Hardcore

Hardcore. grunge, heavy metal and others. I discribed their fashion, style, bands, music, lyrics, political views. And the last part contains two dictionaries.

The first dictionary is about youth slang during 1960 -70s and the second dictionary consists of modern British slang. Slang an attempt of common humanity to escape from bald literalism, and express itself illimitably the wholesome fermentation or eductation of those processes eternally active in language, by which froth and specks are thrown up, mostly to pass away, though occasionally to settle and permanently crystallise. Walt Whitman, 1885 I. SLANG 1. Definition Main Entry 1slang Pronunciation sla ng Function noun Etymology origin unknown Date 1756 1 language peculiar to a particular group as a ARGOT b JARGON 2 2 an informal nonstandard vocabulary composed typically of coinages, arbitrarily changed words, and extravagant, forced, or facetious figures of speech - slang adjective - slang i ly sla ng - -lE adverb - slang i ness sla ng -E-n s noun - slangy sla ng -E adjective Main Entry 2slang Date 1828 intransitive senses to use slang or vulgar abuse transitive senses to abuse with harsh or coarse language Main Entry rhyming slang Function noun Date 1859 slang in which the word intended is replaced by a word or phrase that rhymes with it as loaf of bread for head or the first part of the phrase as loaf for head Source Webster s Revised Unabridged Dictionary Slang nonstandard vocabulary composed of words or senses characterized primarily by connotations of extreme informality and usually by a currency not limited to a particular region.

It is composed typically of coinages or arbitrarily changed words, clipped or shortened forms, extravagant, forced, or facetious figures of speech, or verbal novelties.

Slang consists of the words and expressions that have escaped from the cant, jargon and argot and to a lesser extent from dialectal, nonstandard, and taboo speech of specific subgroups of society so that they are known and used by an appreciable percentage of the general population, even though the words and expressions often retain some associations with the subgroups that originally used and popularized them. Thus, slang is a middle ground for words and expressions that have become too popular to be any longer considered as part of the more restricted categories, but that are not yet and may never become acceptable or popular enough to be considered informal or standard.

Compare the slang hooker and the standard prostitute.

Under the terms of such a definition, cant comprises the restricted, non-technical words and expressions of any particular group, as an occupational, age, ethnic, hobby, or special-interest group.

Cool, uptight, do your thing were youth cant of the late 1960s before they became slang. Jargon is defined as the restricted, technical, or shoptalk words and expressions of any particular group, as an occupational, trade, scientific, artistic, criminal, or other group. Finals used by printers and by students, Fannie May by money men, preemie by obstetricians were jargon before they became slang.

Argot is merely the combined cant and jargon of thieves, criminals, or any other underworld group. Hit used by armed robbers scam by corporate confidence men. Slang fills a necessary niche in all languages, occupying a middle ground between the standard and informal words accepted by the general public and the special words and expressions known only to comparatively small social subgroups.

It can serve as a bridge or a barrier, either helping both old and new words that have been used as insiders terms by a specific group of people to enter the language of the general public or, on the other hand, preventing them from doing so. Thus, for many words, slang is a testing ground that finally proves them to be generally useful, appealing, and acceptable enough to become standard or informal. For many other words, slang is a testing ground that shows them to be too restricted in use, not as appealing as standard synonyms, or unnecessary, frivolous, faddish, or unacceptable for standard or informal speech.

For still a third group of words and expressions, slang becomes not a final testing ground that either accepts or rejects them for general use but becomes a vast limbo, a permanent holding ground, an area of speech that a word never leaves. Thus, during various times in history, American slang has provided cowboy, blizzard, okay, racketeer, phone, gas, and movie for standard or informal speech.

It has tried and finally rejected conbobberation disturbance, krib room or apartment, lucifer match, tomato girl, and fab fabulous from standard or informal speech. It has held other words such as bones dice, used since the 14th century, and beat it go away, used since the 16th century, in a permanent grasp, neither passing them on to standard or informal speech nor rejecting them from popular, long-term use. Slang words cannot be distinguished from other words by sound or meaning.

Indeed, all slang words were once cant, jargon, argot, dialect, nonstandard, or taboo. For example, the American slang to neck to kiss and caress was originally student cant flattop an aircraft carrier was originally navy jargon and pineapple a bomb or hand grenade was originally criminal argot. Such words did not, of course, change their sound or meaning when they became slang. Many slang words, such as blizzard, mob, movie, phone, gas, and others, have become informal or standard and, of course, did not change in sound or meaning when they did so. In fact, most slang words are homonyms of standard words, spelled and pronounced just like their standard counterparts, as for example American slang, cabbage money, cool relaxed, and pot marijuana. Of course, the words cabbage, cool, and pot sound alike in their ordinary standard use and in their slang use. Each word sounds just as appealing or unappealing, dull or colourful in its standard as in its slang use. Also, the meanings of cabbage and money, cool and relaxed, pot and marijuana are the same, so it cannot be said that the connotations of slang words are any more colourful or racy than the meanings of standard words.

All languages, countries, and periods of history have slang.

This is true because they all have had words with varying degrees of social acceptance and popularity. All segments of society use some slang, including the most educated, cultivated speakers and writers.

