Subculture

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A subculture is a group of people within a

hip-hoppers, metalheads, cosplayers, otaku, otherkin, furries, and more. The concept of subcultures was developed in sociology and cultural studies.[1] Subcultures differ from countercultures
.

Definitions

The Oxford English Dictionary defines subculture, in regards to sociological and cultural anthropology, as "an identifiable subgroup within a society or group of people, esp. one characterized by beliefs or interests at variance with those of the larger group; the distinctive ideas, practices, or way of life of such a subgroup."[2]

As early as 1950,

values".[3] In his 1979 book Subculture: The Meaning of Style, Dick Hebdige argued that a subculture is a subversion to normalcy. He wrote that subcultures can be perceived as negative due to their nature of criticism to the dominant societal standard. Hebdige argued that subculture brings together like-minded individuals who feel neglected by societal standards and allow them to develop a sense of identity.[4]

In 1995, Sarah Thornton, drawing on Pierre Bourdieu, described "subcultural capital" as the cultural knowledge and commodities acquired by members of a subculture, raising their status and helping differentiate themselves from members of other groups.[5] In 2007, Ken Gelder proposed to distinguish subcultures from countercultures based on the level of immersion in society.[6] Gelder further proposed six key ways in which subcultures can be identified through their:

  1. often negative relations to work (as 'idle', 'parasitic', at play or at leisure, etc.);
  2. negative or ambivalent relation to class (since subcultures are not 'class-conscious' and do not conform to traditional class definitions);
  3. association with territory (the 'street', the 'hood', the club, etc.), rather than property;
  4. movement out of the home and into non-domestic forms of belonging (i.e. social groups other than the family);
  5. stylistic ties to excess and exaggeration (with some exceptions);
  6. refusal of the banalities of ordinary life and massification.[6]

Sociologists Gary Alan Fine and Sherryl Kleinman argued that their 1979 research showed that a subculture is a group that serves to motivate a potential member to adopt the artifacts, behaviors, norms, and values characteristic of the group.[7]

History of studies

The evolution of subcultural studies has three main steps:[8]

Subcultures and deviance

The earliest sociological studies on subcultures came from the so-called

mainstream culture and, on the other, because of their adoption of alternative axiological and normative models. As Robert E. Park, Ernest Burgess, and Louis Wirth suggested, by means of selection and segregation processes, there thus appear in society "natural areas" or "moral regions" where deviant models concentrate and are re-inforced; they do not accept objectives or means of action offered by the mainstream culture, proposing different ones in their place—thereby becoming, depending on circumstances, innovators, rebels, or retreatists (Richard Cloward and Lloyd Ohlin
).

Subcultures, however, are not only the result of alternative action strategies but also of labelling processes on the basis of which, as

lower-class youths didn't have equal access to resources, resulting in the status of frustration, marginalization, and search for a solution.[10]

Subcultures and resistance

Elizabethan
styles

In the work of John Clarke,

mainstream culture. Facing a weakening of class identity, subcultures are then new forms of collective identification
, expressing what Cohen defined "symbolic resistance" against the mainstream culture and developing imaginary solutions for structural problems.

As

consumer goods for the mass society. At the same time the mass media, while they participate in building subcultures by broadcasting their images, also weaken subcultures by depriving them of their subversive content or by spreading a socially stigmatized image of them and their members.[11]

Subcultures and distinction

The most recent interpretations see subcultures as forms of distinction. In an attempt to overcome the idea of subcultures as forms of deviance or resistance, they describe subcultures as collectivities which, on a cultural level, are sufficiently homogeneous internally and heterogeneous with respect to the outside world to be capable of developing, as Paul Hodkinson points out, consistent distinctiveness, identity, commitment and autonomy. Defined by Sarah Thornton as taste cultures, subcultures are endowed with elastic, porous borders, and are inserted into relationships of interaction and mingling, rather than independence and conflict, with the cultural industry and mass media, as Steve Redhead and David Muggleton emphasize. The very idea of a unique, internally homogeneous, dominant culture is explicitly criticized. Thus forms of individual involvement in subcultures are fluid and gradual, differentiated according to each actor's investment, outside clear dichotomies. The ideas of different levels of subcultural capital (Sarah Thornton) possessed by each individual, of the supermarket of style (Ted Polhemus) and of style surfing (Martina Böse) replace that of the subculture's insiders and outsiders – with the perspective of subcultures supplying resources for the construction of new identities going beyond strong, lasting identifications.

Identifying

leather jackets, and blue jeans

The study of subcultures often consists of the study of symbolism attached to

argot.[12]

Trekkies are a subculture of Star Trek
fans.

