The term ‘culture’ can be defi ned as language, dress, beliefs, manners and tastes in food or music of a particular group. The concept of youth culture appeared in America in the 1950s and spread to Britain in the 1960s. It was a result of the improvement in Western economics, which meant that teenagers had money to spend. There was the development of music and fashion industries with the orientation to the youth market. New groups of young people dressed in Italian-style and leather clothes appeared. They were called Mods. But there were young people who were against the materialistic wealth and stressed on spiritual values. They tried to show their protest in wearing unusual clothes, hair dress or in other ways. Thus in the 1960s and 1970s.

Hippies appeared. These young people usually had long hair and wore second-hand clothes. They liked to say, ‘Make love, not war.’ Hippies were against the Vietnam War and showed their peaceful feelings in their rock songs. Some of them are still popular — ‘Give Peace a Chance’ and ‘All You Need is Love’. In the mid 1970s punk rock appeared. Punks were not peace loving, but full of hate. There was a great unemployment (especially among young people) at that time. Many teenagers blamed the society and in punk movement they expressed their negative feelings. Punks often had brightly coloured hair and wore clothes that could shock people. Later these movements infl uenced some other aspects of life. For example, Punk became a clothes design style and punk magazines ‘fanzines’, fan clubs, posters appeared.

As a large number of teens today watch music videos, these infl uence their minds. Teens watch cool Rappers, who look and sound unusual and they want a piece of that image. They wear the same clothes, sing violent lyrics and feel very cool. Rap and hip-hop were born in the ghettoes of New York over 30 years ago. Rap fashion is big business today. The clothes, sometimes very expensive from Prada and Gucci, Ralph Lauren and Polo, express a lack of respect for tradition and authority . Rappers wear huge gold necklaces and drive costly cars. There is also a rap language or rather a slang, used by many teens. Such artists as Justin Timberlake and Eminem use it in their songs. Many rap songs make teenagers believe that money is the most important thing in the world. An analysis of different youth cultures which have appeared and infl uenced each other helps to make the following conclusions. Here they are.

Youth cultures are formed in reaction to society’s values.

Youth cultures help young people become independent of their families.

They are consumer products sold to the young.

These cultures give young people the opportunity to be something different before they agree and accept society’s values.

Youth cultures enable young people to express themselves by choosing the style that suits them.

The values of a youth culture do not matter — just have to be different from those of the older generation. Are they good or bad? No one can say. But it’s quite clear that youth cultures can bring change to a society and help young people in their search for identity.