First Published in 2002. It is easy to see that we are living in a time of rapid and radical social change. It is much less easy to grasp the fact that such change will inevitably affect the nature of those disciplines that both reflect our society and help to shape it. Yet this is nowhere more apparent than in the central field of what may, in general terms, be called literary studies. ‘New Accents’ is intended as a positive response to the initiative offered by such a situation. Each volume in the series will seek to encourage rather than resist the process of change. To stretch rather than reinforce the boundaries that currently define literature and its academic study.
Subcultures: The Basics is an engaging introduction to youth cultures in a global context. Blending theory and practice, this text examines a range of subcultures such as hip hop graffiti writing, heavy metal, punk, burlesque, parkour, riot grrrl, straight edge, body modification, and skateboarding. Using case studies from around the world, it addresses such questions as: What is subculture? How do subcultures emerge, who participates, and why? What is the relationship between deviance, resistance, and the "mainstream"? How has global media and virtual networking influenced subcultures? What happens when subcultural participants "grow up"? Tracing the history and development of subcultures, with further reading and resources throughout, this text is essential reading for all those studying youth culture in the contexts of sociology, cultural studies, media studies, anthropology, and criminology. -- from back cover.
American Subcultures explores cultural identities and marginalized groups to teach you more about their various interactions and experiences while keeping a low price.
This book presents a cultural history of subcultures, covering a remarkable range of subcultural forms and practices. It begins with London’s ‘Elizabethan underworld’, taking the rogue and vagabond as subcultural prototypes: the basis for Marx’s later view of subcultures as the lumpenproletariat, and Henry Mayhew’s view of subcultures as ‘those that will not work’. Subcultures are always in some way non-conforming or dissenting. They are social - with their own shared conventions, values, rituals, and so on – but they can also seem ‘immersed’ or self-absorbed. This book identifies six key ways in which subcultures have generally been understood: through their often negative relation to work: idle, parasitical, hedonistic, criminal their negative or ambivalent relation to class their association with territory - the ‘street’, the ‘hood’, the club - rather than property their movement away from home into non-domestic forms of ‘belonging’ their ties to excess and exaggeration (as opposed to restraint and moderation) their refusal of the banalities of ordinary life and in particular, of massification. Subcultures looks at the way these features find expression across many different subcultural groups: from the Ranters to the riot grrrls, from taxi dancers to drag queens and kings, from bebop to hip hop, from dandies to punk, from hobos to leatherfolk, and from hippies and bohemians to digital pirates and virtual communities. It argues that subcultural identity is primarily a matter of narrative and narration, which means that its focus is literary as well as sociological. It also argues for the idea of a subcultural geography: that subcultures inhabit places in particular ways, their investment in them being as much imaginary as real and, in some cases, strikingly utopian.
Revised and update completely to include new research and theories, this second edition of a hugely successful book brings together a range of articles, from big names in the field, classic texts and new thinking on subcultures and their definitions.
Western fashion has been widely appreciated and consumed in Tokyo for decades, but since the mid-1990s Japanese youth have been playing a crucial role in forming their own unique fashion communities and producing creative styles which have had a major impact on fashion globally. Geographically and stylistically defined, subcultures such as Lolita in Harajuku, Gyaru and Gyaru-o in Shibuya, Age-jo in Shinjuku, and Mori Girl in Kouenji, reflect the affiliation and identities of their members, and have often blurred the boundary between professionals and amateurs for models, photographers, merchandisers and designers. Based on insightful ethnographic fieldwork in Tokyo, Fashioning Japanese Subcultures is the first theoretical and analytical study on Japan's contemporary youth subcultures and their stylistic expressions. It is essential reading for students, scholars and anyone interested in fashion, sociology and subcultures.
