Postmodern Youth Culture
This essay I am going to discuss contemporary youth culture, and how fashion and appearance are being used to communicate a certain identity. My main focus will be on trying to explain how they are characteristic for the post modern are and how they are distinct from “authentic” subcultures. Furthermore I will look into the central role consumption have in post modern youth cultures. When discussing these different ideas, I have chose to look into two contemporary youth cultures; the hipster and the clubbers.
Fashion and appearance are about showing who we are. Kratz and Reimer (1998) state how fashion is a cultural phenomen that we use to communicate to others our identity. This identity could be social and cultural, it can be showing belonging to a certain group, and distance to another group, or it can be the different identities we have in our everyday lives (kratz & reimer, 1998). Historically this identity was essentially about social class and economic capital. Fashion was used to show of wealth, and the upper classes used it to differentiate THEMSELVES FROM THE LOWER CLASSES. (Bocock, 1993). When the youth subcultures started to develop in modern times this changed. In his book on subcultures Hebdige (1979) identifies how the function of fashion now changed. Instead of representing hegemony, and making it more noticeable, fashion was challenging it.
In the concept of style as communication in relation to subcultures Hebdige (1979) proceeds to point out how style is used to show deviance and work as a function to differentiate. He argues, by drawing on Eco (1973), how fashion can be viewed as socially constructed codes, and by wearing a specific outfit, you communicate a certain character. Subcultures distinguished themselves from this by creating their own codes, or breaking the ones that already existed. They used fashion to express their distinctive identities, to show resistance against the dominant culture (Hebdige, 1979). Post modern
Fashion and appearance are about showing who we are. Kratz and Reimer (1998) state how fashion is a cultural phenomen that we use to communicate to others our identity. This identity could be social and cultural, it can be showing belonging to a certain group, and distance to another group, or it can be the different identities we have in our everyday lives (kratz & reimer, 1998). Historically this identity was essentially about social class and economic capital. Fashion was used to show of wealth, and the upper classes used it to differentiate THEMSELVES FROM THE LOWER CLASSES. (Bocock, 1993). When the youth subcultures started to develop in modern times this changed. In his book on subcultures Hebdige (1979) identifies how the function of fashion now changed. Instead of representing hegemony, and making it more noticeable, fashion was challenging it.
In the concept of style as communication in relation to subcultures Hebdige (1979) proceeds to point out how style is used to show deviance and work as a function to differentiate. He argues, by drawing on Eco (1973), how fashion can be viewed as socially constructed codes, and by wearing a specific outfit, you communicate a certain character. Subcultures distinguished themselves from this by creating their own codes, or breaking the ones that already existed. They used fashion to express their distinctive identities, to show resistance against the dominant culture (Hebdige, 1979). Post modern