Contesting

Culture:
Subcultures, Youth and Class
1- Defining contesting culture
2- Subcultures
3- contesting culture in relation to power dynamics
4- Dick Hebdige’s “Subcultures: The Meaning of Style”
5- Contesting culture in relation to Youth
the concept of contesting culture refers to
the dynamic process through which
different groups and individuals challenge,
resist, negotiate, and transform dominant
cultural norms, values, and practices.
This manifests mainly in subcultures, which
often emerge in marginal or working-class
communities as a way for individuals and
groups to express dissent, resistance, and
alternative values by developing their own
symbols, narratives, aesthetics and
practices that diverge from and challenge
and subvert the dominant class cultural
hegemony
“Subcultures represent noise
(as opposed to sound) [...] a
kind of temporary blockage in
the system of representation”
-S. Hall
 This noise suggests a blockage, an area
where society has failed to address the
needs of certain individuals. By
transgressing on society's sacred
definitions, subcultures call attention to
these blockages. Either the dominant
culture moves to correct these blockages,
or else it assimilates, and thus nullifies, the
subculture’s counter-hegemonic
narratives
 By appropriating and reappropriating,
reinterpreting and reclaiming symbols,
practices, and identities that have been
misrepresented or appropriated by dominant
culture, subcultures disrupt the power
dynamics of representation, challenging
stereotypes and reclaiming agency over their
own cultural narratives.
 Dick Hebdige
Dick Hebdige (born 1951) is an
English media theorist and
sociologist, and a professor of art
and media studies at the
University of California, Santa
Barbara. His work is commonly
associated with the study of
subcultures, and its resistance
against the mainstream of society.
 Subcultures: The Meaning of Style
(1979)
An examination of how style,
identity, and cultural resistance
intersect within subcultural
movements. Hebdige's analysis
underscores the significance of style
as a site of cultural resistance, where
marginalized youth negotiate their
identities and contest hegemonic
power structures.
 Society, as presented by Hebdige, is a complex
system of interrelated parts, with the
significance of people, places and things defined
by a dominant consensus. When subcultures
seek to define the world in their own terms,
conflict is the result. The manner in which this
conflict is articulated Hebdige calls style.
Subcultures carve meaning from the social space
of the dominant culture. The dominant culture
reacts by moving to assimilate the subculture
and its style into the dominant narrative.
 Youth is a critical period of identity-
formation. Young people turn to subcultures
as spaces of belonging and self-expression
where they can negotiate and explore their
sense of self in relation to broader social
structures. Thus, subcultures allow youth to
challenge norms and assert their agency and
individualism
subcultural participation can influence the
formation of youth identities, offering
alternative frameworks for understanding
oneself beyond mainstream cultural
expectations. Class dynamics play a
significant role in shaping the experiences
of youth within subcultures, as
socioeconomic factors may impact access
to resources, opportunities, and cultural
capital
 In Hall's concept of "resistance through
rituals," subcultures utilize cultural
practices such as music, fashion, and
language to express dissent and assert
alternative identities. Similarly, Hebdige's
analysis of subcultures in "Subculture:
The Meaning of Style" illustrates how
marginalized youth subvert dominant
cultural codes through their adoption of
distinctive styles and symbols.
 Punk subculture, for instance,
emerged in the 1970s as a form
of cultural resistance against
mainstream consumerism and
social conformity, with its DIY
aesthetic and anti-
authoritarian ethos challenging
the hegemony of dominant
class culture.
 The dominant culture often reappropriates
elements from subcultures by selectively
incorporating and commodifying aspects of
subcultural styles, symbols, and practices for
mainstream consumption. This process involves
extracting elements perceived as marketable or
trendy from subcultures, stripping them of their
original context and meanings, and repackaging
them for mass consumption, diluting the
subversive or oppositional nature of subcultural
expressions and reinforcing its own hegemonic
control over cultural production and
representation.
Examining contesting culture within cultural
studies illuminates complexities by revealing
the multifaceted ways in which marginalized
groups challenge dominant cultural norms
and values. It highlights the agency of
individuals and communities in resisting
hegemonic ideologies, while also
acknowledging the structural constraints
and power dynamics that shape cultural
contestation.
 Thank you for
your attention!