Youth Culture Research Articles

Youth Transition, Culture and Identity in Timor-Leste

Over the years, young people in Timor-Leste have faced difficulties accessing employment, and youth violence continues to rise. This study examines how historical events and social changes have shaped youth behaviour in Timor-Leste. It also explores the cultural representation and identity of youth who lived through periods of social turmoil and political tension. Additionally, the study addresses social issues that impact the transition of today's youth. Practical measures to improve the well-being of today's youth are crucial, including encouraging job accessibility, developing relevant youth policies, and enhancing youth-related activities.

The spirit of the book cafe: Kurdish-language activism and the contested values of youth and culture in Turkey

ABSTRACT This article deploys a semiotic anthropological analysis of value to understand the recent emergence and spread of the Kurdish book cafe, or pirtûk kafe, using it as a window into the changing state of Kurdish language-activism and Kurdish youth culture in Turkey. Drawing on ethnographic research and interviews with cafe owners, operators, and patrons, the article offers both an overview of the pirtûk kafe in contemporary Turkey and an analysis of its role in promoting Kurdish culture and the use of the Kurdish language among the country’s youth.

“Strike with visual bullets”: Digitalized deep play and floating emotional public sphere in the Bilibili bullet comments

The bullet comment refers to a real-time built-in comment system attached to online video services on the Chinese Internet. It provides a mechanism transforming online spectatorship into an “audiencing” experience. This study interviews 16 bullet comment users to explore the digital media practices in bullet comments. We argue that the “audiencing” subjects are involved as players in the imagined communities through emotional invitations, implicit cultural “contract,” and diverse textual hijacking strategies. It is a digitalized subject deep play with the stake of cultural interpretation mastery. Based on space discourse deep play, the bullet comment forms a floating emotional public sphere through the flexible technological infrastructure, sustained subject involvement mechanisms, adaptable playing strategies, and a strategic discourse evolution. Its openness helps youth generate a sense of place to express their subjectivities in response to social pressures and paternalistic rhetoric in an alternative manner. This study provides a new perspective on the Chinese youth culture and online public sphere research.

Peran Pemerintah dalam Pelestarian Kesenian Ludruk di Surabaya

Ludruk is a native East Javanese folk art originating from Jombang, but is also a typical Surabaya cultural mascot. Ludruk is a traditional drama performed by an arts group on a stage based on stories about people's daily lives. Ludruk art is part of East Java's rich and unique cultural heritage. Its preservation is important to maintain local cultural identity which can be a valuable asset for the community, due to the threat of loss and extinction. Ludruk is not only an artistic performance, but is also part of social life and preserving the community's identity can help strengthen a sense of solidarity and pride in local culture. . By choosing this topic, researchers can make a meaningful contribution to efforts to preserve and promote the desirability of ludruk art for the future. This research method is descriptive qualitative by collecting primary data through in-depth interviews and observations from related informants. Based on the research results that: 1. The role of the Surabaya City Culture, Youth and Sports and Tourism Department (Disbudporapar) as a regulator, plays a significant role in supporting arts and cultural activities in the preservation of ludruk art, ensuring that this traditional art remains alive and growing among young generation in ASPK policy.2. The role of the Department of Culture, Youth and Sports and Tourism of the City of Surabaya (Disbudporapar) as a facilitator, currently there is still a lack of support and facilities, allowing regeneration, regeneration of ludruk artists to be slow, competition with modern media, limited training: training programs are often undirected and inconsistent. 3. The role of the Department of Culture, Youth and Sports and Tourism of the City of Surabaya (Disbudporapar) as a dynamist, has been running well, but the current condition is that many ludruk groups in Surabaya have arts registration marks (TDK) and are registered at Disbudporapar. However, many of them have already died and Ludruk performances currently only rely on invitations from the Surabaya City Youth and Sports Culture Service (Disbudporapar).

