It seems that these days it is impossible to go for a day without hearing a news story about teenagers and how their behaviour is getting worse or how much of a menace they are. It is often called the ‘Teenage Problem’, but what actually is the problem? In my opinion most of the problem seems to be with the teenagers who are drinking, taking drugs, acting violently, and generally behaving in what is seen as a socially unacceptable way, on the streets, in schools and at home. I have heard many people, both personally and in the media, calling for the Government or the Police or somebody to do something about it. I agree that something does need to be done but feel that one major problem is the failure of we the people, as society, to firstly recognise society’s part in the making of these problems and secondly in looking to others to fix the situation. Firstly I think that we need to establish the part that we as a society have played in the historical background to the current problems.
It is often said that teenagers, as such, didn’t exist until the 1950’s, I personally believe that the historical path towards today’s teenage problems started a little before that, in the 1940’s after the Second World War. At this time I would say that the term ‘teenager’ was probably as has happened often since then stretched to include people up to the age of twenty one. The war had many effects on society and one thing that the war caused was the absence of many fathers from many households, the soldiers that lost their lives in the Second World War left many children at home who would have to be brought up by mothers on their own. In some cases the mother also was not around having been killed during air-raids and so the children would either be taken on by another member of the family or have to go into a home. The second thing that happened following the end of the war was that a lot of young men came home and, having experienced having to be ‘men’ in the forces found it hard to fit back into the role of ‘child’ in the family. The same was true of many young women who had been working in factories while the men were at war. Many young men and women wanted a change so that they were recognised as having their own dreams and aspirations instead of just following what the family decided they should do, as had been the case in the majority of families before the war. It was social changes such as these that Winston Churchill was unable to grasp and which, ultimately, lead to him loosing the election in 1945.
The freedom’s demanded and won by the teenagers of the late 1940’s, combined with the absence for many of a strong male role model and the influence of having been exposed to American culture which seemed in many ways much more relaxed than our own, had a major effect on the teenagers of the 1950’s. During the early years of the 1950’s the country was still feeling the costs of the war and many things were still in short supply. Children growing into teenagers at this time were looking for something to transport them from the realities of this and so when, in the mid 50’s, Skiffle and then Rock ‘n’ Roll came along it gave them something that they felt they could own and was completely theirs for them to escape into. This lead to teenagers wanting to dress differently and act differently to their parents, and so brought about such teenage groups as Teddy Boys, their dress and behaviour was also heavily influenced by the continued influx of American music and images. The older generation and those in power wanted to stop what they saw as a rebellious movement among the teenagers and so tried to control them and what they could and couldn’t do. The teenagers saw this as an act of repression and fought against it, some of them physically and some of them through more conventional channels such as protests. Commercially it was obvious that the new teenage market was an untapped area for companies to aim their products at and so the financial power that teenagers could weald became more and more apparent.
The cultural changes that came about in the 1950’s, in music, fashion and social behaviour, became more focused in the 1960’s. Rock ‘n’ Roll from America influenced and created a huge number of home grown musicians who, in the 1960’s, became the main focus of teenage life. For the first time many manufacturers and companies were producing goods specifically for the teenage market, and the effect this had on the economy was of great interest to the Government. In the early 1960’s the growth of teenage ‘gangs’ such as the Mods and Rockers lead to many cases of violence as the different groups clashed, the authorities tried to stop them and they fought back by turning the violence on the Police and other figures of authority. As the 1960’s went on a lot of things that had previously only surrounded the music world started to become more a part of ordinary people’s lives, the most obvious and influential of these was drugs. The taking of more and stronger drugs by musicians, and other artists, meant that music, fashion and art were in many cases moulded by the effects the drugs had, this in turn influenced the teenagers listening to the music, buying the clothes and watching films or viewing art. Once again the authorities tried to stop them and the teenagers once again challenged them, this time mainly by protests and also by lobbying MP’s and going to the press. Another thing that happened in the mid 1960’s was a relaxation of laws and social attitudes towards sex, this lead to the coining of the phrase “the permissive society” which was used to describe the way that society had made it more permissible for people to have casual sex, and that homosexuality was legalised. During the late 1960’s the Hippy movement in America, which called for peace and love for everything and everyone, and which was in a large way started as a protest against the Vietnam war, found it’s way over to Britain and brought with it different music, fashion and social behaviour. Teenagers wore whatever they liked, or often wore nothing at all at festivals, men grew their hair and drug culture was a normal part of teenage life. By the very end of the 1960’s the teenage ‘gangs’ had to a large extent disappeared, the Hippy movement had burnt itself out both in Britain and in America, but all of the changes that had happened had left an indelible mark on society.
In the 1970’s teenagers seemed to be in a bit of limbo, still clinging to the last remaining strands of 1960’s cultural changes and waiting for something new. In the early 1970’s the colourful nature of the Hippy culture, the power of Rock ‘n’ Roll and the new openness towards sexuality came together in Glam Rock. Teenagers were listening to trashy pop/rock and wearing silver, fur, and make-up. Once again the commercial aspects of this teenage movement were immediately exploited by big business. Then in 1976, in direct opposition to the glam movement, Punk happened. Punk music was heavily influenced by the garage rock of American bands but was given a working class British bitter edge and spewed out to assault the world. This musical attack was matched by teenagers dressed in torn clothes held together with safety pins, multi-coloured and fantastically styled hair, and also Nazi symbolism which was worn specifically to antagonise the authorities. The powers that be tried once again to stop the teenagers from these sorts of expression, and once again the teenagers fought back, this time very violently. Around this time there was also a resurgence of Skin Heads (white reggae listeners who were originally around in the 60’s on the edge of the Mod movement and were fully accepting of all races and creeds, but in the 1970’s became linked with the BNP a racist political party and so therefore racism), Mods, Teddy Boys & Rockers, and this growth of teenage ‘gangs’ meant there were many violent clashes between the different groups, and also with the Police. A section of teenage society became very politically active and protested against the BNP and Nuclear Weapons, amongst other things, sometimes these protests became violent and the violence was often between the protestors and Police, or followers of the BNP and the Police. Towards the end of the 1970’s Punk had all but died out. Also in the 1970’s the Disco scene came over from America, bringing with it a new wave of drug culture, one which was designed to help the dancers keep going all night.