In fact, this is part of the definition of slang. For example, George Washington used redcoat British soldier Winston Churchill used booze liquor and Lyndon B. Johnson used cool it calm down, shut up. The same linguistic processes are used to create and popularize slang as are used to create and popularize all other words. That is, all words are created and popularized in the same general ways they are labeled slang only according to their current social acceptance, long after creation and popularization. Slang is not the language of the underworld, nor does most of it necessarily come from the underworld.

The main sources of slang change from period to period. Thus, in one period of American slang, frontiersmen, cowboys, hunters, and trappers may have been the main source during some parts of the 1920s and 30s the speech of baseball players and criminals may have been the main source at other times, the vocabulary of jazz musicians, soldiers, or college students may have been the main source.

To fully understand slang, one must remember that a word s use, popularity, and acceptability can change. Words can change in social level, moving in any direction. Thus, some standard words of William Shakespeare s day are found only in certain modern-day British dialects or in the dialect of the southern United States. Words that are taboo in one era e.g stomach, thigh can become accepted, standard words in a later era. Language is dynamic, and at any given time hundreds, and perhaps thousands, of words and expressions are in the process of changing from one level to another, of becoming more acceptable or less acceptable, of becoming more popular or less popular. 2. Origins Slang tends to originate in subcultures within a society.

Occupational groups for example, loggers, police, medical professionals, and computer specialists are prominent originators of both jargon and slang other groups creating slang include the armed forces, teenagers, racial minorities, ghetto residents, labor unions, citizens-band radiobroadcasters, sports groups, drug addicts, criminals, and even religious denominations Episcopalians, for example, produced spike, a High Church Anglican. Slang expressions often embody attitudes and values of group members. They may thus contribute to a sense of group identity and may convey to the listener information about the speakers background.

Before an apt expression becomes slang, however, it must be widely adopted by members of the subculture.

At this point slang and jargon overlap greatly. If the subculture has enough contact with the mainstream culture, its figures of speech become slang expressions known to the whole society. For example, cat a sport, cool aloof, stylish , Mr. Charley a white man , The Man the law, and Uncle Tom a meek black all originated in the predominantly black Harlem district of New York City and have traveled far since their inception. Slang is thus generally not tied to any geographic region within a country.

A slang expression may suddenly become widely used and as quickly date 23-skiddoo. It may become accepted as standard speech, either in its original slang meaning bus, from omnibus or with an altered, possibly tamed meaning jazz, which originally had sexual connotations. Some expressions have persisted for centuries as slang booze for alcoholic beverage. In the 20th century, mass media and rapid travel have speeded up both the circulation and the demise of slang terms.

Television and novels have turned criminal cant into slang five grand for 5000 . Changing social circumstances may stimulate the spread of slang. Drug-related expressions such as pot and marijuana were virtually a secret jargon in the 1940s in the 1960s they were adopted by rebellious youth and in the 1970s and 80s they were widely known. 3. Development of slang Slang emanates from conflicts in values, sometimes superficial, often fundamental.

When an individual applies language in a new way to express hostility, ridicule, or contempt, often with sharp wit, he may be creating slang, but the new expression will perish unless it is picked up by others. If the speaker is a member of a group that finds that his creation projects the emotional reaction of its members toward an idea, person, or social institution, the expression will gain currency according to the unanimity of attitude within the group. A new slang term is usually widely used in a subculture before it appears in the dominant culture. Thus slang e.g sucker, honkey, shave-tail, jerk expresses the attitudes, not always derogatory, of one group or class toward the values of another.

Slang sometimes stems from within the group, satirizing or burlesquing its own values, behaviour, and attitudes e.g shotgun wedding, cake eater, greasy spoon. Slang, then, is produced largely by social forces rather than by an individual speaker or writer who, single-handed like Horace Walpole, who coined serendipity more than 200 years ago, creates and establishes a word in the language.

This is one reason why it is difficult to determine the origin of slang terms. 4. Creators of slang Civilized society tends to divide into a dominant culture and various subcultures that flourish within the dominant framework. The subcultures show specialized linguistic phenomena, varying widely in form and content, that depend on the nature of the groups and their relation to each other and to the dominant culture.

The shock value of slang stems largely from the verbal transfer of the values of a subculture to diametrically opposed values in the dominant culture. Names such as fuzz, pig, fink, bull, and dick for policemen were not created by officers of the law. The humorous dickless tracy, however, meaning a policewoman, was coined by male policemen. Occupational groups are legion, and while in most respects they identify with the dominant culture, there is just enough social and linguistic hostility to maintain group solidarity. Terms such as scab, strike-breaker, company-man, and goon were highly charged words in the era in which labour began to organize in the United States they are not used lightly even today, though they have been taken into the standard language.

In addition to occupational and professional groups, there are many other types of subcultures that supply slang. These include sexual deviants, narcotic addicts, ghetto groups, institutional populations, agricultural subsocieties, political organizations, the armed forces, Gypsies, and sports groups of many varieties.

Some of the most fruitful sources of slang are the subcultures of professional criminals who have migrated to the New World since the 16th century. Old-time thieves still humorously refer to themselves as FFV First Families of Virginia. In criminal subcultures, pressure applied by the dominant culture intensifies the internal forces already at work, and the argot forming there emphasizes the values, attitudes, and techniques of the subculture.

Criminal groups seem to evolve about this specialized argot, and both the subculture and its slang expressions proliferate in response to internal and external pressures. 5. Sources Most subcultures tend to draw words and phrases from the contiguous language rather than creating many new words and to give these established terms new and special meanings some borrowings from foreign languages, including the American Indian tongues, are traditional.

