TEENAGERS SUBCULTURES IN NAUKOVA ZMINA

By Anastasia SHUMAN and Maria TROKOZ, Group 45-Ph The purpose of this report is to present the findings of the survey into teenagers preferences. The information was collected from a group of thirty-five pupils aged 15-17 at the Naukova Zmina Lyceum. As we know, every person on this planet wants to be self-expressed. But different people do this in different ways. It depends of age, preferences in music, food, movies and of course the persons lifestyle. This survey aimed at studying the most spread subcultures among teenagers. There are a lot of hipsters nowadays. And just about half of people we interviewed (17 of them) said that they are supposed to be hipsters. However, nearly 40% (11 persons) said they are just simple people i.e. they do not think that they belong to any particular subculture. And there is also the third group of people (7 of the polled, 20%), which like the grunge style. The word hipster refers to a subculture of young, recently settled urban middle class adults and older teenagers that appeared in the 1990s (on the right). The subculture is associated with independent music, a varied non-mainstream fashion sensibility, liberal or independent political views, alternative spirituality or atheism/agnosticism, and alternative lifestyles. Interests in media include independent film, magazines such as the Clash, and websites like the Pitchfork Media. Their appearance is more or less neat, though they tend to combine garments from different styles (e.g. canvas trainers, skin-tight jeans and ties). People who belong to the grunge style (on the left) are used to being dressed in casual clothes, comfortable and scruffy. People tend to wear multilayer clothes with lots of rents like Kurt Cobain or Johnny Depp. Their spiritual level varies. It may be concluded that hipsters and grunge dominate the subcultures scene of our educational establishment, being backed up by a large group of independent young people not belonging to any particular subculture. Such results could have been expected since the Naukova Zmina Lyceum focuses on educating intellectually oriented middle-class teenagers with particular emphasis on developing their independent thinking. 40% of the polled have a positive attitude to hair being dyed in bright colors, such as green or blue, but only 15% of those are ready to dye their own hair.

Insolent and provocative appearance is risky. You can have defiant look only if you not afraid of other peoples attitudes. Not surprisingly, only 30% are ready to put on something REALLY weird. 95% answered, that their parents were satisfied by their childrens choices. 67% answered, that their choices positively influence their lives. 13% did not understand the question and 20% were not pleased by their choices. Some of them are afraid of doing something offbeat or strange, but would like to try. Only 10% answered that subculture is just a persons appearance. The rest 90% said that each subculture has its own religion. To sum up I want to say that our survey helps to understand that there are lots of different opinions and most of people behave predictably and dress up in a usual way, but each of them is a precious unique personality.