Spectacular Subcultures

• Came about in the 1950’s, when there was high employment and wealth.

• However, this group was often excluded from this wealth as they had not done very well at school.

• They had only dead-end futures to look forward to. 

• They had nowhere to go so hung around local cafes in large groups. 

• Teddy’s Boys wore Edwardian-style, brightly coloured jackets, suede shoes and bootlace ties.

• It was said that the jackets symbolised that they were trying to be like their middle-class superiors and the ties were like those worn by cowboys in Western films, who they saw as cool role models. 

• Skinheads were seen to represent an exaggerated version of working-class masculinity.

• They wore an extreme form of manual worker’s clothes like rolled up jeans, braces and big boots- often with steal-toe caps.

• Their attitude was macho, aggressive, and often racist.

• It was argued that these youths felt their working-class identity was under threat due to the poor economic conditions and lack of jobs, so they were over-exaggerating it as a form of resistance.

• Skinheads were often linked to football hooliganism as a way of marking their territory. 

• Mods were usually working-class, but they were a more affluent group.

• They used their money to create a style that was a resistance against the middle class.

• They showed they too could be smart and cool with their Italian suits and scooters.

• Male mods were not overly macho, often dressing in suits, fishtail parkers and Fred Perry polo’s.

• Many of the mods drove Vespa or Lambretta scooters which they often adapted themselves, adding numerous mirrors onto the sides.  

• They were often influenced by music such as soul, rhythm and blues, ska and jazz, with bands such as The Who, The Kinks and The Jam being personal mod favourites. 

• Hebdige used the term ‘bricolage’ to describe punk culture.

• Punks often used ordinary objects and put them together in a new way to create their own fashion and identity.

• For example, wearing ripped clothes and piercing their bodies and clothing with safety pins.

• Bin liners became tops, ******* and fetish clothes were worn as everyday items and hair was coloured and shaped in extreme ways.

• Punk emerged as a resistance against the mainstream media and fashion industries, which were often telling the youth how to be.

• It often attracted working class, alienated youth and also college students who were attracted to the energy of this subculture.

• They also had political elements, with bands such as the Sex Pistols and The Clash singing about poverty and ‘smashing the system’.

• Rockers were a subculture that came about around the 1960s. 

• These members wore black leather jackets, jeans and boots and often rode round on motorbikes listening to rock and roll music.

• They were often referred to as the ‘biker culture’. 

• They were often unskilled, manual labourers and were sometimes referred to as bikers.