The more learned occupations or professions like medicine, law, psychology, sociology, engineering, and electronics tend to create true neologisms, often based on Greek or Latin roots, but these are not major sources for slang, though nurses and medical students adapt some medical terminology to their slang, and air force personnel and some other branches of the armed services borrow freely from engineering and electronics. 6. Linguistic processes forming slang The processes by which words become slang are the same as those by which other words in the language change their form or meaning or both. Some of these are the employment of metaphor, simile, folk etymology, distortion of sounds in words, generalization, specialization, clipping, the use of acronyms, elevation and degeneration, metonymy, synecdoche, hyperbole, borrowings from foreign languages, and the play of euphemism against taboo.

The English word trip is an example of a term that has undergone both specialization and generalization.

It first became specialized to mean a psychedelic experience resulting from the drug LSD. Subsequently, it generalized again to mean any experience on any drug, and beyond that to any type of kicks from anything. Clipping is exemplified by the use of grass from laughing grass, a term for marijuana. Funky, once a very low term for body odour, has undergone elevation among jazz buffs to signify the best fanny, on the other hand, once simply a girl s name, is currently a degenerated term that refers to the buttocks in England, it has further degenerated into a taboo word for the female genitalia. There is also some actual coinage of slang terms. 7. Characteristics of slang Psychologically, most good slang harks back to the stage in human culture when animism was a worldwide religion.

At that time, it was believed that all objects had two aspects, one external and objective that could be perceived by the senses, the other imperceptible except to gifted individuals but identical with what we today would call the real object.

Human survival depended upon the manipulation of all real aspects of life hunting, reproduction, warfare, weapons, design of habitations, nature of clothing or decoration, etc through control or influence upon the animus, or imperceptible phase of reality. This influence was exerted through many aspects of sympathetic magic, one of the most potent being the use of language.

Words, therefore, had great power, because they evoked the things to which they referred. Civilized cultures and their languages retain many remnants of animism, largely on the unconscious level. In Western languages, the metaphor owes its power to echoes of sympathetic magic, and slang utilizes certain attributes of the metaphor to evoke images too close for comfort to reality. For example, to refer to a woman as a broad is automatically to increase her girth in an area in which she may fancy herself as being thin. Her reaction may, thus, be one of anger and resentment, if she happens to live in a society in which slim hips are considered essential to feminine beauty.

Slang, then, owes much of its power to shock to the superimposition of images that are incongruous with images or values of others, usually members of the dominant culture. Slang is most popular when its imagery develops incongruity bordering on social satire.

Every slang word, however, has its own history and reasons for popularity. When conditions change, the term may change in meaning, be adopted into the standard language, or continue to be used as slang within certain enclaves of the population. Nothing is flatter than dead slang. In 1910, for instance, Oh you kid and 23-skiddoo were quite stylish phrases in the U.S. but they have gone with the hobble skirt. Children, however, unaware of anachronisms, often revive old slang under a barrage of older movies rerun on television.

Some slang becomes respectable when it loses its edge spunk, fizzle, spent, hit the spot, jazz, funky, and p.o. d, once thought to be too indecent for feminine ears, are now family words. Other slang survives for centuries, like bones for dice Chaucer, beat it for run away Shakespeare, duds for clothes, and booze for liquor Dekker. These words must have been uttered as slang long before appearing in print, and they have remained slang ever since.

Normally, slang has both a high birth and death rate in the dominant culture, and excessive use tends to dull the lustre of even the most colourful and descriptive words and phrases. The rate of turnover in slang words is undoubtedly encouraged by the mass media, and a term must be increasingly effective to survive. While many slang words introduce new concepts, some of the most effective slang provides new expressions fresh, satirical, shocking for established concepts, often very respectable ones. Sound is sometimes used as a basis for this type of slang, as, for example, in various phonetic distortions e.g pig Latin terms. It is also used in rhyming slang, which employs a fortunate combination of both sound and imagery.

Thus, gloves are turtledoves the gloved hands suggesting a pair of billing doves, a girl is a twist and twirl the movement suggesting a girl walking, and an insulting imitation of flatus, produced by blowing air between the tip of the protruded tongue and the upper lip, is the raspberry, cut back from raspberry tart. Most slang, however, depends upon incongruity of imagery, conveyed by the lively connotations of a novel term applied to an established concept.

Slang is not all of equal quality, a considerable body of it reflecting a simple need to find new terms for common ones, such as the hands, feet, head, and other parts of the body. Food, drink, and sex also involve extensive slang vocabulary. Strained or synthetically invented slang lacks verve, as can be seen in the desperate efforts of some sportswriters to avoid mentioning the word baseball e.g a batter does not hit a baseball but rather swats the horsehide, plasters the pill, hefts the old apple over the fence, and so on. The most effective slang operates on a more sophisticated level and often tells something about the thing named, the person using the term, and the social matrix against which it is used. Pungency may increase when full understanding of the term depends on a little inside information or knowledge of a term already in use, often on the slang side itself.

For example, the term Vatican roulette for the rhythm system of birth control would have little impact if the expression Russian roulette were not already in wide usage. 8. Diffusion of slang Slang invades the dominant culture as it seeps out of various subcultures.

Some words fall dead or lie dormant in the dominant culture for long periods. Others vividly express an idea already latent in the dominant culture and these are immediately picked up and used. Before the advent of mass media, such terms invaded the dominant culture slowly and were transmitted largely by word of mouth.

