build their profile. Music was possibly the most inportant type of media the teenager was exposed to. Before the 50’s music in the life of a teenager was controlled by the parents of a household , because gramaphones and radios were so expensive it was unsual to have more then one per household. But years later due to technological adavances made to the gramaphone , records became smaller in size and so did the gramaphone itself , this made the gramaphome more portable and aslo cheaper. This meant that if a teenager had a part time job they could afford to buy one. But it wasn’t until the introduction of the Genre that shaped the 1950’s , Rock and Roll . And only after the (LINK LAST TWO SENTANCES !!!!!)
Before the rise of Rock and Roll teenagers wern’t particualrly into music , because the music they were exposed to was the music of their parents , 1940’s blues and big band music . Rock and roll was different to what they have been listening to at home. It was more upbeat . The release of “Blackboard Jungle” seen rock and roll being played on the big screen . Bill Haley and The Comets song ” Rock Around The Clock” featured quite heavly in the film, making it an instant hit. Due to the music played in this film it gained alot of interest from teens. During the screenings of “Blackboard Jungle” the teenage audieances repsponse to the film often ended in riots , tearing the seats , dancing in the aisles and in certain counties of the films release seen violence continue onto the streets.
Parents of teenagers were becoming more concered and the effects that rock and roll was having on their children. but the more their concern grow , the more the teenagers rebelled against them. They found it exciting to rebel against them and be different. Parents had their opinions influenced by theyre religion and aslo from the musicains they listened to , for example Frank Sinatra actively spoke out against rock and roll.
Because of the stigma there was against rock and roll , parents believed that the music was disrupting their childrens lives. In many communites rock and roll music was banned from being played on radio and films that contained rock and roll music were banned from screening in these communites. But because of how popular this much frowned upon genre was the bans were overthrown and marketing of rock and roll began.
Once record companies , radio and television stations caught on to how popular the genre was they began market it and cater the tastes of the teenager. There was now programs on televison such as “American Bandstand”
American Bandstand brought rock and roll into home all over America. It introduced new acts before radio stations and gave teens a chance to learn the lasted dance moves. Radio stations had dedicated time slots for playing rock and roll. Because all this intented marketing of rock and roll took over the charts and record sales soared. But teenagers still found ways to rebel against their parents in the following decades.
In the 60’s the major concern for parents was no longer rock and roll. Their concern was now the drug culture that teens were now involved in. Drug taking became the new way to rebel against ones parents in the 60’s.
In the 70’s , Punk rock emerged(fast aggresive form of rock). Punk was dominated by bands from working class backgrounds which rised political ans social issues in their songs. Teens of this time related to puck because the work was in the middle of recession. They were faced with poor proscpects and started to rebel against their parents. They rebelled by adhering to the fashion that came with punk. Teens would shave their hair into mohawks and have piercings on the faces, to the parents this meant they would be unable to obtain employment.
In the 80’s , the first teens of the 50’s were parents of the teens of the 80’s. They have already experianced rebelling against their own parents. So in my opinion this is the decade where things started to change in terms of rebelling. Parents of teens in the 80’s possably had better relationships with their children and understood the desire for rebellion.
In the 90’s and 2000’s , the same desire for rebellon of previous generations hasn’t carried on.
shaunakearney 