3.1 Subcultures and Post subcultures Fixed

8 Subcultures and Post-subcultures

Introduction

• This chapter delves into the concepts of subcultural and post-subcultural theories.

• Focuses on representations in popular culture, specifically Goth culture and the Burning Man Festival as examples.

Understanding Subcultures

• Definition: Subcultures are smaller groups within society that resist and challenge mainstream culture. showing the hegemonic ideals and values of the mainstream to be constructed rather than natural

• Some scholars view subcultures as limiting and outdated concepts in understanding current cultural dynamics.

• Key Studies: Early studies on subcultures were conducted at the University of Chicago centering on youth delinquency and its societal implications.

Theoretical Perspectives

Dick Hebdige and the Centre for Contemporary Cultural Studies (CCCS)

• Hebdige and CCCS scholars studied subcultures in Britain focusing on class dynamics and ideological resistance.

• CCCS scholars, understood subcultures to be youth cultures developed in "a fundamental tension between those in power and those condemned to subordinate positions and second-class lives"

• For Hebdige, subcultures represent challenges to the hegemonic order

• Subcultures represent “noise” (as opposed to sound): interference in the orderly sequence which leads from real events   and phenomena to their representation in the media

• Semiotic Approach: Subcultures communicate resistance via style and signs, emphasizing their role as counter-hegemonic forces.

• Commodification Cycles: Once subcultures are absorbed by the mainstream, their original meanings are diluted until new subcultures emerge.

Post-Subcultural Theory

• The term indicates the evolution of subcultures towards fluid and diverse identities.

  • Sarah Thornton's Contribution: Her work on subcultural capital shifted focus from class to authenticity and individual expression within subcultures.

    • .Cultural capital has to do with what you know (education, manners, etc.) that gives a person social status.

    • Often cultural capital is tied to economic capital, in that the more cultural capital one has the more likely one is to have economic capital and vice versa

    • A significant piece of cultural capital is the idea of taste

    • . Here subcultural capital still has to do with how one dresses, what music one listens to, how one dances, what films one watches, and so on.

    • style is not necessarily a sign of resistance for Thornton. It is more of a sign of youth and the

      process of finding identity in the liminal stage between childhood and adulthood

    • subcultural participation could be viewed as this liminal stage toward adulthood.

    Postmodernism/Postmodernity

  • describe it as a system of thought that attempts to destabilize presumptions of coherent and stable truth

  • introduced by Jean-Francois Lyotard (1924-1998) in his 1979 work The Postmodern Condition. 

  • He wrote about the postmodern condition as the rejection of metanarratives and the death of meaning

  • Instead of finding meaning in narrative processes (i.e. ideas of truth), postmodernists find meaning in the performative, and thus meaning is contextual and constantly changing.

  • We construct our truths through our actions and interactions; truth is not out there simply waiting to be understood

    Judeth butler

  • Butler’s conception of gender as performative is a postmodern conception (see Chapter 4).  Because meaning is contextual and performative, it is also always only partial, or fragmented.

  • no one meaning of truth that works for everyone

  • Postmodernism is primarily understood as a rejection of modernism, which involved the search for universal truths or metanarratives

  • David Muggleton (2006) argues that modernism was never the monolithic mindset that many assume it to have been. 

  • Muggleton argues that while there certainly has been a modernity of order, what he calls Enlightenment modernity, there has also been an Aesthetic modernity characterized by disorder. 

  • post-subcultural studies scholars tend to minimize the idea that there is one dominant hegemonic society to challenge or resist, suggesting instead that society is made up of multiple cultures and ideologies, some of which have more power then others. But there is no longer simply one hegemonic social or political system in place.

• Neo-Tribalism: Michel Maffesoli's concept where communities or tribes form around shared consumption patterns rather than rigid social structures.

  • neo-tribes are sensual rather than moral.  They are based on shared pleasures and doing what feels good.  These passional logics reach their climax in the “festal” or festival type settings.

  • neo-tribes are based on pleasures rather than political activity, where people enjoy themselves and do not tell others what to do or think

• Carnivals of Protest: St John's concept where post-subcultures blend pleasure and political activism, demonstrated through festivals.

  • these tech­notribes "are orgiastic and ideological, their intention a combination of party and protest, their rendezvous carnivals of dissent-often a cross pollination of the festival and direct action"

    (Post) Subcultures and Religion

  • looking at the religious elements of subcultures, or the ways subcultures and post-subcultures operate like religions.