Thus a term like snafu, its shocking power softened with the explanation situation normal, all fouled up, worked its way gradually from the military in World War II by word of mouth because the media largely shunned it into respectable circles. Today, however, a sportscaster, news reporter, or comedian may introduce a lively new word already used by an in-group into millions of homes simultaneously, giving it almost instant currency.

For example, the term uptight was first used largely by criminal narcotic addicts to indicate the onset of withdrawal distress when drugs are denied. Later, because of intense journalistic interest in the drug scene, it became widely used in the dominant culture to mean anxiety or tension unrelated to drug use. It kept its form but changed its meaning slightly.

Other terms may change their form or both form and meaning, like one for the book anything unusual or unbelievable. Sportswriters in the U.S. borrowed this term around 1920 from the occupational language of then legal bookmakers, who lined up at racetracks in the morning the morning line is still figuratively used on every sports page to take bets on the afternoon races. Newly arrived bookmakers went to the end of the line, and any bettor requesting unusually long odds was motioned down the line with the phrase, That s one for the end book. The general public dropped the end as meaningless, but old-time gamblers still retain it. Slang spreads through many other channels, such as popular songs, which, for the initiate, are often rich in double entendre.

When subcultures are structurally tight, little of their language leaks out. Thus the Mafia, in more than a half-century of powerful criminal activity in America, has contributed little slang.

When subcultures weaken, contacts with the dominant culture multiply, diffusion occurs, and their language appears widely as slang. Criminal narcotic addicts, for example, had a tight subculture and a highly secret argot in the 1940s now their terms are used freely by middle-class teenagers, even those with no real knowledge of drugs. 9. Uses of slang In some cases slang may provide a needed name for an object or action walkie-talkie, a portable two-way radio tailgating, driving too close behind another vehicle, or it may offer an emotional outlet buzz off! for go away! or a satirical or patronizing reference smokey, state highway trooper. It may provide euphemisms john, head, can, and in Britain, loo, all for toilet, itself originally a euphemism, and it may allow its user to create a shock effect by using a pungent slang expression in an unexpected context.

Slang has provided myriad synonyms for parts of the body bean, head schnozzle, nose, for money moola, bread, scratch, for food grub, slop, garbage, and for drunkenness soused, stewed, plastered. Slang is used for many purposes, but generally it expresses a certain emotional attitude the same term may express diametrically opposed attitudes when used by different people. Many slang terms are primarily derogatory, though they may also be ambivalent when used in intimacy or affection.

Some crystallize or bolster the self-image or promote identification with a class or in-group. Others flatter objects, institutions, or persons but may be used by different people for the opposite effect.

Jesus freak, originally used as ridicule, was adopted as a title by certain street evangelists. Slang sometimes insults or shocks when used directly some terms euphemize a sensitive concept, though obvious or excessive euphemism may break the taboo more effectively than a less decorous term. Some slang words are essential because there are no words in the standard language expressing exactly the same meaning e.g freak-out, barn-storm, rubberneck, and the noun creep.

At the other extreme, multitudes of words, vague in meaning, are used simply as fads. There are many other uses to which slang is put, according to the individual and his place in society. Since most slang is used on the spoken level, by persons who probably are unaware that it is slang, the choice of terms naturally follows a multiplicity of unconscious thought patterns. When used by writers, slang is much more consciously and carefully chosen to achieve a specific effect.

Writers, however, seldom invent slang. It has been claimed that slang is created by ingenious individuals to freshen the language, to vitalize it, to make the language more pungent and picturesque, to increase the store of terse and striking words, or to provide a vocabulary for new shades of meaning. Most of the originators and purveyors of slang, however, are probably not conscious of these noble purposes and do not seem overly concerned about what happens to their language. 10. Attitudes toward slang With the rise of naturalistic writing demanding realism, slang began to creep into English literature even though the schools waged warfare against it, the pulpit thundered against it, and many women who aspired to gentility and refinement banished it from the home. It flourished underground, however, in such male sanctuaries as lodges, poolrooms, barbershops, and saloons.

By 1925 a whole new generation of U.S. and European naturalistic writers was in revolt against the Victorian restraints that had caused even Mark Twain to complain, and today any writer may use slang freely, especially in fiction and drama.

It has become an indispensable tool in the hands of master satirists, humorists, and journalists. Slang is now socially acceptable, not just because it is slang but because, when used with skill and discrimination, it adds a new and exciting dimension to language. At the same time, it is being seriously studied by linguists and other social scientists as a revealing index to the culture that produces and uses it. 11. Formation Slang expressions are created by the same processes that affect ordinary speech.

Expressions may take form as metaphors, similes, and other figures of speech dead as a doornail. Words may acquire new meanings cool, cat. A narrow meaning may become generalized fink, originally a strikebreaker, later a betrayer or disappointer or vice-versa heap, a run-down car. Words may be clipped, or abbreviated mike, microphone, and acronyms may gain currency VIP, awol, snafu. A foreign suffix may be added the Yiddish and Russian -nik in beatnik and foreign words adopted baloney, from Bologna. A change in meaning may make a vulgar word acceptable jazz or an acceptable word vulgar raspberry, a sound imitating flatus from raspberry tart in the rhyming slang of Australia and Cockney London Sometimes words are newly coined oomph, sex appeal, and later, energy or impact . 12. Position in the Language Slang is one of the vehicles through which languages change and become renewed, and its vigor and color enrich daily speech.