The reflection of generation Z of leisure practices in Chinese audiovisual media: An analysis based on the YouTube platform

This study explores the reflection of Generation Z leisure culture in Chinese audiovisual media, with a focus on the YouTube platform. As China’s Generation Z becomes a key demographic in shaping digital and media consumption patterns, their leisure practices reflect a unique fusion of local and global influences. Through an analysis of content on YouTube, this research examines how audiovisual media portrays the leisure activities of Chinese Generation Z, including entertainment, social interaction, and self-expression. By investigating the cultural narratives and visual strategies used to engage this generation, the study reveals how YouTube serves as a platform for identity formation, a strong sense of national identity, and pride in Chinese traditional culture among Chinese Gen Z audiences. The findings contribute to understanding the broader impact of digital platforms on leisure habits and media discourse in contemporary China, highlighting the transformative role of audiovisual media in shaping youth culture. It also plays a significant cultural education function, enhancing the positive perception of Chinese culture on the international stage and elevating China's image.

The newsworthiness of Gu Ailing: a comparative critical discourse analysis of Chinese and American media reports

Integrating discursive news values analysis and the discourse historical approach, this study compares the discursive construction of newsworthiness in the Chinese and American media’s reportage of the controversial US-born athlete Gu Ailing (or Eileen Gu), who chose to compete for China in the 2022 Beijing Olympic Games. It is found that the Chinese media associated Gu with grand narratives of the attraction of Chinese culture, the national image of supporting talents’ self-realization, and the propagation of a diversified youth culture. The American media, by contrast, mainly focused on representing Gu’s affinity with China as serving a country with different political systems and values. The present study demonstrates how a synthesis of discursive news values analysis and the discourse historical approach can enable discourse analysts to delineate news-value construing praxis through a critical ideological lens.

“Everyone Does Cocaine”: The Impact of Normalization on Practices of Club Drug Use and Risk Management

Background: While many have argued that recreational drug use is becoming increasingly normalized within youth culture, little has been done to explore what this means for risk management. Methods: Drawing on 2 years of ethnographic research with people who use club drugs in the Toronto Electronic Dance Music scene, this study explores how normalization impacts risk-taking and risk management practices of club drug use. Results: It finds that the relationship is complex, as normalization both facilitates and hinders the adoption of risk management practices. The nuances of this relationship are explored by focusing on three key themes: expectation of use, moderation of use, and sharing of risk information and advice. Conclusion: The findings are interpreted with reference to Rhodes’ “risk environment” framework and with particular attention to the need for harm reduction interventions that consider how risk behaviors are shaped by broader social and cultural contexts.

Współczesny człowiek w młodomowie (rekonesans badawczy na materiale Obserwatorium Języka i Kultury Młodzieży)

The article aims to conduct a qualitative and quantitative analysis of the lexis related to human collected on the website of the Observatory of Youth Language and Culture. The linguistic material obtained from the Observatory’s database covers data from 1 May 2021 to 11 September 2023. It comprises 389 lexical units, constituting a database of dictionary entries, of which 189 units represent the semantic domain HUMAN. In addition to the analysis of vocabulary reported or used by teenagers, the article describes pragmatic contexts related to the understanding, function and modification of new meanings. For this purpose, a corpus of 28,482 words was collected, consisting of 1,842 examples of the use of structures from the Observatory. The analysis of the material confirmed the existence of categorization schemes created during youth interactions.

Body, image, and digital technology in adolescence and contemporary youth culture.

