topic 5: postmodern views

Question 1

summarise the postmodern view of society

Answer 1

moved away from STRUCTURE, towards FLUIDITY 💧/ CHOICE / UNCERTAINTY 🤨

infinite ♾ choice + can experiment 🧪 with norms

subcultures no longer 🚫 based on class/gender/ethnicity

Question 2

define neo tribe

Answer 2

LOOSELY ASSOCIATED groupings with SIMILAR TASTE 👅 but LOW COMMITMENT
Lifestyle themes
Consumer choices
Similar states of mind

Question 3

Borden

Answer 3

SKATERS 🛹
— formed from local authorities creating skating facilities for youth
- DCs, Vans, Airwalk 👟
- hip hop/indie music 🎶
- graffiti art

— low commitment and only loose association (different class, age etc) but SHARED INTEREST OF SKATING

Question 4

Muggleton 2000

Answer 4

neo tribes

• less clearly defined
• emphasis on style not belief, + greater variety of styles 👠
• movement between subcultures ↔️
• ‘freedom of expression’ 🎨 prioritised, not politically motivated
• no hostility to other groups, wanted to be individual and not affiliated with certain group

Brighton + Preston semi-structured interviews, 43 male 14 female youth

Question 5

Thornton

Answer 5

ravers/clubbing culture
young people used PIC N MIX CULTURE 🍬 🍭 (apparently random elements to form mis-matched identity)
only thing that brings ravers together is SHARED MUSIC TASTE 🎧

Question 6

Blackman

Answer 6

Critique 🙅 of Thornton

— by studying clubbing, researchers have distanced themselves from most politically active subcultures
— ravers CAN be politically motivated too:
- in opposition to laws banning raves
- wore anti-apartheid colours
- against nuclear energy
- campaigns on drug legalisation

Question 7

Polhemus

Answer 7

SUPERMARKET OF STYLE
youth can choose from range of fashion 👠, music taste 🎧, and identities to form HYBRID IDENTITY like shopping brands and styles in supermarket 🛒 🍎🥖🥦🧄🧀
infinite ♾ choice leads to blending and rehashing of styles

Question 8

Polhemus according to Marxists

Answer 8

supermarket of style is due to INCORPORATION?
Media and advertising create brands from young people to choose from, increasing consumerism and illusion of choice but we are actually limited by the media + ruling class

Question 9

Les back 1996

Answer 9

HYBRID IDENTITIES IN LONDON COUNCIL ESTATE YOUTH
Transitional stage in life —> freedom to experiment, not bound by traditional boundaries

inter-racial friendships result in CULTURAL BORROWING, via hairstyles 💇‍♀️ (dreadlocks), slang 🗣, music 🎶, clothing 👚 etc

cultures NOT fixed traditions to follow slavishly, but opportunity to experiment, mix n match

“innit” - Hindi + English
“allow it” - Jamaican + English

Question 10

Nayak 2003

Answer 10

WHITE 👱🏼 WANNABES (‘wiggers’ / ‘wangsters’)

White working class males ADOPTING BLACK 🧑🏿‍🦱 STYLE
—> black music 🎶 hip hop
—> clothing 👚
—> slang 🗣

Cultural appropriation?

parody: Ali-G
serious examples: Eminem, Professor Green

Question 11

Marxism and feminism against concept of neo tribes

Answer 11

youth subcultures are mixing more now because of DISENFRANCHISEMENT OF ALL YOUTHS (unemployment, low wages, high tuition fees, lack of housing etc)

—> hybridity is a way of rebelling against existing structures of inequality, defying the divide and rule concept

e.g. Eminem and Professor Green use music for political statements (racism, police brutality, male suicide)

MARXISM: individualism is reduced to consumer choice, youth only buy what they see in media and advertising. Less choice of expression in modern society

Question 12

CCCS / MIPS

Answer 12

Media drives subcultures, not other way round

Manchester Institute of Popular Culture 80s/90s
researched role of media in club cultures
- club cultures formed within and through the media
- new social media 📱: shared location of raves, what was fashionable
—> SUBCULTURAL CAPITAL - THORNTON (knowing what’s ‘in’ or ‘out’

therefore, role of media is v important + undermines role of choice and individualism portrayed by postmodernism

Question 13

Katz

Answer 13

deviant subcultures formed for PLEASURE OF TRANSGRESSION
other theorists over-emphasise rationality behind deviance

1. SEXUAL METAPHOR
   when committing deviance: pulses race, excitement, rush of adrenaline like sexual experience
   quote from a teen thief: “was almost orgasmic”
   deviance can be likened to a sexual experience
2. RELIGIOUS METAPHOR
   deviance is driven by desire to create symbolic meaning/ruin something sacred e.g. shitting in a school, keeping useless items from victims of bullying
3. LUDIC METAPHOR
   deviance is like a game ⚽️
   e.g. gang members try to gain strategic advantage like it’s a sport/game

Question 14

counters to Katz

Answer 14

VENKATESH: deviance is functional and provides outlaw capitalism for working class ethnic minorities disenfranchised by mainstream capitalist society

SCRATON: deviance is a legitimate act of rebellion against racism, discrimination and oppression. continuation of anti-colonial struggles. genuine political statement

Question 15

Bennet

Answer 15

— YSCs increasingly hybrid and diverse
— new Asian identities incorporating Bhangra music into modern hybrid identities 🎧🎶🎵
- AZAAD (rock and Bhangra music
- Panjabi MC (Bhangra + Rap)