Although it has gained respectability in the 20th century, in the past it was often loudly condemned as vulgar.

Nevertheless, Shakespeare brought into acceptable usage such slang terms as hubbub, to bump, and to dwindle, and 20th-century writers have used slang brilliantly to convey character and ambience. Slang appears at all times and in all languages.

A persons head was kapala dish in Sanskrit, testa pot in Latin testa later became the standard Latin word for head. Among Western languages, English, French, Spanish, Italian, German, Yiddish, Romanian, and Romany Gypsy are particularly rich in slang. II. YOUTH SUBCULTURES Main Entry sub cul ture Pronunciation s b- k l-ch r Function noun Date 1886 1 a a culture as of bacteria derived from another culture b an act or instance of producing a subculture 2 an ethnic, regional, economic, or social group exhibiting characteristic patterns of behavior sufficient to distinguish it from others within an embracing culture or society a criminal subculture - sub cul tur al - k lch-r l k l-ch - adjective - sub cul tur al ly adverb - subculture transitive verb Source Webster s Revised Unabridged Dictionary 1. The Concept of Youth Subcultures The word culture suggests that there is a separate entity within the larger society with which the larger society must contend.

A subculture group is a social-cultural formation that exists as a sort of island or enclave within the larger society.

One definition of subculture is subcultures are meaning systems, modes of expression or life styles developed by groups in subordinate structural positions in response to dominant meaning systems, and which reflect their attempt to solve structural contradictions rising from the wider societal context Michael Brake. For Brake membership of a subculture necessarily involves membership of a class culture and the subculture may be an extension of, or in opposition to, the class culture.

The significance of subcultures for their participants is that they offer a solution to structural dislocations through the establishment of an achieved identity - the selection of certain elements of style outside of those associated with the ascribed identity offered by work, home, or school. He suggests that the majority of youth pass through life without significant involvement in deviant subcultures.

He says that the role of youth culture involves offering symbolic elements that are used by youth to construct an identity outside the restraints of class and education. Snejina Michailova, in Exploring Subcultural Specificity in Socialist and Postsocialist Organisations, presents the following definitions of subculture 1 Subcultures are distinct clusters of understandings, behaviors, and cultural forms that identify groups of people in the organization.

They differ noticeably from the common organizational culture in which they are embedded, either intensifying its understandings and practices or deviating from them Trice and Beyer . 2 Subculture are a compromise solution between two contradictory needs the need to create and express autonomy and difference and the need to maintain identifications to the culture within whose boundaries the subculture develops Cohen. Snejina adds Subcultures posses their own meanings, their own way of coping with rules, accepted to be valid for the organization, their own values structured in specific hierarchies, they develop their own categorical language for classifying events around them, they create their own symbolic order.

A key element in subcultures is sharedness - the sharing of a common set of perspectives. The common elements of a subculture include 1 relatively unique values and norms, 2 a special slang not shared with society, 3 separate channels of communication, 4 unique styles and fads, 5 a sense of primary group belonging seen in the use of us and them , 6 a hierarchy of social patterns that clarify the criteria for prestige and leadership, 7 receptivity to the charisma of leaders and 8 gratification of special unmet needs.

To suggest that there is a youth subculture requires proof that they are a distinct group with their own set of characteristic. This is true in terms of 1 aesthetics youth have a distinct style and taste that is expressed in their personal appearance and an artistic flair expressed in spontaneity and creativity. Their values include an emphasis on community, a sense of belonging and on collectively shared ecstasy.

Youth culture also exists as shown in their distinct 2 morality there is a strong emphasis on liberation from all restraints and on a guiltless pursuit of pleasure. In the area of sexuality we find an aspect of life where the individual is to experience themselves and others with complete freedom and honesty.

There is a combination of both individualism youth culture affirms the autonomy of each individual who has the right to do their own thing and collectivism many individuals are fused into a common experience. The search for identity is at the core. 2. The Formation of Youth Subcultures A subculture group forms when the larger culture fails to meet the needs of a particular group of people. They offer different patterns of living values and behaviour norms, but there is dependence on the larger culture for general goals and direction unlike counter- cultures which seek to destroy or change the larger culture. Subcultures try to compensate for the failure of the larger culture to provide adequate status, acceptance and identity.

In the youth subculture, youth find their age-related needs met. It is a way-station in the life of the individual - it is as if society permits the individual to drop out for a period of years and is even willing to subsidise the phase. However, for some people the way-station becomes the place of permanent settlement.

This is when a group moves towards becoming a counter-culture. Industrialisation and the related social-psychological factors of modern industrial societies caused the phenomenon of youth subcultures for the following reasons 1 The deepening of the division of labour separated the family from the processes of modern production and administration. Youth is a further extension of the same process of institutional separation or differentiation.

With the industrial revolution there arose an institutional structure that allowed room for youth. 2 With this division of labour there came an increasing specialisation which led to a lengthening of the period of time that the individual needed to spend in the educational system. Youth were separated from the process of production by child labour laws. 3 The rise of modern medicine and nutrition led to the sheer numbers of youth increasing. 4 The sheer complexity of modern society has meant that different individuals lead vastly different lives.

