Youth And Value

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Youth 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 ...