From a Monolithic Mass to Unbridled Individualism? The Meaning of Consumption in the Everyday Lives of 'Mainstream Youth'

Abstract

This article deals with the concept of `mainstream youth' in the contextof late modernity The sociology of youth has traditionally operated fromtwo distinct perspectives concerned with either,youth transitions'or,youth (sub) cultures'. This polarisation has led to the neglect ofthe experience of mainstream youth, who cannot be easily pigeon-holedinto the above categories. Drawing on a series of focus groups andsmall-group semi-structured interviews with 61 young people, the authorsanalysed young people's experience of consumption in the Czech Republic.Using the experience of young consumers, the research attempted tounderstand what it means to belong to the mainstream. The resultsindicate that belonging to the mainstream does not imply straightforwardcompliance with dominant power structures, but rather reflects a degreeof reflexivity in which young people challenge stereotypes of passiveconformism in complex and often paradoxical ways that are not yet wellaccounted for in the literature. The article suggests that the notion of`mainstream youth' offers some potential as a conceptual way ofunderstanding young people's relationship to social change in whatappears to be an increasingly individualised society. At the same time,this notion provides an alternative approach that challenges many of theassumptions underpinning the sociology of youth's conception ofconsumption.