CONSTELLATION: Academic Research Into Subcultures – Session 6

Posted: February 28, 2014 | Author: | Filed under: Constellation | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

In this session, we looked at two academic research groups – The Centre for Contemporary Cultural Studies also known as The Birmingham School and Post CCCS also known as Post sub-cultural Theory.

What are the Characteristics of Subcultures according to the CCCS (The Birmingham School’s) Research?

The Birmingham School feel that Subculture is constructed in relation to a dominant culture and that it always defies society in some way. They state that Subculture is carried and associated with the youth of society and that it emerges when individuals in similar circumstances feel themselves to be isolated or neglected by mainstream society.  They say that subculture has a delicate relationship with the media and was a reaction against it. The school puts high emphasis  class and gender and makes the point that subcultures are derived by working class youths, predominantly masculine rebelling against society and the parent culture (the establishment). This is referred to as “symbolic resistance” (Osbergy, 2004 p.116) – a political or ideological act fighting the system through rituals. Rituals create a group identity mostly through appearance and style, they are how you can spot the punk in the room for example but they also suggest homology and Bricolage. Homology being a set of values and beliefs that are shared within a subculture and Bricolage meaning changing the meaning of objects to reflect these values. The Birmingham school are adamant that Bricolage is a part  of sub-cultural identity. However, there are criticisms of their research.

Criticisms of the Birmingham Schools Research

First of all, saying that working class people only did subculture isn’t accurate. Every sub-cultural gang is a variety of genders, backgrounds, classes etc. What about political statements against the system? Bricolage is evident in subculture but can you not just like a style and experiment with different fashions? They made general assumptions and stereotyped. They didn’t suggest that females were part of subculture whereas for example we know that there was a feminist attitude in punk, punk women defied the Barbie doll look and rebelled against the parent culture by doing so. O’Brien’s work suggests in fact that if women wanted to be equal they were attracted to the punk subculture. Gender Bias is a criticism of the Birmingham School. They oversimplified the complex social make up of many youth cultures but the Birmingham Schools work is important because it says that street style is a valid subject to study and that is their contribution.

What are the findings of Post-CCCS research into Subcultures? (Known as post sub-cultural theory or post modern subcultures)

Post sub-cultural theory refers to subcultures as Neo-tribes.  Neo- tribes allow members to wander through multiple group attachments. The post sub cultural view is that there is a style in subculture but there is not necessarily a political statement or ideology behind it. However, they do say that there is a political statement in attitude, rather than style.  They maintain that you can have punk views and sensibility for example without wearing safety pins and ripped clothes.  The Birmingham School suggested everyone in subcultures has a look and an attitude but post sub-cultural theory suggests that there is a more complex process of selecting style. They state that the boundaries between subcultures are blurred. One week you could have a goth look and the next week you could be dressed like a punk, in their opinion, this doesn’t mean your beliefs have changed. CCCS suggested the fact that you were part of one gang, you followed the rules of a subculture in the 1970s but in the 1990s, the post subcultures said that you could float between cultures. The Post modern approach is that there is a mash-up stylistically, and there can be a mixing of styles. The media is important in their approach. The CCCS said subculture was a reaction against the media but the post sub-cultural view is that the media have always played a part in sub-cultural style and have helped define it,  for examples inspiration from musicians in the media. They say they have a symbiotic relationship – subculture uses the media and the media uses them. Post modern research suggests that subculture is far more fluid with less clear boundaries and less clear identities. The picking and choosing of style is apparent and identities are not fixed by Gender and class. They maintain that you can wear a style without making a political statement.

What unites the Birmingham Schools research and the Post Sub-cultural theory?

Bricolage unites both teams, it is evident in both’s research. CCCS suggests that Bricolage always has a meaning relating to society. Post modernists maintain that people gather objects to create a style and say something about themselves.

SUMMARY: Academic Theories and Terms

(Muggleton, 2000) suggested that subculture is merely a “stylistic game to be played”  committing yourself to a sub-cultural scene is far less evident in the 21st century.

The act of adopting many styles  and creating a mash-up of them is known as a “supermarket of style” (Polhemus, 1995)

Neotribalism  – (Maffesoli,1996) The feeling of togetherness but its is informal and not necessarily because of style. You can have a community, but it doesn’t have to be manifested stylistically. You may be part of a certain community if you go and listen to music and another if you are watching football for example.

Postmodern Spaces – “The airport departure lounge” (Turner,1999) – The Idea that you are only part of a community for a certain amount of time and then you float into another community/identity.

