Writing Worth Reading
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Writing Worth Reading
The importance of Inside Subculture comes from the finding that members of subcultures – or subculturalists – are a lot less coherent than they were originally thought to be. Coherence was a critical component in earlier studies. Subculturalists are a lot more playful than originally thought, and lot more diverse – within their own scene – than previously argued.
What is Inside Subculture: The Post-modern Meaning of style about?
This is a crucial book in the field of subculture studies and cultural studies. Its importance comes from the finding that members of subcultures – or subculturalists – are a lot less coherent than they were originally thought to be. Coherence was a critical component in earlier studies. A subculturalist chose a certain music and a certain style because it carried a coherent set of ideological values. You couldn’t be into both punk and trance, for example, and if you were, well, you were a true fan of neither. But this is no so true in postmodern times any more. It’s quite common for many people to have eclectic tastes, and therefore to have eclectic styles, and diverse cultural elements to choose from and combine together. This is not a form of incoherence, however. Rather, it is a form of pastiche, of bricolage. Subculturalists are a lot more playful than originally thought, and lot more diverse – within their own scene – than previously argued.
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Phillip Vannini is Associate Professor in the School of Communication and Culture at Royal Roads University in Canada. His latest book is Authenticity in Self, Culture, and Society. He uses an ethnographic approach to sociology and anthropology, which involves research through immersion in the culture under observation.
