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Are The Kids Alright? A Critique And Agenda For Taking Youth Subcultures Seriously, Jeffrey S. Debies-Carl

Sociology Faculty Publications

Researchers have long been fascinated with youth subcultures. Decades of study have yielded several competing paradigms, which attempt to interpret these subcultures in diverse ways, with each succeeding paradigm criticizing, and attempting to improve on, those that came before it. Rather than offering criticism of a specific youth studies paradigm, this article provides a critique of this body of theory as a whole by delineating several theoretical assumptions that have persisted across these perspectives. These include: (1) the tendency to group all youth phenomena under a monolithic conceptual umbrella; (2) a preoccupation on the part of researchers with style and …