Subcultures,postsubcultures, and fans

Subculture is the way of life, customs, and ideas of a particular group of people within a society that is different from the rest of that society. For example, goth, emo, hip-hop, hippies, and skaters are types of subcultures. Social identity is regularly attached to the idea of "subculture," the members of which express their faithfulness by settling on particular and emblematic decisions in such things as dress, haircuts, and footwear. Different components, including common interests, slang, and tongues, musical genres and meeting places are likewise important elements.

Subcultures offer members a personality outside of the ones credited by social foundations, for example, work, family, home and school.

Subcultures may keep going for broad periods, similar to the punk or hip-jump movements, or blur away nearly when they are conceived. They might be centered around games, (for example, the surf or skateboard culture), literature (such as the Beat generation), fashion or religion (Rinehart and Sydnor, 2003). Every subculture has a distinctly singular style, with certain methods for dressing (clothing, shoes, hairstyles), talking (slang) and assembling (ravers at dance clubs, bikers at bars, and so on.

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). Subcultures are constantly joining and recombining old images in new ways, in a kind of kaleidoscope of youth legend and culture. Youth identity itself moves to work together with these genre changes (Damrell, 1978).

This paper will look at youth subcultures, specifically clubbers. Oxforddictionaires.com (2013) defines the term 'youth' as "the period between childhood and adult age". However, there is no standardized definition of 'youth', as the term 'youth' is subject to cultural, social and political changes.

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Therefore many theorists argue that 'youth' is a social construction (and will differ between cultures). And youth subcultures can be defined as "meaning systems, modes of expression or lifestyles developed by groups in subordinate structural positions in response to dominant systems, which reflect their attempt to solve structural contradictions rising from the wider societal context" (Brake, 1985). The term can also refer to specific subsets of a subculture, that is, sub-subcultures, or "scenes," which are largely geographical, such as the London goth scene or the American drum and bass scenes. Scenes tend to be volatile, purposely marginal and tribal, with some members acting elitist towards those considered to be less fashionable, and with an overall oppositional attitude towards the culture at large (Thornton, 1995).

Sarah Thornton (1995) portrayed "club culture" as a subculture that included adolescents who often visited raves and dance clubs from the late 1980s to the mid-1990s. Thornton (1995) wrote in her study that during the 1990s it turned out to be increasingly hard to recognize singular subcultures among youngsters. There were various new and distinctive patterns that affected dress, socializing and drug usage for the youth during this time. Thornton felt that these uprisings were more affected by music and fashion trends or styles than any political beliefs.

Clubbing is so well known among the young that it is one of the main industry which is developing constantly. Many adolescents spend their time counting the hours to Friday night when they can begin dancing the weekend away, with an expanding number getting to be included with soft drug taking, too. Increasingly clubbing is seen by many theorists as a response to and consequence of city life.

Wilson (2002) based his Canadian study on the club culture model that came out of Britain. At the time of his research, there was very little empirical research conducted on what was known as the "rave sub-culture" in Canada. Wilson identified this group of young Canadians as "a middle-class culture of youth renowned for amphetamine drug use; an interest in computer-generated music known as 'Techno' and attendance at all night rave dance parties" (Wilson, 2002, 373).

Studies have discovered that the clubbers have their very own rules and norms as a means of resistance. Herman and Ott (2003) found that clubbing, and especially rave clubs, were the two means of resistance for those youngsters who were feeling estranged from mainstream society. Despite the fact that Brewster and Broughton (2000) have noticed that while clubbing is great, a rave is a glorified type of clubbing since ravers think that they are starting something new. Herman and Ott (2003) found that clubbing included lost self as limits between people were divided or overcome and the clubbers became as one community. They additionally discovered that this was upgraded by the taking of ecstasy - a specific favorite of the rave clubs - because it raised consciousness among those who took it.

Jackson (2003) says that clubbing is an important social experience that deserves further explanation. As we saw before clubbing has its rules of movement and dance, therefore clubbing is a very physical experience and this makes it an embodied experience and important source of social learning. Clubbing makes young people feel alive it is in this way an essential piece of their 'real' lives. Jackson (2003) maintains that in spite of much well-known thinking, clubbing isn't bound to youth and youth subcultures - rather it is a piece of the more extensive social milieu in which these things have their reality. He also argues that having a wider age range shows the historical aspect of clubbing and how it may have changed over time.

Clubbers act differently from other groups of subcultures whereas, for them, clubs are places where everyone around you is your friend. The music is too loud to hear your thoughts so you don?t have to think at all. It is a form of escape from everyday routine.

In conclusion, clubbing cannot be viewed just as the part of youth subcultures, rather it is something that is appreciated by different groups and every one of them discovers something that interests them in clubbing and is a pleasant piece of their experience. Clubbing can have an influence on making a person part of something. However, clubs can give space to people who are tired of busy and crowded cities in which they live and don't have enough space. Clubbing let individuals to relax and to enjoy liquor, soft drugs, and dancing. In clubs, you can meet other people or be by yourself and because of this, clubbing is useful for a larger number of individuals.

References

  • Brake, M. (2003). Comparative youth culture: The sociology of youth culture and youth subcultures in America, Britain and Canada. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul.
  • Brewster, B., & Broughton, F. (2000). Last night a DJ saved my life: The history of the disc jockey. New York: Grove Press.
  • Damrell, J., & Johnson, J. M. (1978). Search for identity: Youth, religion, and culture. Beverly Hills: Sage Publications.
  • UKEssays.com. (2018). London Clubbers Youth. [online] Available at: <
  • UKEssays.com. (2018). Youth And Youth Subcultures Media Essay. [online] Available at: <
  • Ott, B., & Herman, B. (2003). Mixed messages: Resistance and reappropriation in rave culture. Western Journal of Communication, 67(3), 249-270. doi:10.1080/10570310309374771
  • Jackson, P. (2003). Inside clubbing: Sensual experiments in the art of being human. Oxford: Berg.
  • Rinehart, R. E., & Sydnor, S. (2003). To the extreme: Alternative sports, inside and out. Albany, NY: State University of New York Press.
  • Thornton, S. (1995). Club cultures music, media and subcultural capital. Cambridge: Polity Press.
  • Wilson, B. (2002). The Canadian Rave Scene and Five Theses on Youth Resistance. Canadian Journal of Sociology, 27(3), 373. doi:10.2307/3341549
Updated: May 19, 2021

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