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In sociology anthropology and cultural studies a subculture is a group of people with a culture (whether distinct or hidden) which differentiates them from the larger culture to which they belong. Contents 1 Definition 2 Identifying subcultures 3 Subcultures' relationships with mainstream culture 4 Urban tribes 5 Sexual subcultures 6 See also 7 Footnotes 8 References 9 External links Definition An editor has expressed a concern that this article lends undue weight to certain ideas incidents controversies or matters relative to the article subject as a whole. Please help to create a more balanced presentation. Discuss and resolve this issue before removing this message. (October 2010)

As early as 1950 David Riesman distinguished between a majority "which passively accepted commercially provided styles and meanings and a 'subculture' which actively sought a minority style ... and interpreted it in accordance with subversive values".1 In his 1979 book Subculture the Meaning of Style Dick Hebdige argued that a subculture is a subversion to normalcy. He wrote that subcultures can be perceived as negative due to their nature of criticism to the dominant societal standard. Hebdige argued that subcultures bring together like-minded individuals who feel neglected by societal standards and allow them to develop a sense of identity.

In 1995 Sarah Thornton drawing on Pierre Bourdieu described "subcultural capital" as the cultural knowledge and commodities acquired by members of a subculture raising their status and helping differentiate themselves from members of other groups.2 In 2007 Ken Gelder proposed to distinguish subcultures from countercultures based on the level of immersion in society.3 Gelder further proposed six key ways in which subcultures can be identified: through their often negative relations to work (as 'idle' 'parasitic' at play or at leisure etc.); through their negative or ambivalent relation to class (since subcultures are not 'class-conscious' and don't conform to traditional class definitions); through their association with territory (the 'street' the 'hood' the club etc.) rather than property; through their movement out of the home and into non-domestic forms of belonging (i.e. social groups other than the family); through their stylistic ties to excess and exaggeration (with some exceptions); through their refusal of the banalities of ordinary life and massification.3 Identifying subcultures

The study of subcultures often consists of the study of symbolism attached to clothing music and other visible affectations by members of subcultures and also the ways in which these same symbols are interpreted by members of the dominant culture. According to Dick Hebdige members of a subculture often signal their membership through a distinctive and symbolic use of style which includes fashions mannerisms and argot.4

