Dick Hebdige's 'Subculture: The Unnatural Break'

Greg Graffin’s Anarchy in the Tenth Grade represents the in-group theory presented by Gordon Allport. The in-group theory proposes that people belong to cliques, some by choice and others by chance, and society affects or has influences on these in-groups through equal out-groups. Mr. Graffin explains how it feels to be a new kid in a new school and how he became a punker. Mr. Graffin explains his endeavours through the in-group “punk” and also expounds on how different out-groups react to his in-group.

David Redmon’s documentary, Mardi Gras: Made in China (2005) provides an insight on Karl Marx’s theory of exploitation within capitalism. It does an exceptional job at explaining how exploitation exists in a capitalist society by tracing the simple commodity of beads used in the festival of Mardi Gras in New Orleans while revealing the hidden picture of its social and economic effect on the factory workers. Karl Marx’s class structure theory of capitalism can be observed in Mardi Gras: Made in China (2005). The cycle of exploitation that the Chinese workers face is further expanded in the film by explaining how exploitation works under capitalism through the differences between society’s values, the conditions of labour that the workers are in to produce the Mardi Gras beads, as well as how commodity fetishism takes part into the continuation of exploitation.

Culture is an embodiment of a society’s values. The representation of American culture is rapidly changing, showing a plethora of beliefs over the decades. Every change comes with controversy, new radical ideas of the upcoming generation challenging the previous. Once deemed taboos become socially acceptable and ideas once thought absurd are altered to become social norms. For example, when rock and roll debuted in the late nineteen sixties it caused conservative Americans belonging to the fifties to believe the new music of the generation was causing internal decadence. Joyce Carol Oates’ short story, “Where are You Going, Where Have you been” represents this time in American history through the use of a symbolism. The reoccurrence of music and its influence on Connie, the main character in the story, symbolize the demoralization of American society.

Punk rock is either one of the best or worst movements in society depending on how you look at it. Rebellion itself can be very scary to a country or very liberating for its people. It takes sacrifices from groups of people who are looking to make things better. A perfect example is the Civil Right protests that took place in the early 60’s. The cultural influence that punk carried still has values that can be observed today. However, with the mainstream rush that it’s bands have made, it has changed the original meaning and reasons for punk rock. It was created when a group of people got together and all agreed that the direction of the early 1970’s U. K. society was not one that they were pleased with. The punk movement is highlighted by

Subcultures form due to our deep rooted preference for likeminded individuals and ideas. We hold anxieties about how people are different and we worry about our own status within society (Andrew Campa 2015 YouTube). Schouten and Alexander (1995) describe that “a subculture of consumption is a distinctive subgroup of society that self-selects on the basis of a shared commitment to a particular products class, brand or consumption activity” (43). It is through this continued communal consumption that an individual finds social validation for their beliefs, value and way of life. Popular culture has magnified high school subcultural identities. For example, Tina Fey’s Mean Girls (2004) is a critical representation of one of the most popular and long-standing subculture’s in mainstream society: the high school popular female social clique. The basis and inspiration for this movie was from Rosalind Wiseman’s self-help book, Queen Bees and Wannabes, which focuses on how high school girls form cliques that are permeated with aggressive behaviour. Mean Girls (2004) aptly portrays the complex hierarchal social dynamic of a subculture. The overall aim is to critically analyse Cady Heron’s socialization from

The humans are gregarious living beings. So, throughout history, they have lived as communities because they need communities. And also, they are in communication and interaction with each other. Every society makes its own culture based on their language, religion, science, conventions, eating, wearing customs and social life. The culture also takes shape and undergoes change in time. This development can be in a short or long period. When the effects on cultures are taken into consideration, classifications

Appropriation is the act of borrowing and changing the meaning of cultural products, images, slogans and elements as well as reusing existing elements to create new works and meanings. Many artists believe that in borrowing existing images or elements of imagery, they are able to recreate the idea as it is now placed within a new concept. This essay will discuss how appropriation has been used in cultural and social contexts in order to create controversy and sell products, as well as be a form of expression.

