It has been argued that the 'youth culture' that began in the 1960s was the product of manipulation of impressionable young people by commercial interests, that youth culture is really no more than the range of products available specifically for the young. Although it is undoubtedly true that many adult entrepreneurs were eager to exploit the youth market, to accept this extreme view would be to deny the quite unprompted emergence of groups with their own distinctive styles. Others have tried to explain youth subcultures, not in terms of mindless consumption but in terms of genuine style innovation, and the generation of styles which 'say' something about the social and economic conditions in which those young people live, their experiences and their aspirations. Style innovation, it is argued, takes place when groups of young people take already existing commodities, ordinary consumer objects, put them into a new context and endow them with a new meaning. They rearrange them in a pattern which reflects their values and aspirations — not that of their makers. Youth cultures in general are about leisure, having a good time and looking good. They are about friendships and group activities, not about work or how to change the conditions in which you live. To a large extent, youth cultures pretend the 'real' world of routine jobs, failure at school, etc., does not exist. But it is also argued that in youth cultures, such real life experiences and aspirations of social groups are symbolized and put into the language of style.