ABSTRACT

In cultural theory societies are understood to be structured around power relations involving more or less dominant groupings; relative dominance facilitates a position of cultural ideology or hegemony, the idea that the interests of ruling classes also become the ideas that dominate and influence society more generally. Yet even within the most culturally dominated societies we can locate counter- or subcultures, groups with norms that are at odds with, or different from, hegemonic ideas and values. Such subcultures often involve a range of practices linked with style (Hebdige, 1979) such as fashion, dress or taste in music that are used by particular groups to display political opposition or social difference from mainstream tastes or social values. Cultural studies and criminology share a concern with the study of deviance; the rise of cultural criminology has moved these concerns forward by investigating the styles and experiences of illicit subcultures and the criminalisation of such popular forms (Ferrell, 1999: 395).