History 476

Devine

Spring 2016

                     

Study Questions for May 10-12

 

Kevin Mattson, “Did Punk Matter?”

 

  1. According to Mattson, how have the mass media described the punk movement? How have academics treated the movement?  In Mattson’s view, what is wrong with these treatments, including academic theories of subcultures? What is Mattson's approach to the punk youth subculture?

 

  1. According to Mattson, what are the bases, primary participants, and common features of the punk rebellion?

 

  1. How are the punk subculture and the mainstream political culture of the Reagan Era related?  Is one a response to the other?  Do they have certain similarities?

 

  1. What role did politics play in the punk subculture?

 

  1. Which are the general ideas shared by those who embrace the punk subculture?

 

  1. What are the limits of the punk youth rebellion? How does Mattson explain its demise?

 

 Rebecca Daugherty, “The Spirit of ‘77”

 

1.    How were women’s roles in the world of music constricted during the 1950s and 1960s?  What roles did they play?  How were they treated by male performers and industry executives?

 

2.    What impact did the emergence of punk have on young women?  How did female punks demonstrate their rejection of traditional notions about femininity?

 

Ilana Nash, “Hysterical Scream or Rebel Yell?”

 

1.    According to Ilana Nash, how did teenage girls who listened to Shawn Cassidy (and other teen idols) actually demonstrate more of a feminist consciousness than other girls in the “cool” group who listened to hard rock music?

 

2.    How does Nash answer the criticism that young girls idolized “androgynous” singers like Shawn Cassidy because they weren’t “ready for real boys”?