Distinctions between Travelers and Tourists (Sweetman,2004) – suggests that subcultures are one of the other. The travelers follow the rules of one subculture/part of a goth gang for example. The people are still around today but tourists are the ones floating around, hanging around with the goth for a little while and then moving on. Both are in existence. It is not the death of the 1970s subcultures, but 1990s floating subcultures exist alongside them.

Objectified Sub-cultural Capital (Thornton 1995) – Sub-cultural capital is objectified by well made hair cuts and music. Objectified sub-cultural capital refers to the objects that say “I am a punk” for example. (external)

Embodied Sub-cultural Capital (Thornton, 2004) is the idea of being in the know. Using but not overusing slang. Words, Speech and Attitudes. Part of being cool is not making it look like you are trying too hard.

This session was highly interesting and it was definitely beneficial in looking at the research of both groups. In terms of analysing subculture it was valuable to look at the opinions of researchers in the 1970s and the 90s and contrasting them. I would say that the post modern view is a lot more valid today, but without the Birmingham School I may not have been studying subculture anyway as they put across the point that is was valid to study.

CONSTELLATION: PUNK STYLE: Re-signification of Objects and Dress: Session 5 Cath Davies

Posted: February 20, 2014 | Author: | Filed under: Constellation | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

RECAP: Subculture is based around material artifacts, values and territorial spaces and is defined by the active organisation of objects that they employ. Subcultures inflect “given” meanings by combining things borrowed from different contexts and giving them a different code. Subcultures Intensify, exaggerate or isolate through the modification of objects. New meanings are achieved by the re-signification of objects. Subcultures combine forms according to a “secret language or code, to which only members of the group possess the key.

“Punk”

Punks

Dick Hebdige was the first person to write about Punk, and the first person that thought punk was worthy of being analysed as a subculture. He refers to three main subcultural theories within his work – Subcultural Bricoleur or Bricolage, Semiotic Guerilla Warfare and Style as Homology.

Below  I have outlined my understanding of these theories:

Subcultural Bricoleur: Refers to Subcultures like the punks, gathering objects, signs and artefacts and combining them to generate new meanings out of them, different from their existing ones. It considers how subcultures use objects to respond to their environment and explain how they see the world. Bricolage is all about the visual, the aesthetics and all the items that styles incorporate to portray a message.

Semiotic Guerilla Warfare: Refers to the use of offensive language and poor attitude being displayed by punk culture which portrayed their rebellion against society. Offensive T-shirts that the punks wore were known as Guerilla outfits. The punks were waging a war on society and breaking societies rules. They adopted anti-establishment values via objects, music, style etc.

Style as Homology: Whereas Bricolage is about the visual within subculture, Homology refers to the values that go with the subculture, for example the anti-establishment punk statement that is being made through appearance and acts. A subculture looks like chaos, but in fact there’s entire structures and specific rules to follow if you want to be part of that culture.

Characteristics of Punk Style:

Ripped Clothes were not accepted in society. The punks either left their t shirts ripped or put zips in the rips. This is changing the meaning of an object to create a new meaning, zips are used to hold to bits of material together but this is not their function here. This also refers to the safety pins that the punks adored themselves with, their original function is also to hold material together but they used them in their cheeks and lips as a piece of jewellery, therefore creating another new meaning. The punks understood the accepted rules of society and because of this knowledge could rebel against them. Piercings are acceptable today because of punk.

On the subject of jewellery, the punks also wore lavatory chains, razor blades, television components, tampons and clothes pegs as necklaces or earrings etc. The punks wanted to shock society so they wore anything that was not accepted as jewellery. Shock is socially constructed. The breaking of societies rules is shocking and this is exactly what the punks did. Society changes over time and whats considered shocking changes with it.

Cheap, trashy fabrics made up the punk look. They purposefully chose fabrics that were not considered classy like PVC. They took bondage wear out of its original context and wore it on the streets. This was considered socially unacceptable. It had a shock factor and was seen to be threatening because of the fact that they were associated with underground society. They took anything “seedy” and wore it out in the mainstream.

