Cultural Boundaries Essay Example for Free

Cultural Boundaries Essay Youth culture has been studied from several ideological perspectives on assumptions that they are ‘not isolated and untouched by the surrounding culture’ (Keyes, 2000). This notion has lead researchers to assume that youth culture is not part of ‘growing up’, but a phenomenon that occurs as a precipitation of the social, political, cultural and ideological factors. There is not one monolithic youth culture that defines all young people. Popular youth culture embraces a diversity of sub-cultures or â€Å"tribes† such as skaters, druggies, snobs, band geeks, Satanists, Jesus freaks, techno-goths, computer dweebs, blacks, Latinos and white trash. Groups distinguish themselves by dress, style, music, body modification practices, race, ethnicity, and language. (Hines, 1999) Thus a researcher, who intends to study the ethnic, racial, political, cultural, sociological or linguistic aspect of a subculture, often ends up in analysing one of the factors and tend to romanticise or over-politicise these aspects. Thornton’s study on club cultures and Nava’s treatise on youth and consumerism are good examples in this genre. The debates on how best to conceptualise both the structural and cultural transitions of young people remains a central issue in the sociology of youth. In these debates cultural approaches have been criticised for neglecting the role of social divisions and status inequalities in lifestyle ‘choices’ (Bennett 2002). The cultural night lives of young people have provided fertile ground for social researchers. There have been explorations of the character and division of dance scenes (Thornton 1995), the relationship between femininities, women’s clubbing experiences and feminism (Pini 1997a, 1997b), clubbing experiences (Malbon 1999) and the relationship between drug use and clubbing (Henderson 1993; Merchant Macdonald 1994; Forsyth 1997). What has not been studied so well is how people become clubbers, what practices this entails, what kind of young people invest in this lifestyle, what resources are required to do so, whether this process is gendered as well as if and how this experience has impacted on their sense of identity. Earlier studies portrayed Rave culture as being a social arena where social divisions were put aside and anyone and everyone mixed together (Henderson 1993; Merchant Macdonald 1994). Yet, more recent studies suggest that distinctions do operate between ‘mainstream’ and ‘hip’ club scenes (Thornton 1995), that ‘nightlife provision exploits existing cleavages in the youth population, and segregates young adults into particular spaces and places’ (Hollands 2002, p. 153). Given this it seems important to unpack further the nature of boundaries: the divisions between ‘us and them’: the boundary work that we do and how boundaries are constituted in social interaction. Thornton asserts ‘club cultures are taste cultures’, but as she also points out, practices of distinction do not just involve taste and cultural hierarchies are numerous (1995, p. 3). What other practices of distinction are involved in identification and differentiation processes, both within and between club scenes? It seems unlikely that these processes and practices are wholly elective. Young people’s experiences of clubbing, their lifestyle ‘choices’, need to be contextualised and conceptualised in such a way that recognise that some young people are more able than others to engage in particular styles of life, and consumer and cultural activities, such as clubbing. Boundaries are about both the individual and the collective, notions not new to youth research. Willis (1978) suggested that ‘becoming’ a hippie or a bike boy involved not only cultural knowledge, but also a process of developing group sensibilities, and these sensibilities could be used to identify and differientiate one group from another. The notion of ‘becoming’ is a way of exploring both individual and group processes (Becker 1991): how young people learn to use ‘recreational’ drugs, learn particular practices, affiliate with a culture, lifestyle or social group and invest in additional forms of identification, as well as encounter cultural barriers that constrain participation and processes of ‘becoming’. Symbolic interactionist theories would suggest that notions of what and who you are, as well as what and who you are not, only become meaningful and significant through interaction with others. When social anthropological and symbolic interactionist conceptualisations of boundaries are brought together they can help us understand how people come to form into collective groups, groups that construct shared meanings through interaction. Symbolic boundaries, group life or how ‘people do things together’ (Becker 1986), are interactional resources that groups draw upon to create their own boundaries. These notions offer a fruitful way to explore the relationship between the individual and the group, and the divisions between ‘us and them’ found in the empirical studies exploring the cultural night-lives of young people. Moreover, it may be that identifying as and ‘becoming a clubber’ may only acquire meaning in relation to and in contrast to those who do not identify as or become ‘clubbers’.

