Ethnicity & Youth Subcultures Flashcards
(36 cards)
How have spectacular subcultures been influenced by ethnicity?
- Early rock and rock music listened to by teddy boys and the rockers was influenced by black rhythm and blues music in the USA.
- Skinheads favoured reggae and formed in resistance to immigration.
- Mods were seen to be imitating the cool styles of West Indians.
Who said spectacular subcultures were responses to the black immigrant presence?
Hebdige
What are Rastafarians?
- Most associated with Jamaican/Caribbean culture.
- Includes: reggae music, dreadlocks and clothes in colours red, gold, and green, based on the flag of Ethiopia where a lot of their religious beliefs are based on. It is associated with their African roots.
- Smoking marijuana is strongly associated with Rastafarianism as it’s part of their religion through the belief that it helps them reach a higher level of spirituality.
Who saw Rastafarianism and reggae culture as forms of resistance to white culture and racism, and its roots in relation to slavery?
Hebdige
What is Rastafarianism overall seen as?
A political and spiritual movement attracted by many Caribbean migrants to Britain, offering a positive identity and a source of opposition to racism they were experiencing.
Who discussed a ‘hyper ethnic style’ related to Brasians?
Johal
What is a ‘hyper ethnic style’?
- An exaggerated form of a parents culture.
- It may include watching Indian or Hindi films, and listening to Asian music.
- This can provide an ‘empowerment through difference’.
What does Johal also mention when discussing Brasians?
Code switching
- Where young Asians move between one cultural form to another depending on the context and which one is appropriate. E.g. marriage, religion and diet
Why can Brasian culture be seen as resistance and hybridity?
- They blend both Asian culture and aspects of British popular culture.
- They still hang on to some of their traditional culture which is resisting complete assimilation.
Who discussed the styling of hair within black culture?
Mercer
*How is the styling of hair within black culture symbolic?
- Afro and dreadlock hairstyles are seen as emphasising identification with the Black identity, so it could be a form of resistance.
- Straightened black hair style is seen as assimilation to white culture.
*- Mercer says these interpretations are simplistic and they are attempts to make a statement about the Black individual place within British culture.
Who talks about how gangsta rap is the ultimate hybrid music form?
Cashmore
What did Cashmore find when studying rap culture?
- It evolved and changed; local artists in different countries modified the sound and style to adapt it to their own culture.
- The changeability and hybridity support postmodernist ideas of fluidity of recent subcultures.
What are white wannabes?
- Young white working class males who afloat the style and language of ‘black culture’.
- May listen to music like hip hop or gangster rap and dress like young black males.
E.g Eminem, Ali G
What are modern primitives?
- Subculture found in US and parts of Western Europe.
- They have a wide and loose membership. Focus on individuality and self expression.
- They are characterised by body modifications, especially tattoos and piercings which are seen as a form of expression.
How can modern primitives be seen as a hybrid subculture?
- Their symbolism is drawn from non western ethnic groups linked to ‘primitive tribes’.
- They take inspiration from a range of cultures.
What did Vale and Juno say?
Body modification is a reaction to the sense of powerless created in a fast changing world as it’s a way to gain power and control.
Who discusses the issue with cultural appropriation?
Hutnyk
What does Hutnyk say about cultural appropriation?
- There are power differentials at work.
- Western cultures may strip the meaning from symbols and use them in a superficial way.
What did Nightingale study?
Young black males in Philadelphia
What did Nightingale argue?
- Young black males consumed mainstream culture through the media, but they were excluded racially and economically from fully participating in the mainstream means of achieving society’s goals.
- They turned to illegitimate means like violence and crime to achieve them.
Who studied Latino and African American drug dealers in New York?
Bourgois
What did Bourgois discuss?
- The ‘anguish of growing up poor’ in the richest city in the world, arguing this created an inner city culture where deviance became the norm.
- They were highly ambitious and motivated.
- Drug dealing was a way of surviving and achieving respect.
- It was a ‘million dollar industry’.
What do Nightingale’s and Bourgois’ studies refer to?
‘The paradox of inclusion’
Desire to be included drives the desire for success, yet to achieve this for those suffering from poverty and racism means deviance and criminality, ensuring exclusion.
