Subculture: The Meaning of Style (New Accents) (utgåvan 1979)

Hebdige's thesis in this text that subcultures form out of different and often oppositional reactions to the hegemonic social structure (as informed by any number of socio-political variables). As the reaction materializes into a subculture it represents danger that the hegemonic structure seeks to make "normal" in response.

this text for good reason is looked upon as must read in terms of studying culture. It certainly hold but most writers on subcultures reference Hebdige's work making it worth a least perusing. What I found most interesting was Hebdige's explanation of cultural diffusion (or perhaps more accurately cultural appropriation) of black subcultural styles in order to add weight and legitimacy to subcultures generally thought of as white (e.g. Rastas & Rude Boys influence on Punk and its children). In a time where there's a lot of discussion about cultural appropriation and the framework with which to point it out is still on somebodies anvil somewhere (as far as I am aware) this is worth sinking your teeth into. ( )

Hebdidge wrote this while the events, trends and practices he describes were all pretty recent and he tries very hard to imbue the punk and post-punk world with a social and political relevance that I'm afraid it just didn't have. Not that what Hebdidge talks about meant nothing, just it didn't really carry the deep, mainly political, significance he'd have liked it to. Style has a meaning, but we always knew it did--we just thought it was ephemeral meaning. Hebdidge doesn't manage to disabuse us of this notion. ( )

sociology

Hebdige's text, my own personal introduction into cultural studies, was something of an enigma to me because my initial thought, and the one that sustained itself throughout my reading (up until the penultimate page), was, "Why write a book on punk?" Because, I answered to myself, once you define what punk is and explain how to be punk, doesn't punk self-destruct?

The answer, as it turns out, is yes, but the way in which Hebdige explores the artificiality of punk and the manner in which it has become an empty amalgamation of many different, more meaningful subcultures, offers an interesting take on WHY that emptiness exists.

To that end, though this text really applies only to its cultural moment (late 1970s England), it has a certain amount of relevance to the American punk scene as it has survived today.

A concise, clear, and surprisingly complex study, well worth the brief amount of time it will take to read.