Traditionally, studies of youth culture have focused on solving the 'problems tha t young people are seen to have, or to create. It has been usual for social research to view youth as a relatively unimportant developmental stage between childhood and adulthood. Recently however, this view has begun to change, most notably in the UK and Scandanavia, where youth is now more commonly being studied as an important and distinct stage of life in its own right. Irish research has been slow to change from the more established problem-centred view of youth. There is a danger that the opinions of Irish decision-makers such as politicians, parents and teachers are formed largely in relation to research and reporting of unusual (problem) youth. This study is step towards creating a more accurate picture of the social realities of young Irish people. In addition to comparing the media use of Irish young people in 1985 and 2000, this work investigates the relationship between a sample of contemporary Irish youth and the increasingly globalised mass media which they consume. To this end, 373 students aged between 15 and 17 (average age 16.0) completed a questionnaire designed to discover whether there was empirical evidence for two hypotheses: Hypothesis A - That the media-related socialisation patterns of Irish youth have changed significantly over the past 15 years. Hypothesis B - That Irish youths' current patterns of media consumption are independently correlated with ideological modes of thought. Both hypotheses were supported. Comparing the group surveyed in 2000 to the 1985 sample, several changes in patterns of media use emerged. A number of these were predictable, coinciding with the technological advancements that had occurred between the time of the two surveys, but there were also some results which were not directly related to new technology. Most notable of these was an increase in the percentage of respondents who attended the cinema weekly, from 3.1% in 1985 to 24.1% in 2000. These results correspond with Eurostat (2001) figures showing tha t Irish people now attend the cinema more than any other nationality in the EU. There was also a relative increase in the popularity of commercial radio and an increased autonomy in television viewing patterns. A number of trends emerged with certain media uses being correlated with subjects having particular views of their social world. Groups labelled 'Music lovers', 'Readers' and 'Cinema-goers' where found to have measurably distinct views on issues such as gender representation and multiculturalism. All of the results are discussed in the contcxt of a detailed review of literature which defines the key concepts used in this work, both for the current study and for any future research which draws on the results presented herein.