The passage criticizes modern perceptions of youth, arguing that stereotypes about disrespectful and lawless young people are nothing new. It notes that the Greek philosopher Plato expressed similar concerns and stereotypes about youth in the 4th century BCE, showing that each generation tends to find fault with the next.

1. “What is happening to our young
people? They disrespect their elders;
they disobey their parents. They
ignore the law. They riot in the
streets, inflamed with wild notions.
Their morals are decaying. What is to
become of them?”
Plato 4th Century!!

2. Stereotypes
Stereotypes are social constructs
•they originate in & reflect the power relations in society because they are
part of a culture's ideology
•they foster values that reinforce group and individual subordination
•they marginalize people, treating them as "the other"
•they categorize people into groups whose members supposedly share
inevitable characteristics, most typically, negative ones
Characteristics of stereotypes
•stereotypes are categorical & general, suggesting the traits apply to all
group members
•they are inflexible or rigid, thus not easily corrected
•they are simplistic
•they are prejudgements not based on experience (They could be
reinforced by negative personal experience.)
•can be conscious or unconscious

3. Is this the
face of
British
Teenagers?

4. What is the biggest issue facing
young people today?
guardian.co.uk 15 April 2009

5. Where has this come from?
According to recent research:
What worries teens the most:

6. Hegemony in News Representation
of Youth/Teen/Teenagers
• Media industries operate within a structure
that produces and reinforces the dominant
ideology via a consensual ‘world view’.
• This world view is produced predominantly by
white middle class, middle aged,
heterosexual men.
• It is their ideas and values that infiltrate
media texts and ensure that other voices do
not get heard.

7. Fact or Fiction?
The Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) warned in 2009 that:
•Rates of sexually-transmitted infections among teenagers and under-age
sex are roaring
•Children being so obese that their only hope is surgery
•There are falling standards in schools
•More than 1.5 million Britons had considered moving home because of
young people "hanging around" their neighbourhood.
•British adults are also twice as likely than German adults to cross the road
when they encounter teenagers committing anti-social behaviour.
•Britons were too frightened to get involved and tackle teenagers for fear of
physically attack, fear of reprisals and being verbally abused .

8. Or could it be that young people growing up in this country
are being deliberately misunderstood by politicians and
headline writers who wish to use them to suit their own
ends?
Not one of these fears appears to be borne out by the facts!
•According to NACRO, the penal reform charity, youth crime actually fell
between 1993 and 2001 while Britain has one of the lowest crime rates
among children in the whole of Europe.
•Tony Blair's "respect" campaign and the national "respect squad" set up
by John Reid, only reinforced the adult fear factor of teenagers, a condition
the report refers to as paedophobia.
•Labour, spurred on by sensational headlines about gangs of teenagers
terrorising neighbourhoods, have been quick to turn soundbites into
actions and introduced criminal justice measures deliberately targeting
problem children.
•Since 1999, 2,000 Asbos have been issued against young people

9. False perceptions cont:
• Pam Hibbert, principal policy officer for Barnados: "We have become fearful of all children. We know for
example young crime in itself has remained fairly static in the past 10 years - it is a minority that cause
problems and retaliate. The demonisation of children and young people in some sections of the media
and when politicians refer to youngsters as yobs - that breeds the actual fear."
• Elaine Peace, UK director of children's services at NCH, the children's charity, said that teenagers were
more likely to be the victim of a crime than the perpetrator: "Young people are 10 times more likely to be
actively volunteering in the community than committing offences and young people are more likely to be
victims of crime than adults. The media is fuelling stereotypes of children and the fear of young people.
We should be highlighting the fantastic work young people do in the community. We need to do more to
involve older people in the community - mentoring schemes would be one option to help change
perceptions.“
• Education standards have improved in both A-levels and GCSEs and independent studies have failed to
prove that either exam is getting easier. Meanwhile, international surveys suggest that Britain's primary
schools now have the third highest literacy rates in the world.
• Even the IPPR concedes that many of these stereotypes about teenagers may be unjustified. Nick
Pearce, IPPR Director, says: "The debate about childhood in Britain is polarised between false opposites:
that either children or adults are to blame. It also ignores inequalities in the transition to adulthood. Many
children are safer, healthier and better educated than in the past, whilst others suffer complex, traumatic
routes through adolescence.

10. Is National Service the
answer?
Every 16-year-old would eventually be eligible for
what Cameron described as "non-military national
service" non compulsory scheme. Teenagers from
different backgrounds would mix together to give
them what the Tory leader described as "a sense of
purpose, optimism and belonging".
"There is in this country today the most outrageous,
the most disgraceful, the most pointless waste of
potential. Our young people are as passionate and
idealistic as any generation before. Perhaps even
more so. They march against poverty, they set up
Facebook campaigns, they push their parents to
recycle and they care about climate change. But so
many young people are lost. Show me a bus stop
that's been bashed up and I'll show you the work of
someone who has a lack of discipline in their life."

