Subculture

This article is about the social phenomenon. For the use of subcultures in biology, please see Subculture (biology).

As understood in sociology, anthropology and cultural studies, a subculture is a set of people with a distinct set of behaviour and beliefs that differentiate them from a larger culture of which they are a part. The subculture may be distinctive because of the age of its members, or by their race and/or gender, and the qualities that determine a subculture as distinct may be aesthetic, political, sexual or a combination of these factors. Subcultures are often defined via their opposition to the values of the larger culture to which they belong, although this definition is not universally agreed on by theorists.

According to key theorists of subculture such as Dick Hebdige, members of a subculture will often signal their membership through a distinctive and symbolic use of style. Therefore, the study of subculture often consists of the study of the symbolism attached to clothing, music and other visible affectations by members of the subculture, and also the ways in which these same symbols are interpreted by members of the dominant culture. If the subculture is characterized by a systematic opposition to the dominant culture, then it may be described as a counter culture.

More simply, subcultures are groups of individuals who, through a variety of methods (conspicuously clothing and behavior), present themselves in opposition to the mainstream trends of their culture. Their specifics vary immensely, and in fact many would find it appropriate to include groups as diverse as ravers, Nazi-Skinheads, BDSM fetishists, and Fundamentalist Christians under the category 'subculture'.

Studies of subcultures

Origins and usage of the term

As early as 1950, theorist David Riesman distinguished between a majority, "which passively accepted commercially provided styles and meanings, and a 'subculture' which actively sought a minority style (hot jazz at the time) and interpreted it in accordance with subversive values. Thus, according to Riesman, 'the audience...manipulates the product (and hence the producer), no less than the other way round' (Riesman 1950: 361). According to this theory, choices of entertainment become socially and politically significant - they create meaning for a distinct group of individuals.

When a member of a subculture "listens to music, even if no-one else is around, he listens in a context of imaginary 'others' - his listening is indeed often an effort to establish connection with them. In general what he perceives in the mass media is framed by his perception of the peer-groups to which he belongs. These groups not only rate the tunes but select for their members in more subtle ways what is to be 'heard' in each tune (ibid: 366)." This focus on music as a key aspect of subculture would lead on to the study of youth groups such as Teddy Boys, Mods, punks and Ravers.

Dick Hebdige

Dick Hebdige (1981) is often cited as the key theorist for the modern understanding of subcultures. Hebdige assessed subcultures in terms of their style, which he interpreted as a subculture's fashions, mannerisms, argot (see also slang, jargon, and polari), activities, music, and interests. Subcultural styles are distinguished from mainstream styles by being intentionally "fabricated" to create visual difference from the conventions of the dominant culture, ofthe through the use of symbols. Hebdige uses an example drawn from the experiences of French author Jean Genet, who recounts how he was arrested and searched by the French police. The tiny tube of vaseline in Genet's possession marked him out as a Homosexual in the eyes of the police, and Genet found he was able to draw pride from a symbol which created disgust in the eyes of the police, perceived as representatives of a disapproving dominant culture.

Hebidge considered punk subculture to share the same "radical aesthetic practices" as dada and surrealism: "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 encased 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." (p.106-12) Hebdige also went on to claim that punk was a celebration of "white ethnicity", a white reaction to such ethnic subcultures as rude boys. This claim fell under attack, especially since it was made when punk was still an active and young subculture. Hebdige later recognised his mistake.

Hebdige also worked on understanding the role of subcultures in youth experience, building on his work with punk to explore the practices of Reggae and 2 Tone music and its importance to British youth in his book Cut n Mix.

Later theorists

Many theorists would build on the work of Hebdige to produce the academic discipline of Cultural Studies, which often employed studies of subculture to explore the experiences and significance of individuals in terms of race, class and sexuality.

Sarah Thornton (1995), after Pierre Bourdieu (1986), 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. Roe (1990) uses the term symbolic capital.

References

Negus, Keith (1996). Popular Music in Theory: An Introduction. Wesleyan University Press. ISBN 0819563102.
Dick Hebidge (1979). Subculture: The Meaning of Style (Routledge, March 10, 1981; softcover ISBN 0415039495).
Roe, K. (1990). "Adolescents' Music Use", Popular Music Research. Sweden: Nordicom.
Thornton, Sarah (1995). Club Cultures: Music, Media, and Subcultural Capital. Cambridge: Polity Press.
Middleton, Richard (1990/2002). Studying Popular Music, p.155. Philadelphia: Open University Press. ISBN 0335152759.
- Riesman, David (1950). "Listening to popular music", American Quarterly, 2, p.359-71.