This paper aims to advance debates in youth studies about the contemporary relevance of social structures of class, race and gender to the formation of youth subcultures. I demonstrate how drawing on ...a cultural class analysis and education literature on learner identities and performativity can be productive in theorising the continued significance of class, and indeed also race and gender in young people's lives. In examining school-based friendships and (sub)cultural forms through empirical research in urban schools, I argue that not only are young people's subcultural groups structured by class, race and gender but also they are integral to the production of these identities. By examining the discursive productions of two school-based subcultures as examples: the 'Smokers' and the 'Football' crowd, I further argue that these identity positions embody resources or capitals which have differing value in the context of the urban school and thus demonstrate how race, class and gender privilege are maintained and reproduced through youth subculture.
This work explores young people's enactment of musical tastes and performances and how these are articulated through narratives and literacies. It draws on interviews and observations of youth ...groups, together with archival evidence.
Sex, thugs and rock 'n' roll Fenemore, Mark
2007, 2007., 20071215, 2009., 2007-12-15, 20070101, Volume:
16
eBook, Book
A fascinating and highly readable account of what it was like to be young and hip, growing up in East Germany in the 1950s and 1960s. Living on the frontline of the Cold War, young people were ...subject to a number of competing influences. For young men from the working class, in particular, a conflict developed between the culture they inherited from their parents and the new official culture taught in schools. Merging with street gangs, new youth cultures took shape, which challenged authority and provided an alternative vision of modernity. Taking their fashion cues, music and icons from the West, they rapidly came into conflict with a didactic and highly controlling party-state. Charting the clashes which occurred between teenage rebels and the authorities, the book explores what happened when gender, sexuality, Nazism, communism and rock 'n' roll collided during a period, which also saw the building of the Berlin Wall.
This article is a redevelopment of my previous studies, characterizing the media genre of – and community building through – transgender video blogging. Focusing on one of the most famous video ...bloggers at the moment, the Canadian Julie Van Vu, I investigate new forms of transgender vlogging that embrace money making/self-commodification in a degree not seen before. Here, activism/advocacy co-exists with and goes through an explicit self-commodification. Drawing on existing research, I explore the mechanisms and characteristics of Vu as a micro-celebrity within YouTube as a platform. I suggest the concept of ‘subcultural microcelebrity’ to nuance, diversify and specify micro-celebrity as a concept and a practice. The article departs from – but also redevelops – the concept and characteristics of micro-celebrity to specify the ‘affective labour’. Micro-celebrities are expected to perform various kinds of labour, many of which are time and energy consuming but not necessarily economically profitable. Micro-celebrities must signal accessibility, availability, presence, and connectedness – and maybe most importantly authenticity – all of which presuppose and rely on some form of intimacy. I propose that intimacy as genre and as capital is deeply ingrained in the strategies, dynamics and affective labour of micro-celebrities. Intimacy is an important and necessary signifier in relation to both the form and content of the videos and the relation between the creators and their audience. Furthermore, intimacy works as an important currency within social media; thus, intimacy can be capitalized in manifold and intersecting ways, for example, for monetary purposes, social recognition and as a tool in advocacy work. The article hereby contributes to existing research on YouTube by redeveloping the concept of micro-celebrity in relation to affective labour and intimacy, analysing how these play out in new forms of transgender vlogging.
Consumer (in)vulnerability is studied via a quasi-ethnographic longitudinal study of adolescents aged 11–15. The study focuses on how adolescents define their vulnerabilities within their adolescent ...consumption subcultures, the factors enhancing this vulnerability, and the social actors involved in their experience of vulnerability. The findings contribute to consumer vulnerability literature in three ways. First, by adopting an adolescent-centric approach based on an emic perspective, we go beyond the monolithic approach of studying one source of vulnerability at a time seen in present marketing literature. Instead, we introduce a polyadic or multiple simultaneous approaches that can consider risk sources. Second, the findings show that adolescents’ perceptions of consumer vulnerability are anchored within their consumption subcultures. This study introduces the concept that young consumers experience vulnerability in multiple ways, including imposed by adults or by adolescents deliberately engaging in risky behaviors. Third, this research provides ethics policy-makers and scholars with the conceptual framework of adolescent-centric vulnerability, which can help them to develop actions based on both imposed and deliberate sources of vulnerability from the perception of the adolescent.
This article interrogates the following two concepts: the ‘subcultural imagination’ and the ‘subcultural subject’. We explore debates surrounding the ways in which interactions between the researcher ...and participant produce knowledge, in order to further establish the critical contribution of subculture within sociology. This article draws upon the notion of critique and ideas of C. Wright Mills (1959) in order to demonstrate the potential of new forms of ‘imagination’ within subcultures research. We seek to show through ethnographic examples how researchers and participants can be engaged in co-production of fieldwork, analysis and writing within research at different levels of engagement. The article will cover four areas, all focused on placing ‘imagination’ at the centre of subcultures research: first, it critiques the postmodern post-subcultural position within youth cultural studies; second, it defines the subcultural imagination and third, it explores specific empirical examples of subcultural subjects and, finally, we shall address the potential for micro co-production.
Abstract
This article draws on the criminological work of Gresham Sykes and David Matza as a starting point for theorizing the nature and appeal of the western jihadi subculture, defined here as a ...hybrid and heavily digitized global imaginary that extols and justifies violent jihad as a way of life and being. It suggests that at the centre of this subculture are three focal concerns: (1) Violence and Machismo; (2) Death and Martyrdom; and (3) Disdain of the Dunya. More critically, it argues that these three focal concerns have immediate counterparts in the shadow values of the wider society with which western jihadists are in contention. This argument has important implications for debates over radicalization and the attractions of jihadist activism.
The growing importance of subcultures in society has changed the way organisations communicate with consumers. Differences in values and norms suggest brands must strategically communicate with these ...audiences to engage and build trust. However, if the targeted subculture market is stigmatised, the risk of alienating other sections of society is a serious concern for marketers. This paper, therefore, conceptually examines how marketers can reach subculture markets without the risk of estranging the wider market. In particular, it considers this issue through the lens of cryptic marketing, which has the capacity to simultaneously overcome loss of brand trust and attract the attention of a target audience.
When considering an information security culture in an organisation, researchers have to consider the possibility of several information security subcultures that could be present in the ...organisation. This means that different geographical, ethnic or age groups of employees could have different assumptions, values and beliefs about the protection of information, resulting in unique information security subcultures. This research sets out to understand how dominant information security cultures and subcultures develop and how they can be influenced positively over time through targeted interventions. In support of this, a summary of the intrinsic and extrinsic factors that influence information security culture is presented.
An empirical case study was conducted using a survey approach with a validated information security culture questionnaire to illustrate how to identify dominant information security cultures and subcultures. The survey was conducted at four intervals in the same organisation over a number of years to identify potential information security subcultures and to monitor the change, if targeted interventions for each are implemented. Using t-tests and ANOVA tests, a number of information security subcultures were identified, mostly evident across the organisation's office locations (which are separated geographically), as well as between employees that worked in the IT division compared to those who did not. The data indicate that the dominant information security culture and subcultures improved over time to a more positive information security culture after the implementation of targeted interventions. This illustrates how the identification and targeting of information security subcultures with customised interventions can influence the information security culture positively. By using information security interventions, organisations can target their high-risk subcultures and monitor the change over time through continuous assessment, thereby minimising the risk to information protection from a human perspective.
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