11. Propaganda
• Without the help of the media, people would be unlikely to
permit the authorities the right to arrest ten year old children,
and hold their details on record until they reach adulthood. It is
only with the assistance of headlines such as the Daily Mail’s
one in four adolescents is a criminal that they are able to obtain
public support for new legislation. The following extract is an
example of such fear inducing propaganda.
• Propaganda is a form of communication aimed at influencing
the attitude of a community toward some cause or position

12. The End Result:
Moral Panic!!

14. How does a moral panic
emerge?
• Apparent rise in criminal or anti-social acts
• Often a specific, shocking incident
• Scapegoat ‘found’ in popular culture
• Blame attributed in news coverage
• ‘Experts’ consulted e.g. teachers., social
workers, police officers
• Demands in action e.g. Change in law
• Research disregarded or ridiculed

15. Lesson Aims
•To continue to develop understanding
of how British youth and youth culture
are represented
•The main focus being on question 3 -
‘What are the social implications of
different media representations of
British youths and youth culture?’

16. What is happening at the
moment?
• What are the social implications of
these representations?
• What words describe youth and youth
culture in today’s media?
• Are they positive/negative
• Draw an image of how you think youths
are being represented

17. Putting the shoe on the other
foot…
• Consider what understanding you have
of the older generation (the elderly)…
• …write down words and an image to
describe how you view the elderly

18. DVD
• Write down notes for discussion points
following the DVD
• What subjects/topic areas are
discussed in this that you
– Relate to
– Want to follow up
– Disagree with
– Strongly agree with?

19. DVD Discussion

20. Identity Boxes
• Grab your identity boxes and sit
opposite someone you do not know so
well
• You have one minute each to tell each
other about how your box represents
your identity
• You will have to feedback to the class
what you have learnt about your partner

21. Last Points about social
media…
Why social media is
shit…

22. “Americans say they have
fewer friends than ever
before”
Source: Social isolation
in America:
Changes in core discussion
networks over two decades

23. ‘We only have two close
friends’.
Source: The Guardian:
Social networking aside how
many close friends
do you have?

24. Why?

25. 1. EVERYBODY’S
PRETENDING
2. EVERYBODY’S
ELSEWHERE
3. EVERYBODY NEEDS TO
BE ALONE

26. 1. EVERYBODY’S
PRETENDING
The Facebook version
Vs
the real version

27. THE ADVANTAGE OF
SCREENS IS THAT THEY GIVE
US SOMEWHERE TO HIDE

28. ‘Whenever there is time to
write, edit and delete there is
room for performance’.
Sherry Turkle,
Alone Together

29. WE FEAR THE ECHO
CHAMBER CREATED BY
COPY AND PASTE

31. ‘We’ve stopped living life at face
value. Now we live life at
interface value’.
Sherry Turkle,
Alone Together

32. WE SHOULD BE
DOING MORE OF THIS

33. AND LESS OF THIS

34. 2. EVERYBODY’S
ELSEWHERE
NOBODY’S
WHERE
THEY ARE

35. NOT EVEN WITH
THEIR CHILDREN

36. ‘Technology
like iPhones
close us off
from our
ecosystems.
This is why
we don’t take
care of
nature.’
Juan Pablo Orrego,
180° South

37. IT’S NOT A NEW PROBLEM
‘In the hopes
of reaching
the moon men
fail to see the
flowers that
blossom at
their feet.’
Albert Schweitzeer

38. 3. EVERYBODY NEEDS TO
BE ALONE
BUT IT’S
ALMOST
IMPOSSIBLE
TO BE ALONE
THESE DAYS

39. SO WHAT SHOULD WE ALL
DO?

40. LIVE A LESS
MEDIATED LIFE

41. MYSPACE

42. Digital Youth
How new technology has affected
collective identity

43. How do youth trends spread?
Traditional Model
• Global youth was ‘atomised’ (broke off into
smaller fragments)
• Trend begins, usually led by a celebrity, in
one country (usually USA or UK).
• Media would then spread this trend
• Other nations’ youth would spot the trend,
adopt it as an easy route to solidarity with
other teens,
• Popularity (and media coverage) would
increase in intensity and get a wider spread
of distribution.

44. How has digital technology
changed this?
• Young people have grown up taking internet,
mobiles, mp3s for granted.
• Interactivity – opportunity to manipulate the
media experience.
• Instantaneity – ability to access (and
experience) media texts ‘on-demand’.
• ‘Cloud Culture’ – information (including media
texts and experiences) ‘float’ above us, we
can ‘reach up’ and ‘grab’ it whenever we
want.

45. How do youth trends spread?
21st Century Model
• Youths create their own style, their own
media;
• They tell others about it using social
networking sites, blogs etc; quality content
downloaded and spread by viral.
• Global reach of the internet means newly
invented trends are ‘instantaneously’ spread
across the world where they develop or
decline according to how many people decide
to follow them.
• Then mainstream media may become
involved.

46. Who controls the
future of youth culture?