SUBCULTURE & REPRESENTATIONS OF

GROUPS

What are subcultures?

What are subcultures?A group of people (usually but not exclusively) of the same age, social or economic status and ethnic background, that share a common value or political belief.

They identify themselves through fashion, music, symbolism, language and art as a way of expressing their ideology.

Which subculture are you?

By the end of this lesson…• All will be able to explain what youth

subcultures are by researching a specific subculture. (Grade D/C)

• Most will be able to understand how youth subcultures are represented in the media through analysis of a media text. (Grade C)

• Some will be able to apply Hebdige, Gelder and Thornton’s theories on youth subcultures to a specific media text. (Grade B/A)

A bit of background history…The Centre for Contemporary Cultural Studies (CCCS) was a research centre at the University of Birmingham.

Founded in 1964 it became known as the Birmingham School of Cultural Studies were their focus was on the representations of various groups in the mass media and the effects and interpretations of these representations on their audience.

Dick Hebdige

In his book, ‘Subculture and The Meaning of Style’, Hebdidge said that:

“a subculture is a group of like minded individuals who feel neglected by societal standards and who develop a sense of identity which differs to the dominant one to which they belong.”

Ken Gelder

In his book, ‘Subcultures: Cultural Histories and Social Practice’, Gelder suggest that there are six key ways in which subcultures can be identified…

1. Through their often negative relations to work (as 'idle’, at play or at leisure, etc.)

2. Through their negative or ambivalent relation to class (since subcultures are not 'class-conscious' and don't conform to traditional class definitions)

3. Through their association with territory (the 'street', the 'hood, the club, etc.), rather than property.

4. Through their movement out of the home and into non-domestic forms of belonging (i.e. social groups other than the family).

5. Through their stylistic ties to excess.6. Through their refusal of the banalities of

ordinary life.

Sarah Thornton

In her book, ‘Club Cultures: Music, Media and Subcultural Capital’, Thornton described subcultural capital as:

“the cultural knowledge and commodities acquired by members of a subculture, raising their status and helping differentiate themselves from other members of the groups.”

Mods

• Mod (from modernist) is a subculture that originated in London between the mid 1950s to mid 1960s predominantly in middle to working classes.

• They would meet in coffee bars and listen to R’n’B and blues music. • Rode scooters and wore tailored suits. Some ‘hard mods’ were seen

to be the predecessors of the skinhead subculture.• Many mods lived in economically depressed areas of South London

where many West Indian immigrants lived. The mods emulated the ‘rude boy’ look of pork pie hats, cropped levis and braces.

• The media represented them as loutish and yobs due to seaside riots in the 1960s with rivals ‘Rockers’

You now have two tasks to complete by the first half of this lesson...

Tick if done (Grade D/C)

Tick if done with theory and debate applied (Grade B/A)

Task 1 Carry out some historical research on your subculture using the Internet and be prepared to feedback this information in the form of a presentation in the second part of the lesson.

Task 2 Analyse the media text you have been given and discuss how the your subculture is represented. Is it positive? Negative? Fair? True? Be prepared to feedback this information in the form of a presentation in the second part of the lesson.

Be ready for the second half of the lesson...

• In the second part of this double lesson you will be presenting your two tasks to your peers who will also be assessing you with the same criteria.

• Each pair will have 10 minutes to show their text and present their two tasks.

• Remember you will gain the highest marks for applying theory and debate to your discussions.