When adults disappear into a strange world, reappearing for limited contact with youth, a degree of estrangement results. This trend has caused youth to become autonomous, establishing norms and patterns of their own that are independent from the adult world. 5 Socialisation in modern societies is characterised by high degrees of discontinuity and inconsistency.

This produces individuals who are not well integrated and a period of time is needed where they can complete the process of socialisation - a time to find themselves, hence adolescence. A number of different theories have been suggested for the formation of youth subcultures A. A Natural Part of the Journey from Childhood to Adulthood As discussed under the youth culture section, there is a journey from childhood to adulthood. Youth ban together for support into groups that function as half-way houses between the world of being a child and the world of being an adult.

Here youth subcultures are about survival in an otherwise hostile world. B. A Class Struggle Expressed Through The Use of Style In the resistance through rituals understanding of culture the members are always striving against dominant classes older generations and against those who conform. They are always trying to find ways to disrupt the ideological and generational oppression in order to crease spaces for themselves.

The resistance through personal expression is often contrasted against the conformity of the normals. In many writings youth are counterposed against adults - they hate and avoid adults and oppose them because they represent authority. A dichotomy was created between, for example Goths and Normals where Goths avoid and hate adults, oppose adults who represent authority and are deemed to resist while Normals relate well to adults, consult adults with problems and are deemed to conform.

Linda Forrester in a web article speaks of youth generated culture where visual communication is predominant and language is subservient to visual means of communications. Visual cultures include skateboarders graffiti artists street dancers and street machiners which communicate through movement or gesture. These are periphery groups empowered by the space that they have created through visual representation. Their cultural production is recognised by mainstream culture and in that recognition they are given power to speak.

The process empowers them and provides identity. Group control is managed through the visual display of creative talent, ie, skaters out-skate each other, graffiti artists out-image each other street machines out-car each other street dancers fight each other through art. In mainstream culture discourse is primarily verbal but in youth generated culture discourse is primarily visual. It is through style that criticism of performance and image occurs and it is through criticism that higher forms of visual representation occur.

C. A Rebellion Against the Dominant Culture Using Shock Tactics Young people in creating subcultures are setting out to shock. One of the key ways in which they shock is through the clothes they wear. Oppositional subcultures ie. Punk and Hip-hop subcultures are movements dedicated to rebellion against the dominant culture. D. A Construction of New Identities Based on Individualisation The new ideas in youth culture suggest a more positive view of the role of youth in society.

Youth is viewed as an active category - a sociocultural view of youth is introduced where youth are involved in the development of society through their creations. Youth must be allowed to exercise the power to bring change - they do so in their cultural expressions all the time. Youth culture is about individualism - an expanding degree of separation of individuals from their traditional ties and restrictions.

As people have broken free they feel a need to look for fixing points - material with which to form a new social and cultural identity. The motivation behind participating in the activities of a subculture involves coping with suffering the sense of loss at being cut off from the past and hence ones identity, ie. alienation, loneliness, meaningless, etc. The motive is to be reinstated into responsive and responsible relationships. The individualisation has produced post-traditional communities - because they are focussed on the individual they are looser and more fluid than traditional communities but they are still settings in which youth find self-expression and identity.

The subculture is an identity-related substitute for the lost collective world of modernism but with the disintegration of tradition, subcultures has lost their identity-creating potential. There is a now a pluralisation of needs and interests that result from the process of individualisation and culturalisation - so culture ruptures are normal. Not only do these ruptures affect all social classes, but the traditional generational gap is also blurred.

Alongside individualisation there is a tendency towards self-organisation - probably the new communities will be organised around the needs of the individuals and their interests. Douglas Rushkoff, in Playing the Future, suggests that as the world has become increasingly complex the children have adapted to its demands, and they have the ability to navigate it s terrain - adults must learn from them! A whole new approach to the field of subculture theory is emerging.

It is an approach that is critical of the subculture theory approach popular since the seventies. 3. The Increase of Youth Subcultures A number of factors account for the increase in the number of subculture groups in society A. The Size of the Society Charles Kraft in Anthropology for Christian Witness says larger societies will also develop more subgroupings. These subgroupings are usually referred to as subcultures.

B. The Rate of Change in the Society In societies with slow pace of social change the transition to adulthood goes smoothly and youth are similar to their parents. There is a unity and a solidarity between the coming generation and the generation of parents. In societies undergoing rapid social change a smooth transition to adulthood is no longer possible and there is a strong dissimilarity with parent generations.

Here an individual cannot reply on their parents identity patterns as they no longer fit into the social context. Because youth realise that they cannot learn from past experiences, they search for new identities that are relevant. In fact, the greater the change in a society the more intense and stronger the subcultures as people identify more with their subculture in order to find identity and security. C. The Globalisation of the Society The rate at which cultural objects and ideas are transmitted in large parts of the world today is a significant factor in the number of youth subculture groups that are identified.

Where a society is connected to the global village through communication technology, they experience simultaneous pressures to unity and fragmentation. D. The Position of Youth in the Society People who are marginalised or deprived make their sense of loss known as they resist to the dominant culture. Where youth are connected to the center of the dominant culture they do not need to rebel or form counter-cultural groups.