Brightly coloured Dyed hair signified punk style. Hair dyes original function was to change the colour of your hair but so that it still looked natural or to cover up grey hairs. Hair dye is accepted in society if it looks as natural as possible. The punks are rebelling against societies rules again here because bright green or red or pink is never going to look natural. Punk was meant to look constructed. They deliberately advertised themselves as fake because societies beauty treatments are pushed as being natural. It is the same when considering make up – in society girls wear make up, so the male punks wore it too, make up is supposed to look natural and more beautiful, so the punks over did it, broke rules and wore make up to make them look unattractive and threatening. Part of Re-signification of Objects and Dress is to exaggerate.

The punks deliberately wrecked school uniform. School uniform suggests conformity so the punks slashed and put graffiti on it. The punks were very Nialistic and trashed everything Britain stood for. They claimed the symbol of the swastika and changed its meaning because of its shock factor. It was particularly shocking to the people of society who had lived through the war.

Music played a major part in punk subculture. Bands such as the sex pistols appealed to the punks. The music was angry and suggested that there was no future and no place for young people in society. At gigs, bands would spit on the audience and the audience would spit back. The lyrics of the music favoured by punks was deliberately shocking and antagonistic.

catwomananarchypose76

Above, is an image of cat woman, a groupie of the Sex Pistols. Her punk look is characterised by lots of eyeliner, masculine hair, black nails and nontraditional jewellery. The shaven short hair is making a statement here. In society it is known that hair should make women more desirable. The punks didn’t conform to this and it was threatening to society that women were doing more masculine things.

Punk Rock Mohawk Hairstyles1

Punks invented the Mohican hair style. In fights, the punk would use the large, hard points in their hair to harm the other  and hair literally became a weapon.

Homology implies the set of rules and shared values that go with subculture. For example, you couldn’t have been a punk and voted for Margaret Thatcher. A punks sensibility would be that you don’t vote for a political party but you go to vote and trash the voting paper to make a statement- anti-politics. It is implied, that subculture always has an anti establishment attitude, but we can challenge this. Today, items can be isolated from their meanings, for example, you could have a mohican and a safety pin through your nose and still vote for David Cameron. Punk is now merely a style. This poses the question: Can things now just be a style with no meaning? You are not making a statement about punk values when you go to a fancy dress party dressed like a punk, you are merely wearing a style.

Subcultural meanings do not just have to relate to clothes, hair and make-up…

playlist-noblesse-sex-pistols-god-save-the-queen

Above is an image of the album cover of “God save the Queen” by the Sex Pistols, designed by Jamie Reed. The song “God save the Queen” was banned in the 1970s and no radio was allowed to play it. It was not allowed to be advertised as number one and has a strong punk sensibility.

The Flag within the image stands for establishment and Britishness and Patriotism. Jamie Reed has used an official photo of the queen within this cover, he hasn’t drawn here as he wanted her to be instantly recognisable to all. Both the queen and the flag are linked in this image. She is the figure head of Britain and both imagery stands for establishment. The punk meaning comes into this image through what Jamie Reed has done to existing imagery. Dadaism was a huge influence on punk style. Dadaism mastered the art of collage and showed how new meanings could be generated from combining and altering existing imagery. The Punks adopted this “cut-up technique”.

There are meanings within the image due to where the words are placed. The eyes and mouth of the queen have been ripped off. Ripped is a key motif in punk and here a damaged face implies violence and threat. This illustrates the semiotic violence towards everything the queen stands for by the punks. The punks are making a statement here saying that they are not patriotic and trash the establishment. The typography within the image displays a ransom note look and therefore implies a crime. A crime is being committed against the queen. This is strongly linked to Dadaism where things look deliberately put together but were not originally. Everything about the punks cup up aesthetic looks amateur. This is clearly visible in a page from the punk fanzine, “Sniffin Glue” below.

5.0.3

The cover of this sex pistols album fits in with Bricolage because traditional symbols of Britain have been taken and changed to have a new meaning. The punks changed these patriotic images to be rebellious and to shock society. It also demonstrated semiotic guerilla warfare because it is the epitome of an anti-establishment statement and they are waging a war against typical Britain. Homology is highly apparent, as within this image there is a Re-signification of Objects portraying the values of the subculture.

In his text, Hebdige makes the point that “the cycle leading from opposition to diffusion, from resistance to incorporation encloses each successive subculture”. He means that eventually, anything alternative becomes mainstream over time. Subcultures are only shocking at a particular time.

In conclusion, Punk as a subculture was incredibly shocking in the 70s and broke all the rules of society. They went against conforming to anything accepted into society and were all about being anti-establishment. Punk style demonstrates all three of Hebdiges subcultural theories and includes examples of bricolage, semiotic guerilla warfare and homology.