Contemporary culture refers to current cultural values comprising of social, political and economic aspects. Culture is a complex unique issue that comprises customs, beliefs and attitudes and differs from one society to another. Whereas every section of the society determines culture, it is right to claim that studying the trends of the youth will help in understanding contemporary culture. Culture passes on through one generation to another and people in the current generation gets exposed to new developing trends in the community but also exhibit traits and habits from previous generations. Whereas in America, the elderly may prefer homemade ethnic food the young prefers hot dogs and pizzas (Price et.al, 2004). Therefore, as much as it is necessary to consider the trend in culture present in the senior and middle aged people, we should also consider the new development in the society. The young people seem to influence contemporary culture through fashion, eating habits and development of various fields.
Arguably, culture keeps on changing and youth are more vivid and passionate. Therefore, their trends and beliefs are most noticed. The youth easily embraces change compared to the old evident in the way they think, wear and eat. However two cultures can coexist at the same time in the society as evidenced in the cultural habit of drinking tea in China. In China, people aged over 40 years prefer tea, whereas the youth prefer beverages such as Coke. However, the things prevalent in the youth will eventually dominate contemporary culture of the society. With time, fashion created by the youth become accepted by adults ending up as a key component of modern culture. For example, the youth are the first to get access to new music and enjoy it as a way of belonging (Scott, 2002). Therefore in order to understand contemporary culture regarding music we can analyze the youth music tastes and preferences
It is also evident that people in their twenties in most societies are passionate, innovative and willing to embrace change. The energy found in the youth is essential for culture to exist and grow. These innovations keep on shaping the cultural trends today and influences aspects such as business and open up avenues for information. A good example is the social network engines such as Twitter, Skype, and Facebook among others. Most of these innovations arose from young people, and the youth were the pioneer users. These innovations have influenced businesses as they have provided avenues for advertising and broadcast for news to the world.
However, a comprehensive understanding of this concept can be better understood through a totality study which analyses the entire population. In the study, contemporary culture should mainly focus on the youth who are the most active and energetic in the society. The old choose to follow customs and cultural beliefs without expressing it. Younger people tend to show their trends more than the old. These youthful subcultures influence cultural traits such as technology eating habits as well as how consumers use products and can be evaluated to reflect cultural changes over time (Campbell, 2005). A good understanding of contemporary culture requires careful analysis of both traditional and emerging customs and beliefs
Conclusively, culture is a difficult concept and a thorough understanding of contemporary culture requires thorough analysis of trends in its youth who dominate the society. In order to get an accurate understanding of contemporary culture, other sections of the society should not be ignored.
References
Campbell, C. (2005). The Craft Consumer: Culture craft and consumption in a postmodern society. Journal of consumer culture. 5:23.
Scott, B. (2002). One Tune No Longer Fits All. Young Consumers: insight and ideas for Responsible Marketers. 3:49-56
Price, L. L., Moisio, R. & Eric, J. A. (2004). Between Mothers and Markets: Constructing Family Identity through homemade food. Journal of consumer culture. 3:361
