ABSTRACT
In this chapter, the author explores the organization of club culture by comparing the social worlds portrayed in clubber discourses with the social worlds she observed as an ethnographer. This reflexive methodological approach enables a double interrogation the meaning of the 'mainstream' and the social logic of youth's subcultural capitals. The author attempts to offer a fuller representation of the complex stratifications and mobilities of contemporary youth culture. Interestingly, the social logic of subcultural capital reveals itself most clearly by what it dislikes and by what it emphatically isn't. The vast majority of clubbers and ravers distinguish themselves against the mainstream. The author discusses some of the methodological problems involved in mapping the cultural organization of clubs, given the specific social agendas to which clubber representations of the clubworld are put. Some clubbers liken getting through the door to passing an exam: one needs to study the look, prepare the body and stay cool under pressure.
