The Most Effective Way to Understand Contemporary Culture - Essay Example

? The Most Effective Way to Understand Contemporary Culture is to Analyze the Trends of Its Youth The Most Effective Way to Understand Contemporary Culture is to Analyze the Trends of Its Youth Falk and Falk (2005) define culture as the set of customs, values, and beliefs of people of a particular society. In other words, it is the way of life of a particular section of society, country, or class at any given time. However, history tells us that culture is not static rather an element which keeps changing as the emerging new beliefs and trends replace the older ones. This is true because most cultures that were exhibited in the last century are no longer practiced today as the new ones have replaced them. Nevertheless, Falk and Falk (2005) argue that a particular society may have more than one culture at any given time. At the same time, findings showed that youths are the most expressive when it comes to understanding the modern culture of a country or society (Moor, 2003). This makes me agree with the claim that to understand contemporary culture one needs to analyze the trends of its youth. To begin with, contemporary culture can be defined as the present culture exhibited by people of a given society as opposed inherited culture (Arvidsson, 2005). Some of the typical examples of contemporary culture include modern films, new arts, music, and literature among others. ‘Understanding culture,’ therefore, implies understanding the reasons behind the creation of these new cultures (Falk and Falk, 2005). Therefore, for us to understand culture, we must consider not only the obvious features expressed in the new culture but also the issues hidden in the new culture. A typical example can be drawn by looking at the new trends taking place in the music industry. Here, one can see clearly that the new trends being developed in the music industry has their origins from youths in society as noted by Arvidsson (2005). Take, for example, the hip-hop music, which has become a very common music among the youths of this generation. Certainly, hip-hop was not a type of music for the older generation rather has its roots from young people. As a result, one can conclude with certainty that contemporary culture reflects the trends of youths since they are created by youths. Arvidsson (2005) argues that young people are very flamboyant. As such, the beliefs and trends they follow are the most evident in society as opposed to that of the older generation. At the same time, evidence shows that when a given culture arises, it is them who accepts it first and adopt it as opposed to the older generation, which tend to be more conservative. This is another reason that suggests that the trends of the youth is critical to undemanding the contemporary culture. The fact that youths are normally open-minded makes it easy for them to be influenced easily by new cultures. Take for examples globalization that has become part of the modern culture. Falk and Falk (2005) note that today globalization has permeated all aspects of social life, with its impacts being felt mostly among youths. A case in point is the increasing popularity of foreign language teachers and colleges’ couples with the growing number of multilingual youths who have embraced the culture of traveling from one country to another and coming across different cultures (Moor, 2003). Here, one can easily see the globalization elements of contemporary culture. This example shows that one can easily understand the culture of today by analyzing movements of young people. A closer look at history also shows that most cultural revolutions originated from youth protests. The hippie movement of the 1960’s that began in the U.S. and later one spread to the rest of the world is a classical example of a cultural revolution, whose origin can be traced back to youth unrest according to Falk and Falk (2005). This movement is said to have been formed by youths due to frustrations they went through at the hands of the middle class who were increasingly focusing on materialism. Modern arts, as it is called also express the true aspirations of youths in society as a means of defining the world. The list of examples is many that clearly support the claim that one needs to analyze the youth trends so as to understand contemporary culture. Moor (2003) claims that culture is today a very important marketable commodity. In this regard, marketers argue that in order for a product to sell in the market there must be consumers willing to purchase the product. However, Moor (2003) also point out that the marketplace has changed significantly overtime stating that the present young people are the ones with high purchasing power. Therefore, it can be seen that modern culture is geared towards young people, which is also reflected in their trends. For example, it is obvious that most consumer ads of today are focusing mainly on the youths as opposed to the older generation because of their strong purchasing power. However, all that having been said, an effective understanding of contemporary culture needs to be analyzed in totality and not just focusing on the youth. This implies that the entire populations should be studied and trends analyzed by all member of society. This is because, as much as it may be true that young people are the most expressive of modern culture, and the modern culture is seen in their beliefs and behaviors, the old also form a large part of society and should also be taken into consideration as noted by Falk and Falk (2005). This is because the older generation has their own beliefs, customs and culture, which they prefer to follow without necessarily expressing in public (Moor, 2003). This is because the older generations are not flashy about their live as the youths are which makes it hard for their cultures to be observed in society. This means that giving a cold shoulder to the older generation by focusing only on young people, as the contemporary culture will make us myopic to half of the truth. In conclusion, it is true that, to have a better understanding of contemporary culture in society, one needs to analyze the trends of its youth. Nevertheless, the analysis need not just to focus on youths but also on the older generation since they also have their own culture, which may not be expressed in public. References Arvidsson, A. (2005). Brands: A critical perspective: Journal of Consumer Culture. 5; 235. Falk, G., & Falk, U.A. (2005). Youth culture and the generation gap. New York, NY: Algora Publishing. Moor, E. (2003). Branded Spaces: The scope of ‘new marketing.’ Journal of Consumer Culture. 3; 39. Read More