Brony Fandom
Brony Fandom Table of Contents History/Summary In an attempt to attract the attention of little girls across the nation, Hasbro Studios forged the My Little Pony entertainment franchise in 1981. With what began as a toy line of brightly colored ponies, each sporting their own distinct manes, the My Little Pony brand has changed and expanded multiple times since […]
Burning Man
Table of Contents The Evolution of Burning Man The Burning Man culture emerged organically in San Francisco in the late 1980s after a small group of friends set up an evening campfire on Baker Beach to celebrate the summer solstice and decided to burn an eight-foot wood sculpture of a man. Larry Harvey and Jerry […]
Authenticity and Subcultural Capital
Background Theory The field of philosophy defines the term ‘authentic’ either in the strong sense of being “of undisputed origin or authorship”, or in the sense of being “faithful to an original” or a “reliable, accurate representation” (Varga & Guinon 2017). In the realm of sociology, authenticity plays a paramount role in how individuals […]
Heavy Metal
Table of Contents History In the late 1960s and early 1970s, Britain’s post-war economic boom began coming to an end. This period of economic decline continued into the early 1980s, marked by a rise in unemployment, inflation, and labor strikes. During this time, options for working-class youths were limited, especially in the blue-collar industrial town […]
Commodification
What is Commodification? Pop culture, advertisements, mainstream, and capital. These are all aspects of commodification—the act of taking something’s original form and commercializing it, turning it into an object of trade and capital. Commodification is socially constructed and involves businesses taking things such as identity and language and turning aspects of them […]
Sape
Introduction “I come from a line of Sapeurs”, a finely dressed Congolese man proclaims sitting alongside his traditionally dressed wife in their modest home, as he proudly shows off family albums. The Sapeurs-members of the Society of Tastemakers and Elegant People- are Congolese men who live to make a statement, adhering to a fine […]
B-boys
Table of Contents History Image of 1980s B-boy kids on the Street, New York City. The emergence of Hip-Hop as a cultural phenomenon during the decade of the 1970s characterized a pivotal cultural shift in America. The Hip-Hop subculture gained momentum, and ultimately swept the music industry. Encompassed within this scene were the stylistic art […]
What is a Subculture?
Subcultural Theory Subcultural theory was first developed by sociology scholars at the Chicago School in the 1920s. The Chicago School explored the existence of deviant behavior and discussed deviance as a product of social problems within society. The Birmingham School added to subcultural theory, investigating the ways in which individuals joined groups that […]
Lolita
Lolita Table of Contents The ‘Cute’ Community History and the Basics The term Lolita may have originated from Vladmir Nabakov’s 1955 novel Lolita, yet its origins and contemporary meaning are vastly different. Where the novel introduced Western Society to the sexualized child, the subculture stands as a response to the rigidity and homogeneity of modern Japanese society […]