|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Dick Hebdige, Subculture: The Meaning of Style (Methuen, 1979) In Britain, Hebdige writes, the period after the Second World War was a time of profound upheaval, in which traditional patterns of life within the working-class community were altered by (among other things) the advent of mass media, changes in the constitution of the family, and new ideas about work and leisure, all of which contributed to the emergence of a "generational consciousness amongst the young." The outgrowth of this new consciousness was, in sociological terms, a series of nontraditional forms of expression—otherwise known as skinheads, teds, punks, Bowie-ites, hippies, dreads, and other groups which maintained a quixotic relationship with a drab "parent culture," mimicking it, mocking it, parodying it, and at times doing all these thing simultaneously. "Cultural studies" became the hip academic career of the day, as a series of social scientists tried to unravel exactly what was going on. Hebdige took his shot and scored in this dense 1979 classic. A word to the wise: Hebdige writes like an academic, and his mantra is oft-overshadowed by inexact verbosity. But if one can see through the trees, his two main points are worth the trouble. First, that subcultures contradict and disrupt a mainstream culture posing as nature (as opposed to what it really is, a fabricated construct affirming specific class interests); and second, that the nature of white subcultures (Teddy boy, mod, skinhead, punk) have been influenced by their relationship to black subcultures (hipster, soul-man, rude boy, Rastaman). Greil Marcus writes in Rolling Stone, "It was reggae, Hebdige argues, that took the crucial step that made possible the coups of punk (its creation of disorder not only on the streets but within the system of common sense as such)...Reggae's representation of itself as a complete, self-justifying system of manners, values and (lack of) commodities suggested that the hegemony of common sense could be challenged not just through "protest" but as a matter of being—or daily life. The naturalist mask of the dominant culture was pierced, and one found oneself dealing with the dominant culture as if its system were on the defensive." (May 1, 1980) MORE: Short essay on Subculture on the Art & Culture Network web site |
|
 |
|
||||||||||||||||||||||