Analysis Of Dick Hebdige's Subculture: The Meaning Of Culture

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Youth cultures are a quickly changing dynamic that goes hand in hand with the modern and globalized surrounding conditions we live in. In a community, there are smaller cultures “subcultures”, within a bigger culture that represent smaller groups of people with almost the same interests or beliefs that differ from those in the bigger community. These subcultures may differ from the older generations, but this change is a sort of resistance from the children to the routine and suffocating living conditions. In the 1979 book by Dick Hebdige “Subculture: The Meaning of Culture” the book and its content relates more to the Birmingham School, Hebdige argued that a subculture is a way of destroying the normalcy. These subcultures are seen as negative due to the criticism given to them by media outlets and how they fight against the societal norms, but they are also a way of solace for those standing out, those who feel neglected by the society. In this essay, the main themes discussed would be an overview of the Chicago School of Sociology, Birmingham School and how they meet and differ in their theories.

Chicago School of Sociology was the first department of sociology emerging during the 1920s and 1930s specializing in urban sociology, it’s distinguished from other departments by ethnographic methods. The school is famous for its concepts of the subcultures as a group of deviant youth whose coming into view had to do with the interaction and perception of self against those of