The Performance of Sporting Subcultures 05 19 2010 Topic 1 What is a subculture A subculture is a group of people with their own distinct culture that distinguishes differentiates them from the dominant mainstream culture and from other subculures Subculture identity is the individual expression of an affinity membership of a particular grouping which simultaneously distinguishes the individual from other individuals and groupings Subcultures can be based around a combination of the following dimensions Generation music class gender culture style religion ethnicity location sport Subcultures largely define their identity sense of coherence and belonging through their relationship of difference with mainstream culture Depending on their precise nature and in relation to mainstream culture subcultural groups can thus be considered one of more of the following Counter offer an alternative way of life lifestyle to that of the mainstream culture Resistant more active and sometimes hostile resistance to mainstream culture Deviant illegal activities adopted which subvert the norms and rules of mainstream culture How are subcultural groupings boundaries formed Through a commitment to and expression of common factors such as Values and ideals Personal style aesthetic Cultural preferences Language codes and expressions Bodily practices and behavior Interestingly many subcultural trends become incorporated into mainstream culture Football Hooligan Groups the archetypal traditional sport subculture Spontaneous and usually low level disorder caused by fans at or around football matches the type that typically occurs at England away matches Deliberate and intentional violence involving organized gangs or firms who attach themselves to football clubs and fight firms from other clubs sometimes a long way in time and Topic 2 Sporting subcultures The traditional understanding of subcultures Working class Masculine Spatially communally based Politically resistant Two types of hooliganism space from a match Dimensions of hooligan subculture Values and ideals Language codes and expressions Personal style aesthetic Cultural preferences Bodily practices and behavior Insider Outsider hooligan firm status The degree to which an individual exemplifies performs the various dimensions of the firm subculture determines their perceived firm authenticity insider status and firm membership Topic 3 Rethinking and new subcultural formations Within sociology there is considerable debate as to whether subculture is indeed a relevant In other words there are many sociologists who view subculture to be an outdated and imprecise concept anymore category Hence they argue we are post subculture The critique of earlier understandings of subcultures centered on their 1 Exclusively focus on white male working class analysis 2 Overemphasis on style as a form of political resistance 3 Exaggeration of role place of subculture within people s overall life existence 4 Failure to acknowledge the complexity and fluidity of many individual s subcultural 1 Predominant focus on white male working class Evidently there are other subcultural groupings based on class gender ethnic and cultural Furthermore there are important differences class gender ethnic and cultural operating with some subcultural groupings 2 Identification of style as a form of political resistance Although subcultural groups may be based around some form of political resistance many are Furthermore there has been a tendency to treat subcultural style as a form of political resistance when it is often little more than an expression of aesthetic difference 3 Exaggeration of role place of subculture within people s overall life existence 4 Failure to acknowledge the complexity and fluidity of many individual s subcultural affiliations differences not affiliations These youth groups are not as fixed or coherent as the term subculture implies but instead reflect the more unstable and shifting cultural attatchments that characterize late modern consumer based societies Wheaton 2007 pp 289 290 Modern industrial society Production based economy individual identity determined by productive role in industrial economy relatively fixed and largely class based identities Late modern post industrial society Consumption based economy individual identity determined by consumptive role in industrial economy relatively fluid and largely consumption based identities identity as aesthetic collective expression Within contemporary consumer culture individual identities and subcultural groupings have become constituted through specific consumption practices The perpetual dynamism of consumer culture leads to the fluidity of individual and subcultural neo tribal identities as people are encouraged to look for the latest most culturally valued styles brands commodities identity Rather than possessing relatively stable identities collective affiliations individuals become flaneurs detached and uncommitted individuals perpetually seeking out the latest source of Topic 4 The emergence of alternative sporting subcultures Despite the evident existence of ephemeral and perpetually shifting consumption based sporting neo tribes there is considerable evidence to suggest the continued existence of sporting subcultures based on multilayered and intensive commitment These subcultures may not be political in the traditional sense of the term opposing particular power structures and relations However these contemporary subcultures are sources of differentation particularly as they offer activities lifestyle based identities out of difference from the cultural sporting mainstream Thus many contemporary sporting subcultures are quite literally alternatives to the disciplining constraints of traditional sporting activities According to Foucault modern societies need to be able to control its population the body become a useful force only if it is a productive body Physical education as disciplinary institution training healthy productive and obedient citizens Team sports represent perhaps the best example of how individual bodies are presently disciplined in and through sport Team sport as disciplinary institution disciplining the body mind according to the rules and requirements of modern capitalist society Team sports disciplining function Playing according to social rules and regulations Learning cooperation and teamwork Acknowledging and accepting role Suppression of individual in favor of