The physical, psychological and social changes that occur during adolescence constitute a physiological crisis that is necessary for development and growth. The establishment of a suitable "self-image" is important for facilitating harmonious psychophysical development during this time. In the current era, digital technology (DT) serves as an extraordinary means of communication for young people, who make significant use of images as a mode of expression. Accordingly, there is growing interest in the relationship between physical development, self-image and use of DT. A review of the published literature on the topic was carried out in April 2024. Fourteen studies (n = 14) were inclused from search of electronic databases such as PubMed, CINAHL, PsycInfo, MedLine, and Cochrane Library. The aim of this study is to explore the influence of (DT) on cultural models of adolescent body image, and how this "social" culture can affect wellbeing and development. It was considered that the rise of DT and social media (SM) emphasized in young people the culture of appearance, adherence to ideal models (thinness ideal) and social comparison at an unprecedented level. It was estimated that the digital mechanism works on the adolescent's vulnerability and stimulates the desire for experimentation and amplifies cultural beliefs that expose the young to deviant or pathological behaviors on the body. The use of digital images emphasizes the perception of self by making it more real and alive but empty of content. Our framework highlights that the adolescent can defend himself if he leaves the homologation that the SM condition, regains his own experiences, fill with emotional content and real life the images and the representation of the body.

Small town markets and crowded buses: Later‐generation Australian–Hungarian ‘diaspora backpackers’ narrate their journey to Hungary

AbstractIn this article, I examine the ‘homecoming’ experiences of young second‐ and third‐generation Australian‐Hungarians. The aim of the paper is to challenge the compartmentalisation of tourism and migration studies by exploring how these two phenomena intertwine, merge, and influence one another in multiple and fluid ways. Specifically, I attempt to merge the two disciplines by analysing the meta‐narratives that have influenced Australian‐Hungarian youngsters' experiences in Hungary. In particular, I argue that, alongside images internalised in the diaspora, interlocutors heavily rely on a popular Western backpacker discourse. I demonstrate the ways in which these two meta‐narratives are in conflict while at the same time closely inter‐related. Specifically, I look at the ways in which the notion of authenticity and the idea of ‘traveller hierarchy’ are borrowed from backpacker discourse, and through them diasporic themes are targeted and deconstructed. I refer to these youngsters as ‘diaspora backpackers’ to indicate that their journeys are influenced by both diaspora life and contemporary youth culture.

The Study about the Impact of Douyin on Youth Culture and Consumption Behavior

This paper explores the significant influence of Douyin on youth culture and consumption behavior. Through a detailed case discussion and analysis of theoretical perspectives, it highlights the tension between content homogenization and multicultural expression. This tension is driven by personalized content tailored specifically for individual users, with core processes revolving around big data analytics and algorithmic recommendation systems. These systems raise ethical considerations in influencer marketing. The study reveals that the platform’s phenomenally popular cultural content amplifies the influencer economy and intensifies societal phenomena, such as the spectacle of society, which impact the cultural identity and consumption preferences of young people. The paper offers a series of recommendations based on these insights. Firstly, it suggests strategies for content diversification to combat the homogenization trend and promote a richer tapestry of cultural expression. Secondly, it emphasizes the need to reinforce ethics in influencer marketing to ensure that young audiences are not exploited or misled. Lastly, it advocates for measures to mitigate the negative impacts of the Society of the Spectacle on youth culture and consumer behavior. These recommendations aim to cultivate a more balanced digital ecosystem and facilitate a healthier and more democratic communicative environment. By implementing these strategies, Douyin can foster a platform that supports diverse cultural expressions while protecting and empowering its young users.

Research On the Impact of Pop Music In 2000s Films: Shaping Youth Culture Through Soundtracks

This research delves into the profound impact of pop music on youth-oriented films of the 2000s, examining aspects such as cultural representation, emotional connection, and financial gains. The introduction underscores the critical importance of this topic in understanding how media shapes youth culture and influences societal perceptions. By focusing on iconic films like "High School Musical" and "Mean Girls," the study illustrates how pop music is used to enrich narratives and captivate audiences, making it an integral part of the storytelling process. The analysis reveals several key issues, including cultural homogenization, the reinforcement of stereotypes, and the prioritization of commercialization over artistic integrity. These challenges highlight the need for a more thoughtful integration of music in films to avoid superficial portrayals and promote authenticity. To address these issues, the research recommends expanding the range of musical themes to reflect diverse cultures and experiences, breaking away from stereotypes to foster more nuanced character portrayals, and balancing commercial objectives with creative expression in future film productions. The conclusion emphasizes the significance of this research in guiding media practices toward greater cultural diversity in youth-oriented entertainment. By adopting these recommendations, filmmakers can create richer, more diverse content that resonates emotionally with audiences while also contributing positively to the cultural landscape.