Andrew Marvells To His Coy Mistress Essay -- Poem Poet Coy Mistress M

Andrew Marvell's To His Coy Mistress Andrew Marvell writes an elaborate poem that not only speaks to his coy mistress but also to the reader. He suggests to his coy mistress that time is inevitably ticking and that he (the speaker) wishes for her to act upon his wish and have a sexual relationship. Marvell simultaneously suggest to the reader that he/she must act upon their desires, to hesitate no longer and  ³seize the moment?before time expires. Marvell uses a dramatic sense of imagery and exaggeration in order to relay his message to the reader and to his coy mistress. The very first two lines of the poem suggest that it would be fine for him and his mistress to have a slow and absorbing relationship but there simply isn ¹t enough time. He uses exaggerations such as  ³Love you ten years before the Flood?and  ³An hundred years should go to praise?  ³Two hundred to adore each breast; But thirty thousand to the rest.? These exaggerations imply that the speaker would wait many many years until his coy mistress was ready, but there isn ¹t enough time. The reader can also visualize the deep love the speaker contains for his coy mistress through the imagery. For example, the speaker suggests that his vegetable love should grow, and vegetables only get larger and more ripe as they grow, analogous to his love, but vegetables grow very slow. His love is so great that it would grow  ³vaster than empires, and more slow? meaning that if there was enough time, his love for her would be i...

Social Media and Violence

Why are so many young people turning to prescription drugs to get high? By survey, almost 50% of teens believe that taking prescription drugs is much safer than using illegal street drugs. Prescription drug abuse is a major issue that does not seem to be moving towards a solution. There's a reason why prescription drugs are intended to be taken under a doctor's direction if people don’t use them as they are to be taken, they can be extremely dangerous. Despite what many people think, abusing prescription drugs is not safer than abusing illicit drugs.The facts do state that prescription drugs can have dangerous short and long-term health consequences when used incorrectly or by someone other than they were intended for. Medicines are drugs that are intended to speed up or slow down or change something about the way your body is working, to try to make it work better. Sometimes they are necessary. But they are still drugs: they act as stimulants or sedatives, and too much can ki ll you. So if you do not use medicines as they are supposed to be used, they can be as dangerous as illegal drugs.People take drugs because they want to change something in their lives. Here are some of the reasons young people have given for taking drugs: * To fit in * To escape or relax * To relieve boredom * To seem grown up * To rebel * To experiment Young people think drugs are a solution. But eventually the drugs become the problem. To some it may be difficult to face problems, the consequences of drug use are always worse than the problem a person is trying to solve with them. The real answer is to get the facts and not to take drugs in the first place.Something that is not known by most young people is the risk they are taking by consuming these highly potent and mind altering drugs. Long term use of painkillers can lead to dependence, even for people who are prescribed them to relieve a medical condition but eventually get caught up in an addiction. In many cases, the dange rs of painkillers don’t surface until it is too late. In 2007, abuse of the painkiller Fentanyl killed more than 1,000 people. The drug was found to be thirty to fifty times more powerful than heroin. Association, 2012) Prescription painkillers are powerful drugs that interfere with the nervous system’s transmission of the nerve signals we perceive as pain. Most painkillers also stimulate portions of the brain associated with pleasure. So, while blocking pain, they produce a high. The most powerful prescription painkillers are called opioids. They are manufactured to react on the nervous system in the same way as drugs made from the opium poppy, like heroin. The most commonly abused opioid painkillers include oxycodone- is the number one abused prescription drug and has the greatest dangers.It is as powerful as heroin and affects the nervous system the same way, hydrocodone, meperidine, hydromorphone and propoxyphene. (htt2) According to the National Center on Addictio n and Substance Abuse at Columbia University, teens who abuse prescription drugs are twice as likely to use alcohol, five times more likely to use marijuana, and twelve to twenty times more likely to use illegal street drugs such as heroin, ecstasy and cocaine than teens who do not abuse prescription drugs. (Association, 2012)What is our government doing to help? In 2011 the Obama Administration with the help of the National Drug Control Strategy came up with a prescription drug abuse prevention plan and is as follows. * Education. A crucial first step in tackling the problem of prescription drug abuse is to educate parents, youth, and patients about the dangers of abusing prescription drugs, while requiring prescribers to receive education on the appropriate and safe use, and proper storage and disposal of prescription drugs. * Monitoring.Implement prescription drug monitoring programs (PDMPs) in every state to reduce â€Å"doctor shopping† and diversion, and enhance PDMPs t o make sure they can share data across states and are used by healthcare providers. * Proper Medication Disposal. Develop convenient and environmentally responsible prescription drug disposal programs to help decrease the supply of unused prescription drugs in the home. * Enforcement. Provide law enforcement with the tools necessary to eliminate improper prescribing practices and stop pill mills. (htt4)Prescription drug addiction is a huge problem and appears to be growing. All people of life are affected by prescription drug abuse. Drug abuse in any form is a very serious issue and should be addressed as quickly as possible. http;//kidshealth. org/teen/drug_alcohol/drugs/prescription_drug_abuse. html http://www. theantidrug. com/drugabuse/prescription-drug-rx-abuse/default. aspx http://www. whitehouse. gov/ondcp/prescription-drug-abuse Association, A. p. (2012). School Librarian's Workshop, 32(4), 6. In Dealing with drugs.

Warren G. Harding - 29th President of the United States