In the 1980’s the first wave of real video games was developed and introduced to the public, and over the decade were continually refined and sold to an eager teenage market. In the early 1980’s the music was mainly a hangover of the 1970’s but these years did bring about New Wave which saw the reintroduction of the androgynous look that was popular in the later days of Glam Rock, and there was more emphasis on teenagers sexuality. The 1980’s saw the birth of the “me” society, one in which it was thought to be perfectly fine for people to be out for whatever they could make and get for themselves without taking into account the cost to anyone else, this view was projected more and more by the government. As a reaction to the “me” society and the Government’s policies of the time, and as a anti-dote to what was seen as being outdated humour based on racism and sexism, alternative comedy came about and set about taking figures of authority apart publicly. In the late 1980’s new music movements came about and were driven from the North of England where they originated in the clubs, these new music movements took on the same drugs as the Disco scene had used but also developed their own drug of choice known as Ecstasy.
In the early 1990’s the dance music scene carried on and grew stronger, as did the drug culture that surrounded it. The growth of the culture of celebrity and reality television during the 1990’s lead to many teenagers thinking that it was easy to become rich and famous and so they did not need to try to work at their education. During the 1990’s a new music scene came over from America, it was called Grunge and allowed teenagers the same sort of freedom of expression that Rock ‘n’ Roll had done in the 1950’s and Punk had done in the 1970’s, it brought with it a new and very relaxed way of dressing and behaving, along with a reintroduction of the drugs speed and cocaine.
In the 2000’s reality television and talent shows such as ‘The X Factor’ have taken over television, and in turn have made more teenagers think that becoming a celebrity is easy and an easier route to take to making money than working hard at school and getting a job, and when they find out that it’s not as easy as they thought it can cause an immense amount of self doubt and depression as well as a lack of drive to do anything else. The government have tried many things to deal with the teenage problem, many of which have backfired by simply giving the teenagers something to aim for, the government’s ASBO scheme ended up with teenagers wanting to get one because it became a badge of honour to have one.
I believe that over the years there have also been a number of general changes and events that have also had a major influence on the current situation. There has been a gradual and continued relaxation of censorship laws and regulations which has resulted in mainstream television, films, music, video games, and magazines being able to portray and show in graphic detail both violent and sexual activities that often border on the pornographic. There has be the rise of more and more shops selling cheaper and cheaper alcohol, some of which in the case of so called ‘Alco-pops’ are specifically targeted at a younger market. There have been a number of high profile cases of scandal and criminal activity within the government and the police which has damaged society’s belief in and trust of authority. There has been a gradual rise in the expectations of children to be able to grasp more adult subjects at a much younger age (weather this has been driven by the teenagers themselves or by society is an arguable point) and yet at the same time a desire by parents for them to be able to enjoy their childhood, thus causing confusion amongst the children and society as to exactly how they should be treated. There has been the rise in the media building up celebrities to such a level that they become almost deified, and often it is the celebrities that are the worst role models that get the most press, teenagers see these celebrities and want to be like them, and so mirror their behaviour patterns. There has been a gradual relaxation in what is seen as socially acceptable behaviour, which has been fuelled by all of the other changes.
As well as the general changes that I have outlined, I believe that over the last 60 years or so, society has, as I think I have shown, been changed in many ways by or because of the teenagers of each successive generation. I believe that specifically over the last three generations there has been the gradual destruction of respect for authority and society, as each of these generations grow older and become parents they instil this lack of respect in their children and that this had lead us to the situation we now find ourselves in. There seems to be a growing attitude in society that it’s is perfectly alright for an individual to do whatever they want to as long as no other individual or authority does anything they do not like or agree with or tries to stop them. It is almost like society has taken on a form of the philosophy of Individualist Anarchism, which Wikipedia (the on-line encyclopedia) explains in the following way:-
‘Individualist anarchism (also anarchist individualism, anarcho-individualism, individualistic anarchism, libertarian anarchism) refers to any of several traditions that hold that "individual conscience and the pursuit of self-interest should not be constrained by any collective body or public authority" and that the imposition of "the system of democracy, of majority decision" over the decision of the individual "is held null and void."’
Wikipedia - Individualust Anarchism
This is of course until someone does something to them or there family or property and then they demand that the authorities do something about it immediately and complain if they don’t.
As well as society in general, the parents of today’s teenagers have to take at least some responsibility for the actions of their children, but unfortunately it is often the case that the parents are either just as bad as the teenagers or don’t care what they do, that’s if they accept or acknowledge the fact that they are doing anything wrong in the first place. Until we, as a society, accept and acknowledge that we, as a society, historically have a responsibility for the situation, and realise that we, as a society, both people and authorities, are the only ones that can change it and stop just looking to the police and the government to find a solution, it will never change.
