Postmodernism (amazing for AO3) Flashcards
What are the main characteristic that postmodernists argue subcultures have today?
Fragmentation, choice, fluidity, diversity.
Polhemus (Sociologist)
‘Supermarket of Style’ - due to global media, young being pick and choose when constructing their identity. Commitment to one style is less common, hor example, individuals mat construct their identity by combining future and retro styles. Subcultures are put together as a postmodern hybrid form of identity and style.
Influence of social media on people’s identity. (Example)
Recent studies of Facebook and Twitter suggest that young people today are immersed in a media-driven reality and that social media play a constructive and sometimes destructive role in the identities of young people.
Maffesoli (Sociologist)
Neo tribes - rather then definite subcultures, society is split into ‘neo tribes’. Organised groups do not have a fixed membership and people are loosely attached rather than committed. They may have some single issues such as political movements but they’re free to switch between subcultures or be in multiple at once.
Benett (Sociologist)
Agrees with Maffesoli that neo-tribalism is a more useful term then subculture because the latter suggests share values and commitment which is rarely the experience of modern youth. Neo tribes acknowledge the fluidity of people and the shifting of flexible identities along with the mixing and matching of styles.
Bennett in Newcastle (Study)
He found neo-tribes based around fashion, music, and lifestyle. People moved in and out of these tribes and rarely identified with one rather than another.
Hollands + Chatterton AO3 (Sociologists)
Corporate youth culture (NOT NEO TRIBES) - they argue that neo tribes are very much a niche concern and rather then a ‘free floating “pick and mix” story of youth consumption, the majority of youth activity revolves around chart music, drinking and general pleasure seeking behaviour. They recognise that alternative cultures do exist which have their own spaces, but these tended to be more on the outskirts of the city.
Thornton (Sociologist)
Taste culture - observes that some clubbers have subcultural capital and are able, especially via social media, to define what is ‘in’ or ‘out’. Such capital is used to gain status and to establish a superior identity as an ‘authentic’ clubber rather than a ‘mainstream’ clubber. This originates and is sustained by the media.
Hetherington (Sociologist)
Found that New Age travellers came from a wide range of backgrounds and certainly not just from one class position. The attraction of a ‘normadic’ life felt to be more authentic than routine life in industrialized society, which attracted young people from a variety of backgrounds.
General postmodernism AO3 (Theory?)
> There are still distinct youth subculture, with clear style and music allegiances for example goths and emos - so not everyone mixes styles.
> The idea of ‘ordinary youth’ with (which has been used to criticize the work of the CCCS) could be applied to post-modern views. Do neo tribes really exist? Or are we really just talking about a group of friends? (Hollands and Chatterton’s corpertate youth culture supports this).
> Post-modernists accept the key role media plays in driving subcultures, so it can be questioned whether individuals are really exercising choice?
St John AO3 (Sociologist)
He discussed ‘post-rave techno tribes’ and found that groups are brought together through music festivals and social media, committed to dance music and hedonism by incorating resistant ideals such as social justice, green politics and human rights, thus showing commitment to pleasure and politics.