Cool is a compendium of global youth subcultures and street styles—from Flappers to Swing Kids, to Goths to today’s Normcore—that have shaped the fashion zeitgeist. It’s no secret that the youth of the world buck conventional mainstream culture every chance they get, blazing countercultural trails in the process. Driven by their thirst for art and music, and their environment, young people combine their inspirations with the innate desire to rebel, resulting in a defiant subculture; and mainstream society runs to catch up, to co-opt it, and drag it to the mainstream. Lindy Hoppers of the 1930s, greasers of the 1950s, Rude Boys of the 1960s, glam rockers of the 1970s, club kids of the 1980s: there are countless subculture styles that were born from resisting authority. COOL: Style, Sound, and Subversion is equal parts historical chronicle and handbook of the myriad subcultures—most unknown to mainstream culture—that have influenced style. Authors Greg Foley and Andrew Luecke have compiled a comprehensive list of subcultures that have evolved over more than one hundred years, taking a look at the fashion, the art, the films, the books, the music, and historical context of these style movements, many of which came to influence conventional culture and eventually became a norm. Lavish with original illustrations, COOL references a wealth of ephemera—including a timeline, zeitgeist films, ’zines, secret music scenes, art collectives, and over one hundred music playlists tied to specific subcultures through the years—to give the reader a thoroughly vibrant picture of each movement and their sub-movements. COOL: Style, Sound, and Subversion is sure to appeal to fashionistas, culture mavens, and pop culture fans alike.
This “marvelously absorbing” book is “a walk on the wild side of words and ventures into the zone where language and mathematics intersect” (San Jose Mercury News). A former Wall Street Journal reporter and NPR regular, Stefan Fatsis recounts his remarkable rise through the ranks of elite Scrabble players while exploring the game’s strange, potent hold over them—and him. At least thirty million American homes have a Scrabble set—but the game’s most talented competitors inhabit a sphere far removed from the masses of “living room players.” Theirs is a surprisingly diverse subculture whose stars include a vitamin-popping standup comic; a former bank teller whose intestinal troubles earned him the nickname “G.I. Joel”; a burly, unemployed African American from Baltimore’s inner city; the three-time national champion who plays according to Zen principles; and the author himself, who over the course of the book is transformed from a curious reporter to a confirmed Scrabble nut. Fatsis begins by haunting the gritty corner of a Greenwich Village park where pickup Scrabble games can be found whenever weather permits. His curiosity soon morphs into compulsion, as he sets about memorizing thousands of obscure words and fills his evenings with solo Scrabble played on his living room floor. Before long he finds himself at tournaments, socializing—and competing—with Scrabble’s elite. But this book is about more than hardcore Scrabblers, for the game yields insights into realms as disparate as linguistics, psychology, and mathematics. Word Freak extends its reach even farther, pondering the light Scrabble throws on such notions as brilliance, memory, competition, failure, and hope. It is a geography of obsession that celebrates the uncanny powers locked in all of us, “a can’t-put-it-down narrative that dances between memoir and reportage” (Los Angeles Times). “Funny, thoughtful, character-rich, unchallengeably winning writing.” —The Atlantic Monthly This edition includes a new afterword by the author.
Youth Subcultures uses a cultural studies lens to explore contemporary American youth subcultures such as skateboarding, punk, Goth, and raves in a brief, flexible, and inexpensive reader. Part of the Longman Topics reader series, this collection of lively essays on controversial subcultures helps students think critically about contemporary culture and issues such as class, race, and gender as well as language, identity, and ritual. Youth Subcultures also contains a variety of writing genres that range from personal creative non-fiction to interviews to traditional research and argumentative essays. Rather than write about topics beyond their experience, students can examine their own experiences critically as they engage an exciting and accessible scholarly field.
Style-based subcultures, scenes and tribes have pulsated through the history of social, economic and political change. From 1940s zoot-suiters and hepcats; through 1950s rock ’n’ rollers, beatniks and Teddy boys; 1960s surfers, rudeboys, mods, hippies and bikers; 1970s skinheads, soul boys, rastas, glam rockers, funksters and punks; on to the heavy metal, hip-hop, casual, goth, rave, hipster and clubber styles of the 1980s, 90s, noughties and beyond; distinctive blends of fashion and music have become a defining feature of the cultural landscape. Research into these phenomena has traversed the social sciences and humanities, and Subcultures, Popular Music and Social Change assembles important theoretical interventions and empirical studies from this rich, interdisciplinary field. Featuring contributions from major scholars and new researchers, the book explores the historical and cultural significance of subcultural styles and their related music genres. Particular attention is given to the relation between subcultures and their historical context, the place of subcultures within patterns of cultural and political change, and their meaning for participants, confederates and opponents. As well as Anglo-American developments, the book considers experiences across a variety of global sites and locales, giving reference to issues such as class, ethnicity, gender, sexuality, creativity, commerce, identity, resistance and deviance.
