To what extent is there a gap between sociological and cultural Essay

To what extent is there a gap between sociological and cultural studies of youth can these ever be bridged - Essay Example The United Nations (UNESCO) officially‘†¦ defines youth as people between the ages of 15 and 24 years inclusive’ (op. cit.). The popular view of youth as the period of rebelliousness is contrasted with childhood as one of acceptance of adult norms, and adulthood as the period of consolidation and conservatism. In Western societies it has been observed that increasingly, the years of childhood appear to shrink while the period of youth gets extended as the adoption of an adult identity becomes ever more delayed. Today young children are exposed to adult concerns through mass media and lose their childhood innocence much earlier than in previous epochs ‘There was now a sense that the end of childhood is happening quicker, and that the period of youth goes on longer‘(Report of the Workshop on Global Youth Media Culture -2004). The World Bank has concluded that on the whole, today’s youth (in industrially developed countries) as compared to their parents at a similar age, are: ‘†¦more likely †¦to be unemployed, ‘†¦ more likely than their parents to be living at home, †¦more likely †¦to be in full time education or training, †¦ less likely to be married’, and†¦Ã¢â‚¬â„¢less likely to have (had) their first child’ (h ttp://www.worldbank.org/devoutreach/spring02/article.asp.id=156). Human beings unlike other species in the animal kingdom do not merely live out their biological lifespan in a state of nature. Over millennia, they have built up civilizations with distinct cultures. Culture is all that which is transmitted from generation to generation in terms of language, norms, customs, practices, values and behaviours, which are essential to establish one‘s place in society as a contributing member. With scientific and technological advances in the West, resulting in the dominance of powerful multinational purveyors of popular culture such as