This sociological study will analyze the problem of commodity fetishism in American consumer culture. Karl Marx’s theory of commodity fetishism is a major problem in the United States due to the inability of consumers to see the intrinsic value of a commodity. American consumer culture tends to become trapped in the “magical qualities” of a product, which makes them unable to understand the object as it was made by a laborer. This abstraction of the commodity is part of Marx’s analysis of capitalist products that is separated from the labor and become valuable objects in and of themselves. This is an important sociological perspective on commodities, which creates an irrational consumer culture in the American marketplace. The illusion of product

It calls punk rock that associated with shock, discontent and rebel against society. Punk subculture emerged in the UK, the United States and Australia in the mid of 1970’s, the concept of punk is conflict with hippie movement and prior counter culture. They usually express punk ideologies through punk rock music. Punk was the first culture which adopted DIY (do it yourself) practice, that anyone could make their music band, organizing their own concert and including having their own

Subculture to many people is like a mystery, if not involve. It is a small community with their own rules and concept of the world. Some interesting and eye-catching subcultures include mods, rockers, lolita, and cosplay . One subculture that is more prominent to me is the funkeiros, also known as funkers, from Brazil. A study that was done a few years back mentioned, “the youth subculture concept moved away from the mainstream sociology and into criminology” (Williams, 2007, p. 575), and the funkeiros were considered as one of the youth subculture that deviated away from the mainstream sociology. This essay will address on how music and dress can affect the behavior of the funkeiros and how to differentiate the subculture from the norm through

Max Horkheimer and Theodor Adorno’s essay, The Culture Industry (1944), juxtaposes the words culture and industry to describe a state where cultural forms, such as television, music, and film are no longer creative outlets but industries dominated by commodification and profit. The production of meaning, creation of stories, symbols, and experiences that we use to make sense of the world is an industry or a full profit venture. David Hesmondhalgh’s ideas, in The Culture Industries (2013), differ from Horkheimer and Adorno’s because he offers a more ambivalent approach. Horkheimer and Adorno discuss a solely negative angle, while Hesmondhalgh offers a more mixed point of view. Hesmondhalgh explores the culture industry as a complex system, for

Being accepted and loved by a community is a vital part to healthy human experience. Without human interaction, people fall apart mentally and physically over time. The search for those who share the same values can be exhausting when those ideals are regarded as abnormal, and people feel forced to bottle their feelings up and act ‘normal’. This concept applies to all people, and is one of the interlocking reasons queercore was founded by lesbians. Forming accepting and welcoming communities for not only the founders but for others who may have felt ostracized is one of the key reasons homocore and queercore began.

Popular culture or pop culture is the entirety of ideas, perspectives, attitudes, images, and other phenomena that are within the mainstream of a given culture, especially Western culture of the early to mid 20th century and the emerging global mainstream of the late 20th and early 21st century. Heavily influenced by mass media, this collection of ideas permeates the everyday lives of the society. The most common pop culture categories are: entertainment, sports, news, politics, fashion/clothes, technology and slang.

The researchers used Fredric Jameson’s cultural philosophical analysis as the framework of this study. The concepts of pastiche and cultural logic of late capitalism were utilized to evaluate the authenticity and reproducibility of the artifacts, identify the communication characteristics of the artifacts, determine how do the artifacts communicate the culture of the Cordilleras, and evaluate the consumption patterns in terms of authenticity, reproduction, utility, and deception.

In the contemporary living of the humankind in the 21st century, the popular culture plays a vital role in our own lives especially in youth. Hence, we future teachers and all adults must be more acquainted and involved in advancing our critical understanding to everything we read, watch and hear in all sorts of media than the youth to guide them properly in attaining more accurate and holistic knowledge inside or outside the classroom.