ABSTRACT
The iconic subculturist exemplifies the “spectacular” style subcultures studied by the Birmingham scholars, a lad who loves his music, his drink, and his mates. The skinhead with his cropped hair, braces, and steel-toed boots; the mod with his customized Vespa, a dozen shiny mirrors splaying out in a chrome fan from his motorbike; the punk sporting his leather jacket, safety-pin piercings, and “liberty spikes” haircut; the denim-clad, long-haired metalhead, his favorite band emblazoned across a black t-shirt. He is young, straight, white, and male, a marginalized “working-class hero” joined with his compatriots in defiance of an alienating, exploitative society. However, while certainly photogenic and not at all uncommon, this culture warrior hardly represents the variety of people identifying with subcultures in the twenty-first century. What types of people participate in subcultures? In previous chapters, I debunked the view of subculturists as psychologically disturbed or criminal youth and questioned the notion they are strictly the product of chaotic communities or “broken” homes. Subcultural participation is not confined to any particular psychological profile or demographic category; rather a diversity of people claim subcultural affiliations. Still, various groups may have different interest in, access to, and experiences within subcultural communities.