  • relates to the the chapter 1 theory of religion as pop culture

  • many scholars of popular culture as religion articulate the relationship as one of popular culture oper­ating like a religion, rather than specific subgroups of popular culture, such as fans or other subcultures or post-subcultures, actually being religious

    Jennifer Porter, Edward Bailey, and Implicit Religion

  • implicit religion, Porter asks "If something looks like, if someone acts like, if someone sees the world like, a religious person, does this not make the object, the action, and/or the perception 'religious: regardless of what sec­ular category might also be applied to the phenomenon?

  • Implicit religion is tied to the concept of lived religion

  • lived religion approach can focus on explicit as well as implicit religion, a study of implicit religion cannot do without a lived religion approach

  • Edward Bailey who suggests that the strict distinction religious scholars like to make between the sacred and the profane does not reflect what· is actually going on in people's lives

  • He suggests that implicit religion involves three elements:

  • 1) Commitments- This does not mean all the minor commitments mad in one's life. It means "what· people are determined about, as distinct from what they are determined by

  • What people are fully committed to, whether explicityly religious or not, is part of, their religious life

  • Implicit religion recognizes that even if those commitments are not explicitly religious (i.e., commitment to Jesus or Allah) they are still important for religious studies scholars to take seriously

  • 2) Integrating Foci- studying implicit religion requires looking at "the Causes for which [people] live, and sometimes die, as distinct from the causes (with a small c) of their living and dying"

  • 3) Intensive Concerns with Extensive Effects - the commitments and foci for any individual goes beyond the specific situation and affects their whole life. Implicit religion thus is holistic in the sense of incorporating all elements of the sacred and the profane.

Case Study: Goth Subculture

• Characteristics: Emerged in the 1980s, dominated by dark aesthetics; often engaged with themes of death and the macabre.

• Cultural Critique: Goths critique mainstream consumerism, focusing instead on personal expression through unique styles and interests.

  • Goth, as a subculture, resists the dominant mainstream as a way to show its falseness. This is not, however, a deliberately political statement, nor one that moves into the larger political scene

• Labeling and Stigmatization: Often perceived as associated with violence or the occult leading to moral panics, especially following events like the Columbine shootings becaus the shooters wore black trech coats.

• Parareligious Elements: Goth culture exhibits elements akin to religious practices, providing community and ceremonial rituals.

Contemporary Paganism and Modern Satanism

Contemporary paganism sometimes called neopaganism is an umbrella term referring to a number of different religious groups who find their primary source of inspiration in ancient European pre Christian religious and ritual practices. For some pagans, there is a focus on recreating specific religious traditions, such as ancient Celtic, Greek, Norse, etc, for a modern context. So, for example, the Asatru (sometimes called Heathens) worship the Norse God and try to follow the seasonal agricultural calendar in similar ways as the ancient Norse slash Vikings did through festivals and rituals

Other groups are more eclectic in their constructions, drawing from a number of  different traditions and interpretations of ancient religions.

Modern  Satanism is not a form of paganism. Nor is paganism a form of Satanism.

Pagans typically do not believe in Satan and see him as a God of evil within Christianity

Modern Satanism they see satan as a metaphor for breaking out of the bonds of rules and regulations placed upon one by a larger religious authority

The Church of Satan - in this organization is not understood to be an actual person but a metaphoric figure through which satanists can realize their own self desires, he represents the attributes satanists want to achieve (indulgence, vengeance, animalism, etc.)

Case Study: Burning Man Festival

• Overview: Initiated in 1986, it is a week-long festival promoting creativity, community, and non-commercialism.

• Spiritual Dimensions: Although not religious, Burning Man embodies many spiritual aspects through its community dynamics and participant-driven experiences.

  • "Religion" for many Burners is perceived as negative and part of the default world from which they choose to escape. Escaping this default world, however, involves a cleansing of the spirit and creation of spiritual community, which for some extends beyond the week-long festival.

  • to be spiritual at Burning Man - For some, their spiritual expe­rience may be tied to specific artistic sites. For others, it may be the interaction with fellow Burners. There is no one truth of spiritual experience here

  • Burning Man as being a post-subculture rather than a strictly defined subculture.

  • Burners desire transformative, direct, and visceral encounters that are inherently diverse and disputable as the event remains at core 'whatever you want it to be"'

• Activism: The ethos encompasses both pleasure and community service efforts, such as Burners Without Borders which engages in relief and social initiatives.

Conclusion

• Subcultures persist as forms of resistance to dominant societal norms but within the context of postmodernity, they morph into fluid constructs with differing interactions.

• Events like Burning Man illustrate this evolving identity, where participants define themselves in opposition to mainstream culture while engaging in expressions that blur the line between culture and spirituality.