Subcultures can exist at all levels of organizations, highlighting the fact that there are multiple cultures or value combinations usually evident in any one organization that can complement but also compete with the overall organisational culture.[13] In some instances, subcultures have been legislated against, and their activities regulated or curtailed.[14] British youth subcultures had been described as a moral problem that ought to be handled by the guardians of the dominant culture within the post-war consensus.[14]

Relationships with mainstream culture

hip hop subcultural
designs in a case of mainstream commercial cultural merging

It may be difficult to identify certain subcultures because their style (particularly clothing and music) may be adopted by mass culture for commercial purposes. Businesses often seek to capitalize on the subversive allure of subcultures in search of Cool, which remains valuable in the selling of any product.[15] This process of cultural appropriation may often result in the death or evolution of the subculture, as its members adopt new styles that appear alien to mainstream society.[16]

Music-based subcultures are particularly vulnerable to this process; what may be considered subcultures at one stage in their histories – such as

rave cultures – may represent mainstream taste within a short period.[17] Some subcultures reject or modify the importance of style, stressing membership through the adoption of an ideology which may be much more resistant to commercial exploitation.[18] The punk subculture's distinctive (and initially shocking) style of clothing was adopted by mass-market fashion companies once the subculture became a media interest. Dick Hebdige argues that the punk subculture shares the same "radical aesthetic practices" as the Dadaist and Surrealist
art movements:

Like Duchamp's 'ready mades' - manufactured objects which qualified as art because he chose to call them such, the most unremarkable and inappropriate items - a pin, a plastic clothes peg, a television component, a razor blade, a tampon - could be brought within the province of punk (un)fashion ... Objects borrowed from the most sordid of contexts found a place in punks' ensembles; lavatory chains were draped in graceful arcs across chests in plastic bin liners. Safety pins were taken out of their domestic 'utility' context and worn as gruesome ornaments through the cheek, ear or lip ... fragments of school uniform (white bri-nylon shirts, school ties) were symbolically defiled (the shirts covered in graffiti, or fake blood; the ties left undone) and juxtaposed against leather drains or shocking pink mohair tops.[19]

Urban tribes

"Urban tribe" redirects here. For the American musician, see Urban Tribe.

In 1985, French sociologist

corporate-bourgeoisie cultures, based on dispassionate logic. Maffesoli claims that punks are a typical example of an "urban tribe".[23] In the context of consumer culture, the notion of consumer tribes indicate ephemeral groups of individuals that often share a common interest and a share a subculture,[24] they often fluctuate around a common hobby or interest but lack permanent social bonds to become a brand community.[25]

Sexual and gender identity-based subcultures

Main article: Sexuality and gender identity-based cultures
Further information: Sexual fetishism and Sexual roleplay
The Stonewall Inn in the gay village of Greenwich Village, Manhattan, site of the June 1969 Stonewall riots, is adorned with rainbow pride flags.[26][27][28]

The sexual revolution of the 1960s led to a countercultural rejection of the established sexual and gender norms in the Western world, particularly in the urban areas of Europe, North and South America, Australia, and white South Africa. A more permissive social environment in these areas led to a proliferation of sexual subcultures—cultural expressions of non-normative sexuality. As with other subcultures, sexual subcultures adopted certain styles of fashion and gestures to distinguish themselves from mainstream Western culture.[29]

chubs are considered subcultures within the gay movement itself.[29] The butch and femme identities or roles among some lesbians also engender their own subculture with stereotypical attire, for instance drag kings.[29] A late 1980s development, the queer movement can be considered a subculture broadly encompassing those that reject normativity in sexual behavior, and who celebrate visibility and activism. The wider movement coincided with growing academic interests in queer studies and queer theory
.

Aspects of sexual subcultures can vary along other cultural lines. For instance, in the United States, down-low is a slang term specifically used within the African-American community[30] to refer to Black men who usually identify as heterosexual but actively seek sexual encounters and relations with other men, practice gay cruising, and frequently adopt a specific hip-hop attire during these activities.[29][31] They avoid sharing this information even if they have female sexual partner(s), they are married to a woman, or they are single.[32][33][34][35]

Social media

Further information: Internet culture

In a 2011 study, Brady Robards and Andy Bennett said that online identity expression has been interpreted as exhibiting subcultural qualities. However, they argue it is more in line with

Social networking websites are quickly becoming the most used form of communication and means to distribute information and news. They offer a way for people with similar backgrounds, lifestyles, professions or hobbies to connect. According to a co-founder and executive creative strategist for RE-UP, as technology becomes a "life force," subcultures become the main bone of contention for brands as networks rise through cultural mash-ups and phenomenons.[36] Where social media is concerned, there seems to be a growing interest among media producers to use subcultures for branding. This is seen most actively on social network sites with user-generated content, such as YouTube
.

