Week Eight: Are subcultures a sign of revolt or an expression of style?

With music comes culture and with different genres come subcultures. How do we define subculture? Are they created in reflecting the times or for someone to find their identity?

For example, in the seventies the punk genre of music gave raise to the subculture of skinheads.

Stanley Cohen suggests that subcultures are ‘a gallery of types that society erects to show its members which roles to avoid.’ (1987) Skinheads were definitely people to avoid, as they tended to create riots.

Dick Hebdige however linked style with socio-economic situation ‘…appropriating the rhetoric of crisis…’ (1979) The seventies were tough times and as much as youth wanted to rebel, they also wanted an identity. They did this with eccentric style with leather jackets and safety pins.

I feel the revolt and style definitions to subculture are linked. After all by rebelling against social norms the subculture defines itself with its own styles.