Goths, Gamers, and Grrrls - Chapter 3
● Punks - worldwide subculture
● Different subcultures
● Subcultures tend to blend with other subcultures and tend to blend into other subgroups
● Share elements of beliefs and ideals called syncretism
● Fragmentation - splintering into different subgroups
● Teddy Boy subculture is one that punks originated from
● Punks value personal freedom, disorder, have a disrespect for authority and tradition
● Anarchy is one of their values
● From a social ecological view, american punks started out more as a rebellion to disco
● Merton’s adaptation to strain: innovation
● Punk was meant to shock and repulse mainstream society, upper class individuals
● Hairstyles that were popular were mohawks and liberty spikes (some also did adopt the more skinhead look
of a shaved head)
● Punks came from working class families but since then style has become more of a middle class
phenomenon
● New York had more of a pop feel in the punk music
● LA started a more rough, hardcore, antagonistic, masculine punk scene in music (most punk music was
more androgynous) however the ethos they kept
● By the 90s punk had become more or less two subgroups, the hardcore/heavy metal and the straightedge
● Early scenes of punk there was a lot of drug and alcohol use, became a stereotype
● Straightedge was a group who took a commitment to abstain from smoking, drinking, and promiscuous sex
(started in DC and spread throughout the nation/world)
● Straight Edge symbol was an X, usually on the hand
● By 2000s punks reached a ton of different subgroups
● Emo (emotional) - derived from punk but music displayed more poetic emotions, romance, somberness
● Emo bands encouraged more introspection, encouraged more of a show of emotions (transcended gender
boundaries usually for young males)
● Some emos blended into a gothic, punk, indie style but mainly they wore dark, tight clothes
● Indie rock became more of a catch off phrase that replaced alt rock - meant music that was out of the
mainstream
● Common themes among subgroups despise authority, question everything, typically not patriotic, mindset
of living for the moment (believed society was going down hill)
● Music shows for punks represent the chaos that punks see in the world
● Modern punks can still wear the attire however they more easily blend in with normal society
● Tattoos weren't legal in all states until 2006
● Bricolage - means taking aspects of popular culture and reworking or combining them into new forms
● According to punk subculture, anyone could make music because it went against corporate labels
● Punks were all about DIY because it was about the music and the art
● Did eventually transition to being individuals of political and social change even if they didn't start out that
way
● Social stratification - a way of categorizing people based on characteristics that are deemed important by
that society, ongoing interaction
● Your status is your position or rank in society
● Ascribe status - status that you are born with, that you did not choose (race, sex, loyalty)
● Achieved status - status you achieve (like honor roll)
● Status hierarchy - an arrangement of statuses in which some are more valued or rewarded by than others
● Punks professed to be anti hierarchy but subgroups created a hierarchy
, ● Catherine Fox: four main positions in punk subculture
○ Hardcore punk - top of the chain, most costly live the ideals of the scene, committed to the punk
lifestyle 24/7
○ Softcore punk - less committed but still maintain a visible presence in the scene
○ Preppy punks - looked down on by hard and soft core punks, like the fashion but not committed to
the lifestyle
○ Spectators - not punks but they like the music, don’t try to dress up
● In subcultures, proving authenticity is important
Goths, Gamers, and Grrrls - Chapter 4
● Four main elements to hip hop? - djing (playing records, music, etc for a crowd, old style used turntables
but is not more electronic), break dancing (associated with hip-hop and rap), graffiti (also associated with
the hip-hop movement but maybe not anymore? Many artists did not have a connection with the graffiti
scene), and mcing (person who writes, raps, sings songs)
● Roles - each status comes with certain expectations and behaviors
● Hip hop developed as a response to inner city and urban life
● Subculture points out inconsistencies in larger culture, the gaps between societies values and what is actual
reality
● Racial ideology - widely held system of beliefs about race in a given society including explanations for
racial inequality
● White Racial Frame - the lense (or frame) that privileges white something something something
● Sociologists have found that there are no fixed characteristics of race
● Race is socially constructed, what people think about race depends on their social surrounding (does not
depend on the color of one’s skin)
● Racism is a belief system that asserts one race is inherently inferior to another
● Racism always involves a more powerful group judging a less powerful group as somehow morally inferior
● Racial scapegoating - blaming social problems on a racial or ethnic category (ex: high unemployment is
often blamed on immigrants)
● Our own racial category influences our perception of others
● Hip hop challenges the notion that racism has disappeared
● White flight - when white people leave the area when black/brown people move in to urban or suburban
areas, causes urban middle class to shrink which results in deterioration of schools, food deserts,
unemployment
● White privilege - not having to think about race, the concept of race is not a front runner of thought
● Hip hop has spread throughout the world, transcends race, gender, and class
● Largest consumer is white youth which causes a moral panic among white adults holding a certain
perception regarding the art form
● White males tend to identify with sexism and violence of gangster rap
● Role strain - when an individual occupies two or more seemingly contradictory statutes often producing
strain on the person and confusion (or worse) among others
● Rappers are typically rapping about his/her authenticity, greater pressure on white artists to show their
authenticity
● Cultural appropriation - the adoption of cultural elements belonging to an oppressed group by members of
the dominant group without permission and often for the dominant groups gain or profit
Social Reaction Theory
Labeling Theory: Frank Tannenbaum
● Juveniles that are caught committing antisocial acts
● Dramatization of evil - society worsens deviant juveniles when labeled