Subcultures can be and have been successfully targeted by firms commercially. A stream of academic research in consumer culture shows the multiple ways in which companies and firms target subcultures with commercial offerings.[37][38]

Discrimination

Further information: Hate crime and Hate group

activists have denounced the occurrence of emo killings in Iraq, which consisted of between at least 6 and up to 70 teenage boys who were kidnapped, tortured, and murdered in Baghdad and elsewhere in Iraq, due to being targeted because they dressed in a "Westernized" emo style.[39][40]

See also

References

Citations

  1. ^ "What Is Subculture? – Theories, Definition & Examples – Video & Lesson Transcript". Study.com. Retrieved 2017-09-08.
  2. ^ "subculture". Oxford English Dictionary (Online ed.). Oxford University Press. (Subscription or participating institution membership required.)
  3. ^ Middleton 1990
  4. ^ Hebdige, Dick (1979). "Subculture: the meaning of style" (PDF).
  5. ^ Thornton 1995
  6. ^ a b Gelder 2007
  7. S2CID 144955053
    .
  8. ^ Berzano L., Genova C., Lifestyles and Subcultures. History and a New Perspective, Routledge, London, 2015 (part II)
  9. ^ Nwalozie, Chijioke J. (2015). "Rethinking Subcultures and Subculture Theory in the Study of Youth Crime _ A theoretical Discourse" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2018-12-23. Retrieved 2017-06-14.
  10. ^ Newburn, T. & Proquest, 2017. Criminology Third., Ann Arbor, Mich.]: ProQuest. pp. 210
  11. ISBN 9781137303806
    .
  12. ^ Hebdige 1981
  13. ^ Anheier, Helmut K., Stefan Toepler and Regina List, eds., International Encyclopedia of Civil Society, (Springer, 2010)
  14. ^ a b Hall, Stuart, Tony Jefferson, Resistance Through Rituals: Youth Subcultures in Post-War Britain (Routledge, 1993).
  15. ^ Howes, David. Cross-cultural consumption: global markets, local realities. New York: Routledge, 1996. Print.
  16. ^ Goldstein-Gidoni, Ofra. "Producers of 'Japan' in Israel: Cultural appropriation in a non-colonial context." Ethnos:Journal of Anthropology 68.3 (2003): 365. Print.
  17. ^ Blair, M. Elizabeth, "Commercialization of Rap Music Youth Subculture." Journal of Popular Culture 27.3 (1993): 21-33. Print.
  18. ^ Lewin, Phillip, J. Patrick Williams. "Reconceptualizing Punk through Ideology and Authenticity". Conference Papers--American Sociological Association. 2007 Annual Meeting, 2007.
  19. ^ Dick Hebdige p.106-12
  20. doi:10.1590/S0102-69092006000100012
    .
  21. ISBN 080398474X
    .
  22. ^ "'Urban tribes' thriving in modern society". Archived from the original on 2017-09-08. Retrieved 2017-09-08.
  23. ^ Maffesoli 1996
  24. S2CID 167613824
    .
  25. S2CID 216399732
    .
  26. ^ Goicichea, Julia (August 16, 2017). "Why New York City Is a Major Destination for LGBT Travelers". The Culture Trip. Retrieved February 2, 2019.
  27. ^ Rosenberg, Eli (June 24, 2016). "Stonewall Inn Named National Monument, a First for the Gay Rights Movement". The New York Times. Retrieved June 25, 2016.
  28. ^ "Workforce Diversity The Stonewall Inn, National Historic Landmark National Register Number: 99000562". National Park Service, U.S. Department of the Interior. Retrieved April 21, 2016.
  29. ^
    OCLC 922889305
    .
  30. ISBN 978-0-304-36636-1
    . Retrieved 2008-03-19. down low n. [1990s+] (US Black) a state of secrecy. down low adj. [1990s+] () covert, secret (i.e. keeping a low profile)
  31. S2CID 40119540
    .
  32. ^ King, J.L.; Courtney Carreras (April 25, 2006). "Coming Up from the Down Low: The Journey to Acceptance, Healing and Honest Love". Three Rivers Press. p. 36. Retrieved 2009-12-18.
  33. ^ Johnson, Jason (1 May 2005). "Secret gay encounters of black men could be raising women's infection rate". San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved 2009-12-18.
  34. ISBN 978-0-415-97687-9
    . Retrieved 2009-12-18.
  35. ^ Bennett, Jessica (May 19, 2008). "Outing Hip-Hop". Newsweek. Retrieved 2009-12-19.
  36. ^ Laurent Francois @lilzeon (2013-05-25). "Subcultures: Big Opportunity for Social Brands to Generate Value". Social Media Today. Retrieved 2017-10-19.
  37. S2CID 219027435
    .
  38. doi:10.1086/209434
    . Retrieved 2023-03-25.
  39. ^ a b Rasheed, Ahmed; Ameer, Mohammed (10 March 2012). "Iraq militia stone youths to death for "emo" style". Reuters. Archived from the original on 23 April 2022. Retrieved 1 July 2022.
  40. ^ a b "Iraqi 'emo' youths reportedly killed by conservative militias". BBC News. 11 March 2012. Archived from the original on 18 June 2022. Retrieved 1 July 2022.
  41. ^ a b Sedgwick, Mark (4 April 2013). "How are goths and emos defined?". BBC News. Archived from the original on 25 April 2022. Retrieved 1 July 2022.
  42. ^ a b "Attacks on goths, punks, and emos are 'hate crimes'". Channel 4 News. 4 April 2013. Archived from the original on 19 October 2021. Retrieved 1 July 2022.

Sources

External links

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