New Bikers Subcultures

Journal of Consumer Research Inc.

Subcultures of Consumption: An Ethnography of the New Bikers
Author(s): John W. Schouten and James H. McAlexander
Source: The Journal of Consumer Research, Vol. 22, No. 1 (Jun., 1995), pp. 43-61
Published by: The University of Chicago Press
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/2489699 .
Accessed: 17/05/2011 19:33
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Prior ethnographies of self-selecting or achieved (vs. ascribed) subcultures reveal glimpses of characteristics that make such groups especially intriguing to consumer researchers and marketers. Such a subculture typically encounters in certain products or activities cultural meanings that ultimately become articulated as unique, homologous styles or ideologies of consumption (Hebdige 1979; Kinsey 1982; Schwendinger and Schwendinger 1985). Hard-core or high-status members of achieved subcultures function as opinion leaders (Fox
1987). Subculturally created styles may be shared or imitated by a much larger audience or market peripheral to the core subculture (Fox 1987; Klein 1985) and may even become imitated and commercialized for mass consumption (Blair and Hatala 1991; Fox 1987; Gottdiener 1985; McCracken 1986; Schwendinger and
Schwendinger 1985). Finally, certain achieved subcultures have been observed to transcend national
ETHNOGRAPHIC METHOD
This description of the HDSC is based on three years of fieldwork that evolved from site-specific, part-time ethnography into sustained, full-time ethnographic immersion in the HDSC. The evolving nature of our ethnographic involvement allowed us to experience and interact with different elements of the subculture as insiders. In a process of progressive contextualization, we began as outsiders and gradually became accepted members of various groups within the HDSC. Along the road (literally and figuratively) toward the core of the subculture we gained insights and perspectives that would have been difficult, if not impossible, to achieve through less sustained involvement. For example, as neophyte members of the subculture we recorded certain experiences and observations; later, with increased time and stature within the subculture, we were privileged to understand those same neophyte experiences from a new vantage point as more seasoned