Marketing a (high school) musical on TikTok

This article explores the intersections between TikTok, musical theatre and youth cultures. Since its international debut in 2017, TikTok has become closely associated with teenagers and twenty-somethings who use the social media platform as a critical site to create, present and experience identities and generational culture at large. Musical theatre has been central to this cultural work. Teenage theatre makers, for example, use TikTok as a marketing tool that can be replicated by professional theatre companies and productions. I present an autoethnographic account of my work with high school students to market an all-school production of the musical Grease and use the experience to question the ways emerging digital platforms such as TikTok inform new, accessible ways of collaborating, experiencing, appreciating, conceptualizing and documenting musical theatre.

Innovative local authority public health interventions to support the mental health of children and young people

PurposeMental health champions (MHCs) and young health ambassadors (YHAs) are two innovative public health interventions. MHCs are practitioners who work in schools and other youth settings and aim to be the “go to” person for mental health in these settings. YHAs are a linked parallel network of young people, who champion mental health and advocate for youth involvement, which was co-produced with young people across all stages of development implementation. This paper aims to identify the potential benefits, barriers and facilitators of these interventions.Design/methodology/approachSemi-structured qualitative interviews (n = 19) were undertaken with a purposive sample of n = 13 MHCs, and n = 6 YHAs, between June 2021 and March 2022. Interviews were audio-recorded, transcribed, anonymised and then analysed following a thematic approach. Ethical approval was granted by Newcastle University’s Faculty of Medical Sciences Ethics Committee.FindingsThe findings are organised under five key themes: motivating factors and rewards for MHCs and YHAs; outcomes for children and young people (CYP) and others; impact on youth settings and culture; facilitators of successful implementation; and implementation challenges and opportunities.Practical implicationsThese findings are intended to be of relevance to practice and policy, particularly to those exploring the design, commissioning or implementation of similar novel and low-cost interventions, which aim to improve mental health outcomes for CYP, within the context of youth settings.Originality/valueThe interventions reported on in the present paper are novel and innovative. Little research has previously been undertaken to explore similar approaches, and the individual experiences of those involved in the delivery of these types of interventions.

Erika Nelson Pazian. Review of "Voices in Aerosol: Youth Culture, Institutional Attunement, and Graffiti in Urban Mexico" by Caitlin Frances Bruce.

Erika Nelson Pazian. Review of "Voices in Aerosol: Youth Culture, Institutional Attunement, and Graffiti in Urban Mexico" by Caitlin Frances Bruce.

The Subcultures Network. Let's Spend the Night Together: Sex, Pop Music and British Youth Culture, 1950s–80s Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2023. Pp. 336. $150.00 (cloth).

The Subcultures Network. Let's Spend the Night Together: Sex, Pop Music and British Youth Culture, 1950s–80s Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2023. Pp. 336. $150.00 (cloth).

In Defense of Imagination: Canadian Youth Culture and the Dungeons & Dragons Panic in Canada, 1980–1995

Dungeons & Dragons (D&D), the iconic tabletop role-playing game released in 1974, sparked controversy from its early inception. This article examines the emergence of moral panic around D&D, particularly in the United States and Canada during the early 1980s. It explores how concerned groups, such as Bothered Against Dungeons & Dragons, portrayed the game as a corrupting influence on American youth. Focusing on the spread of panic into Canada, this article investigates the role of American media in shaping Canadian perceptions. This study highlights questions about transnational cultural influence and the impact of media on societal norms. Was the moral panic primarily a result of American cultural influence, or was there tangible evidence linking D&D to real-world violence in Canada? Through analysis of media representation and cultural discourse, this article seeks to shed light on these complex dynamics and to highlight moments of youth resistance to narratives of moral panic.

