Sociology of Subcultures

Whether based on music and style (punk, emo, hip hop), physical activities (skateboarding, surfing, parkour) or pop culture fandom, networks of (young) people regularly are labelled as subcultures. In this course, we will examine subcultures based on sociological and ethnographic materials. We will discuss who participates in subcultures and who is excluded (on the basis of class, race, gender, sexuality); whether subcultures are inherently resistant and what distinguishes them from social movements; and whether the concept of subculture holds up under contemporary processes of globalization, digitalization and post-modernization or in geographic settings beyond urban centers.