Subcultures can exist at all levels of organizations highlighting the fact that there are multiple cultures or value combinations usually evident in any one organization that can complement but also compete with the overall organisational culture.5 In some cases subcultures have been legislated against and their activities regulated or curtailed.6 Subcultures' relationships with mainstream culture It may be difficult to identify certain subcultures because their style (particularly clothing and music) may be adopted by mass culture for commercial purposes. Businesses often seek to capitalize on the subversive allure of subcultures in search of Cool which remains valuable in the selling of any product.7 This process of cultural appropriation may often result in the death or evolution of the subculture as its members adopt new styles that appear alien to mainstream society.8 This process provides a constant stream of styles which may be commercially adopted.citation needed Music-based subcultures are particularly vulnerable to this process and so what may be considered a subculture at one stage in its historysuch as jazz goth punk hip hop and rave culturesmay represent mainstream taste within a short period of time.9 Some subcultures reject or modify the importance of style stressing membership through the adoption of an ideology which may be much more resistant to commercial exploitation.10 The punk subculture's distinctive (and initially shocking) style of clothing was adopted by mass-market fashion companies once the subculture became a media interest. Dick Hebdige argues that the punk subculture shares the same "radical aesthetic practices" as Dada and surrealism: Like Duchamp's 'ready mades' - manufactured objects which qualified as art because he chose to call them such the most unremarkable and inappropriate items - a pin a plastic clothes peg a television component a razor blade a tampon - could be brought within the province of punk (un)fashion...Objects borrowed from the most sordid of contexts found a place in punks' ensembles; lavatory chains were draped in graceful arcs across chests in plastic bin liners. Safety pins were taken out of their domestic 'utility' context and worn as gruesome ornaments through the cheek ear or lip...fragments of school uniform (white bri-nylon shirts school ties) were symbolically defiled (the shirts covered in graffiti or fake blood; the ties left undone) and juxtaposed against leather drains or shocking pink mohair tops.11 Urban tribes In 1985 French sociologist Michel Maffesoli coined the term urban tribe and it gained widespread use after the publication of his Le temps des tribus: le dclin de l'individualisme dans les socits postmodernes (1988).12 Eight years later this book was published in the United Kingdom as The Time of the Tribes: The Decline of Individualism in Mass Society.13 According to Maffesoli urban tribes are microgroups of people who share common interests in urban areas. The members of these relatively small groups tend to have similar worldviews dress styles and behavioral patterns. Their social interactions are largely informal and emotionally laden different from late capitalism's corporate-bourgeoisie cultures based on dispassionate logic. Maffesoli claims that punks are a typical example of an "urban tribe".14 Five years after the first English translation of Le temps des tribus writer Ethan Watters claims to have coined the same neologism in a New York Times Magazine article. This was later expanded upon the idea in his book Urban Tribes: A Generation Redefines Friendship Family and Commitment. According to Watters urban tribes are groups of never-marrieds between the ages of 25 and 45 who gather in common-interest groups and enjoy an urban lifestyle which offers an alternative to traditional family structures.15 Sexual subcultures Further information: Sexuality and gender identity-based cultures The sexual revolution of the 1960s led to a countercultural rejection of the established sexual and gender norms particularly in the urban areas of Europe North and South America Australia and white South Africa. A more permissive social environment in these areas led to a proliferation of sexual subculturescultural expressions of non-normative sexuality. As with other subcultures sexual subcultures adopted certain styles of fashion and gestures to distinguish them from the mainstream.16 Homosexuals expressed themselves through the gay culture considered the largest sexual subculture of the 20th century. With the ever increasing acceptance of homosexuality in the early 21st century including its expressions in fashion music and design the gay culture can no longer be considered a subculture in many parts of the world although some aspects of gay culture like leathermen bears and feeders are considered subcultures within the gay movement itself.16 The butch and femme identities or roles among some lesbians also engender their own subculture with stereotypical attire for instance drag kings.17 A late 1980s development the queer movement can be considered a subculture broadly encompassing those that reject normativity in sexual behavior and who celebrate visibility and activism. The wider movement coincided with growing academic interests in queer studies and queer theory. Aspects of sexual subcultures can vary along other cultural lines. For instance in the United States the term down-low is used to refer to African-American men who do not identify themselves with the gay or queer cultures but who practice gay cruising and adopt a specific hip-hop attire during this activity.17 See also Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Subculture List of subcultures Popular culture Underclass Urban culture Urban sociology Youth subculture Art world Adolescence Folk culture History of Western subcultures in the 20th century Intercultural competence Footnotes Middleton 1990 Thornton 1995 a b Gelder 2007 Hebdige 1981 Anheier Helmut K. Stefan Toepler and Regina List (eds) (2010). International Encyclopedia of Civil Society Springer Hall Stuart Tony Jefferson (1993). Resistance Through Rituals: Youth Subcultures in Post-War Britain. Routledge 1993 Howes David. Cross-cultural consumption: global markets local realities. New York: Routledge 1996. Print. Goldstein-Gidoni Ofra. "Producers of 'Japan' in Israel: Cultural appropriation in a non-colonial context." Ethnos:Journal of Anthropology 68.3 (2003): 365. Print. Blair M. Elizabeth. "Commercialization of Rap Music Youth Subculture." Journal of Popular Culture 27.3 (1993): 21-33. Print. Lewin Phillip J. Patrick Williams. "Reconceptualizing Punk through Ideology and Authenticity". Conference Papers--American Sociological Association. 2007 Annual Meeting 2007. Dick Hebdige p.106-12 Frehse Fraya (2006). "As realidades que as "tribos urbanas" criam". Revista Brasileira de Cincias Sociais. http://www.scielo.br/scielo.phpscriptsciarttext&pidS0102-69092006000100012&lngen&nrmiso. Retrieved 2008-02-08.  Arquived at SciELO - Scientific electronic library online Maffesoli Michel. "The Time of the Tribes: The Decline of Individualism in Mass Society". Amazon.co.uk. http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/080398474X. Retrieved 2008-02-08.  Maffesoli 1996 Watters 2003 a b Jaime Hovey Sexual subcultures entry in F. Malti-Douglas Encyclopedia of Sex and Gender Vol. 4 Gale 2007 pp. 1372-1373 a b Jaime Hovey Sexual subcultures entry in F. Malti-Douglas Encyclopedia of Sex and Gender Vol. 4 Gale 2007 pp. 1374 References Cante Richard C. (March 2009). Gay Men and the Forms of Contemporary US Culture. London: Ashgate Publishing. ISBN 0 7546 7230 1.  Gelder Ken (2007). Subcultures: Cultural Histories and Social Practice (Routledge March 2007; softcover ISBN 0-415-37952-0) Hebdige Dick (1979). Subculture: The Meaning of Style (Routledge March 10 1981; softcover ISBN 0-415-03949-5). Cited in Negus Keith (1996). Popular Music in Theory: An Introduction. Wesleyan University Press. ISBN 0-8195-6310-2. Huq Rupa (2006) 'Beyond subculture' (Routledge 2006; softcover ISBN 0-415-27815-5. Hardcover ISBN 0-415-27814-7) Maffesoli Michel (1996). The Time of the Tribes: The Decline of Individualism in Mass Society. (London: Sage Publications. ISBN 080398474X) McKay George (1996) Senseless Acts of Beauty: Cultures of Resistance since the Sixties. (London: Verso. ISBN 1-85984-028-0.) McKay George (2005) Circular Breathing: The Cultural Politics of Jazz in Britain. Durham NC: Duke University Press. ISBN 0-8223-3573-5. Riesman David (1950). "Listening to popular music" American Quarterly 2 p. 359-71. Cited in Middleton Richard (1990/2002). Studying Popular Music p. 155. Philadelphia: Open University Press. ISBN 0-335-15275-9. Thornton Sarah (1995). Club Cultures: Music Media and Subcultural Capital. Cambridge: Polity Press. Cited in Negus Keith (1996). Popular Music in Theory: An Introduction. Wesleyan University Press. ISBN 0-8195-6310-2. Watters Ethan (2003). Urban Tribes: A Generation Redefines Friendship Family and Commitment. ISBN 1-58234-264-4. Hall Stuart Tony Jefferson (1993). Resistance Through Rituals: Youth Subcultures in Post-War Britain. Routledge 1993. Blair M. Elizabeth. "Commercialization of Rap Music Youth Subculture." Journal of Popular Culture 27.3 (1993): 21-33. Print. Goldstein-Gidoni Ofra. "Producers of 'Japan' in Israel: Cultural appropriation in a non-colonial context." Ethnos:Journal of Anthropology 68.3 (2003): 365. Print. Lewin Phillip J. Patrick Williams. "Reconceptualizing Punk through Ideology and Authenticity". Conference PapersAmerican Sociological Association. 2007 Conference Papers 2007. Howes David. Cross-cultural consumption: global markets local realities. New York: Routledge 1996. Print. External links Disjuncture and Difference in the Global Economy Key youth subcultures from Lenin to our day