From Ong to idols: hyper-real religions, spiritual practices, and popular culture among Thai youth

ABSTRACT This paper employs Adam Possamai’s concept of “hyper-real religions” to argue that Thai youth are utilizing various spaces to blend different faiths and popular cultures, and synergizing with consumerism to shape a novel manifestation of “religion.” In Thai communities, spiritual practices and mediumship are interwoven into communal dynamics, often supporting local Buddhist institutions. Kitiarsa presented the journey of becoming a medium, which involves physical symptoms, negotiations with spirits, and eventual acceptance. This study explores the notion of “Ong” within contemporary youth culture and analyzes glocalized beliefs among Thai spiritual practitioners on digital platforms through online practice, questionnaires, and interviews. Unlike historical views where Ong bestowed supernatural abilities, contemporary practitioners perceive themselves as empowered to choose. They amalgamate multiple religions and pop culture to make spiritual practices more relatable while acknowledging their embedded political implications. The paper comprises sections on Thai religious practice, hyper-real religions, commodification of faith, de-westernization of tarot reading, integration of Hinduism, and K-Pop’s impact on Thai youth spirituality.

Reinterpretation of Mythological Characters in Youth Culture

The article deals with the specifics of modern reinterpretation of mythological characters, as well as its representation in youth culture. Mythological subjects and their heroes remain attractive for the creative sphere for many centuries. For young people, immersion in mythology allows them to develop constructive solutions to many issues, to recreate a positive picture of the world through the eternal idea of the triumph of good and justice reflected in ancient texts. It is the reinterpretation approach to the reading of world-famous works that allows us to use a wide range of myth. For example, the interest in the myths of European society in the second half of the 20th century is due to the fact that this time is associated with the threat of the outbreak of nuclear war and, as a consequence, with constant uncertainty and the simultaneous desire of each person for a life-affirming and immutable basis, such as the classical one. The evolution of representations of myth in culture has led to the emergence of reinterpretations of the original source, making some of them popular, including with youth audiences.In the 21st century, other mythological images have emerged in accordance with the challenges of the time, which we consider as cultural products of a new level, characterized not only by an appeal to the classical text, but also by a commercial component. The article provides several examples of how the new artistic presentation of mythological characters is reflected in modern mass youth culture — in literature, video games and cinema. The modern interpretation of the tales of ancient civilizations is based on the cultural preferences of mass viewers: the images of myths can be canonical or modernized, but in any case universal. The process of giving new meaning to myths familiar from the school days from an unexpected (nonclassical) side has been repeatedly discussed in the scientific cultural field.The relevance of reinterpretation of mythological characters in youth culture is due to the desire of the new generation not only to rethink the cultural heritage, but also to get in touch with it.

Adaptive responses to contextualised and differentiated school improvement. Identifying institutional profiles of secondary schools

ABSTRACT This paper reports a qualitative multiple case study of secondary schools that experienced sustained processes of quality improvement. We aimed to analyse the heterogeneity in school improvement processes and identify the factors and conditions contributing to this variation. We identified six dimensions to characterize different approaches to high school improvement: curriculum comprehensiveness, student selection/inclusion, student participation and youth cultures, leadership distribution, community openness, and market situation. Based on our cross-case analysis, we proposed an empirically grounded typology composed by four high school profiles: i) traditional academically oriented public high schools; ii) comprehensive high schools from small communities; iii) restrictive metropolitan popular high schools; and iv) vocational high schools. We show the implications of this typology for understanding how high schools actively relate to both their contexts and educational policy, and ‘translated’ these external pressures into idiosyncratic responses. We found that key educational decisions such as curricular approaches and the various emphases placed on learning by high schools, the type of organisational leadership or degree of openness to youth participation, were linked to more structural decisions made by schools regarding their position in the local educational market, their degree of selectivity, and the type of relationships established with their environment.