E. The Generational Size in the Society The size of a generation impacts on youth subcultures because the overall age structure within a society influences the social, economical and political make up of age groups. When the number of youth entering the market place drops, then youth as a portion of the total labour force also falls. This decline in youth as a market force, both as consumers and producers will significantly alter the social and political visibility of youth. 4. The Features of Youth Subcultures Looking at various writings on youth culture the following features are noted some of which may well overlap style language, music, class, rebellion, gender, art, rebellion, relationship to the dominant culture, degree of openness to outsiders, urban rural living, etc. The following insights were gained from class interaction on youth subculture groups A. Class and Youth Subcultures It was found that within different socio-economic groups subculture groups take on different characteristics and are based on different factors.

Within the working class communities youth tend to have more interaction with parents and therefore dont seem to rebel as much against their parents as youth in middle to upper classes.

Youth subcultures in working class communities will show a greater among of gang activity, with subculture groups being defined around gangs in some areas.

In middle class areas youth seem to form their subcultures around interests, such as sports. B. Music and Youth Subcultures Most subculture groups could be identified with a specific music genre and in some instances music was the defining characteristic around which the group was formed such as with the following subcultures Ravers, Metalheads, Homeboys, Ethno-hippies, Goths, Technos, Rastas and Punks. In other communities music is a key feature, but another factor would be the key characteristic, such as with Bladers, Bikers, Skaters, Surfers, etc C. Family and Youth Subcultures In working class families, we noted that families tend to have closer interaction and youth do not seem so intent on being different to their parents, whereas in other communities youth may deliberately choose a certain subculture group to reinforce their independence and even opposition to their parents.

In upper-class communities or among youth from upper-class homes youth are given a lot more disposable income with which to engage in sports, computers, entertainment, etc. So they are able to engage in a greater diversity of pursuits - so there are possibly more subculture groups in middle to upper-class communities.

D. Fashion and Youth Subcultures It was noted that fashion plays a role in all subculture groups and that some are more strongly defined by their fashion, while others take the clothing that relates to the music or sport to define the subculture group. Working class youth tend to place greater emphasis on fashion as it is the one way in which they can show off what they own, whereas middle class youth have other things to show off, such as homes, smart cars, fancy sound systems, etc. 5. The Types of Youth Subcultures Snejina Michailova, in Exploring Subcultural Specificity in Socialist and Postsocialist Organisations, presents the following understanding of the types of subcultures based on their internal logic of development a Stable Subcultures - these are functional and hierarchical and age-based. b Developing Subcultures - here there are two types, those that are i climbing - their role is becoming more important, and those that are ii climbing-down - their significance is being reduced. c Counter Cultures - those that confront and contradict the official culture, also called oppositional subcultures. 6. The Variety of Youth Subcultures Youth workers should, through research and observation, seek to identify the various subculture groups within the community in which the youth group operates, to ensure that the group is able to help to meet the needs of the different groups.

In Britain in the 1980s the following groups of youth were identified Casuals, Rastas, Sloans, Goths, Punks and Straights.

In South Africa in the 1990s the following youth subculture groups were identified Socialite, Striver, Traditionalist, Independent, Uninvolved, Careful and Acceptor.

In 1995 a market research project discovered that within the Black youth culture there are three main subcultures the Rappers, Pantsulas and the Italians.

While within the White youth subculture only thirty percent of youth identify with a subculture and the subcultures are far more numerous alternatives, Punks, Goths, Technoids, Metalheads, Homeboys, Yuppies, Hippies and Grunge. The following subculture groups were identified by students studying at the Baptist Theological College in South Africa Achievers Intellectuals Belongers Image-Conscious Very Poor Models Heavy Metal Dudes Rugby Boys Metalheads Hippies Mainstream Average Teenager Fashion Fanatic Intellectuals Physical Clubers Family Centered Workaholics Pleasure Seekers Hobby Fanatics Religious Freaks Head Banger Punk Home Boys Skater Gothics Yuppies Trendys Rappers Club-Hoppers Metal Heads Socialites Independents Uninvolved Carefuls Socialites - Pantsulas Mapanga Punks Mapantsula Strivers Comrades Preppy Outrageous Sexy Sporty Gothic Satanists Nerds Intellectual Strivers Socialites Jokers Gangsters Independents Traditionalists Teenyboppers Trendy Group Arty Type Alternative Group Drug Culture Gay Culture Squatters Vagrants Culture.

In the movie, The Breakfast Club, five teenagers are sent to detention for eight hours on a Saturday at their school Shermer High School, Illinois. They are Brian Johnson, a nerdy computer type, an intellectual who belongs to the Maths club Clair Standish, a princess - wealthy kid who is a popular type Andrew Clark - a sporty type who is in the school wrestling team Carl - a criminal type who has had a hard upbringing, a kid with an attitude Alison Reynolds - a strange girl, who is secretive, uncommunicative and dresses in black The teacher, Richard Vernon, says that they have to write an essay that explains who they are. During the day in detention, these five young people who would otherwise never together socially begin to find out about each other.

They share about their home, their parents, the things that they are able to do, and why they are in detention they even end up sharing a dagga joint. Very soon they are bonding together.

Someone asks the questions about whether they will still be friends when they see each other on Monday.

Some admit that they would be ashamed to greet the other person if they are with their friends. They get Brian to write the essay for the teacher. This is what he writes Dear Mr Vernon, we accept the fact that we had to sacrifice a whole Saturday in detention, what we did was wrong, but we think you re crazy to make us write an essay telling you who we think we are. You see us as you want to see us, in the simplest terms, in the most convenient definitions.

But what we found is that each one of us is a brain, and an athlete, and a basket case, a princess and a criminal. Does that answer your question? Sincerely yours, The Breakfast Club. The movie starts and ends with this letter being read. During the opening sequence the following quote by David Bowie is written across the screen, while the song by Simple Minds, Don t You Forget About Me, plays in the background And these children that you spit on as they try to change their world are immune to your consultations.

They re quite aware of what they re going through. In the opening scene where the letter is narrated by Brian, the reading ends with That s how we saw ourselves at 7 o clock this morning. We were brainwashed. When social workers start to research a subculture group they often find that the members of the subculture group are less that helpful.

Consider the following quotes It is highly unlikely that the members of any of the subcultures described in this book Reggae, Hipsters, Beats, Teddy Boys, Mods, Skin Heads and Punks would recognize themselves here. They are still less likely to welcome any efforts on our part to understand them. After all, we the sociologists and interested straights, threaten to kill with kindness the forms which we seek to elucidate we should hardly be surprised to find our sympathetic readings of subordinate culture are regarded by members of a subculture with just as much indifference and contempt as the hostile labels imposed by the courts and the press.

From Subculture The Meaning of Style by Dick Hebdige, Routledge, 1967. A 16-year-old mod from South London said You d really hate an adult to understand you. That s the only thing you ve got over them - the fact that you can mystify and worry them. From Generation X by Hamblett and Deverson, Tandem, 1964. III. ROCK MUSIC Main Entry 1rock Pronunciation rдk Function verb Etymology Middle English rokken, from Old English roccian akin to Old High German rucken to cause to move Date 12th century transitive senses 1 a to move back and forth in or as if in a cradle b to wash placer gravel in a cradle 2 a to cause to sway back and forth a boat rocked by the waves b 1 to cause to shake violently 2 to daze with or as if with a vigorous blow a hard right rocked the contender 3 to astonish or disturb greatly the scandal rocked the community intransitive senses 1 to become moved backward and forward under often violent impact also to move gently back and forth 2 to move forward at a steady pace also to move forward at a high speed the train rocked through the countryside 3 to sing, dance to, or play rock music synonym SHAKE - rock the boat to do something that disturbs the equilibrium of a situation Main Entry 2rock Function noun Usage often attributive Date 1823 1 a rocking movement 2 popular music usually played on electronically amplified instruments and characterized by a persistent heavily accented beat, much repetition of simple phrases, and often country, folk, and blues elements Main Entry rock and roll Function noun Date 1954 2ROCK 2 Source Webster s Revised Unabridged Dictionary ROCK, also called ROCK AND ROLL, ROCK ROLL, or ROCK N ROLL form of popular music that emerged in the 1950s. It is certainly arguable that by the end of the 20th century rock was the world s dominant form of popular music.

Originating in the United States in the 1950s, it spread to English-speaking countries and across Europe in the 60s, and by the 90s its impact was obvious globally if in many different local guises. Rock s commercial importance was by then reflected in the organization of the multinational recording industry, in the sales racks of international record retailers, and in the playlist policies of music radio and television.

If other kinds of music classical, jazz, easy listening, country, folk, etc are marketed as minority interests, rock defines the musical mainstream.

And so over the last half of the 20th century it became the most inclusive of musical labels everything can be rocked and in consequence the hardest to define.

To answer the question What is rock? one first has to understand where it came from and what made it possible.

And to understand rock s cultural significance one has to understand how it works socially as well as musically. 1. What is rock? The difficulty of definition Dictionary definitions of rock are problematic, not least because the term has different resonance in its British and American usages the latter is broader in compass. There is basic agreement that rock is a form of music with a strong beat, but it is difficult to be much more explicit.

The Collins Cobuild English Dictionary, based on a vast database of British usage, suggests that rock is a kind of music with simple tunes and a very strong beat that is played and sung, usually loudly, by a small group of people with electric guitars and drums, but there are so many exceptions to this description that it is practically useless.

Legislators seeking to define rock for regulatory purposes have not done much better. The Canadian government defined rock and rock-oriented music as characterized by a strong beat, the use of blues forms and the presence of rock instruments such as electric guitar, electric bass, electric organ or electric piano.

This assumes that rock can be marked off from other sorts of music formally, according to its sounds. In practice, though, the distinctions that matter for rock fans and musicians have been ideological. Rock was developed as a term to distinguish certain music-making and listening practices from those associated with pop what was at issue was less a sound than an attitude.

In 1990 British legislators defined pop music as all kinds of music characterized by a strong rhythmic element and a reliance on electronic amplification for their performance. This led to strong objections from the music industry that such a definition failed to appreciate the clear sociological difference between pop instant singles-based music aimed at teenagers and rock album- based music for adults. In pursuit of definitional clarity, the lawmakers misunderstood what made rock music matter.

Crucial rock musicians For lexicographers and legislators alike, the purpose of definition is to grasp a meaning, to hold it in place, so that people can use a word correctly for example, to assign a track to its proper radio outlet rock, pop, country, jazz. The trouble is that the term rock describes an evolving musical practice informed by a variety of nonmusical arguments about creativity, sincerity, commerce, and popularity. It makes more sense, then, to approach the definition of rock historically, with examples.

The following musicians were crucial to rock s history. What do they have in common? Elvis Presley, from Memphis, Tennessee, personified a new form of American popular music in the mid-1950s. Rock and roll was a guitar-based sound with a strong if loose beat that drew equally on African-American and white traditions from the southern United.