Subcultural Acculturation: a Dialectic Approach to Consumer Acculturation of Second Generation British Pakistani Men
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View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE provided by City Research Online Zahid, A. (2011). Subcultural Acculturation: A Dialectic approach to consumer acculturation of second generation British Pakistani Men. (Unpublished Doctoral thesis, City University London) City Research Online Original citation: Zahid, A. (2011). Subcultural Acculturation: A Dialectic approach to consumer acculturation of second generation British Pakistani Men. (Unpublished Doctoral thesis, City University London) Permanent City Research Online URL: http://openaccess.city.ac.uk/11873/ Copyright & reuse City University London has developed City Research Online so that its users may access the research outputs of City University London's staff. Copyright © and Moral Rights for this paper are retained by the individual author(s) and/ or other copyright holders. 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Adnan Zahid Submitted in Partial Fulfilment of the Requirements for The Degree of Doctor of Philosophy City University London CASS Business School 21st January 2011 1 TABLE OF CONTENTS Acknowledgements ............................................................................... 5 Authorization ........................................................................................ 6 Abstract ................................................................................................. 7 CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION ....................................................... 8 CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW ......................................... 17 2.1 An Evolutionary Approach to Consumer Acculturation ...... 17 2.2 Postassimilationist Ethnic Consumer Research .................... 22 2.3 Beyond Postassimilationist Ethnic Consumer Research ....... 28 CHAPTER 4: FINDINGS .................................................................. 76 4.1 Consumer Subcultures ............................................................. 76 4.2 Popular Boy Subculture ........................................................... 92 4.2.1 Parents’ Background and Future Plans .............................. 92 4.2.2 The Expectations of Popular Boys’ Parents .................. 100 4.2.3 The Popular Boys’ Consumer Acculturation................ 107 4.2.3.1 Outfits ........................................................................ 107 4.2.3.1.1 The ‘Look’ ......................................................... 108 4.2.3.2 Keeping up with the right look ................................ 112 4.2.3.2.1 Putting their look to a test ..................................... 119 4.2.3.2.2 Fitting into the British Youth Culture Without Offending the Parents’ Concept of ‘Ideal Son’ ............... 121 4.2.3.2.3 ‘Don’t Mix us Up With Gangsta Boys’ ........... 126 4.2.3.2.4 Contested Identities........................................... 133 2 4.2.3.2.5 When Parents and Sons do Not Agree on the ‘Right Look’ ..................................................................... 134 4.2.3.2.6 The Confidence That Comes With the Shared Ideals of the Two Identity Defining Cultures ................ 137 4.2.3.3 The Consumption of Leisure: Clubbing and Bollywood Movies ....................................................................................... 139 4.2.3.3.1 Clubbing ................................................................. 140 4.2.3.3.1.1 Consumption of Clubbing: ............................ 140 4.2.3.3.1.2 Why Not Raves? ............................................. 152 4.2.3.3.1.3 Monitoring Each Other’s Clubbing Performance ..................................................................... 158 4.2.3.3.1.4 Clubbing: The Epicentre of Contradictions 165 4.2.3.3.2 The Bollywood Lifestyle ................................... 170 4.2.3.3.2.1 Dad, Bollywood Heroes are Better Pakistani Sons! .................................................................................. 171 4.2.3.3.2.2 As a Pakistani I too Can Pursue the Western Middle-Class Consumer Lifestyle .................................. 186 4.2.3.3.2.3 As a Pakistani I too Can Marry the Girl I love ............................................................................................ 193 4.3 The Gangsta Boy Subculture ................................................. 212 4.3.1.2 Expectations of their Sons ........................................ 232 4.3.1.3 Fathers’ Masculinity Projects and the Immigration Ideology .............................................................................. 236 3 4.3.2 Gangsta Boy Consumer Acculturation .......................... 244 4.3.2.1 Historical Development of the Gangsta Subculture .. 245 4.3.2.1.1 Anatomy of the Gangsta Identity ............................. 250 4.3.2.2 Outfits .................................................................... 265 4.3.2.2.1 ‘The Look’ ......................................................... 265 4.3.2.2.2 Cultural Sources that Define the Look ........... 267 4.3.2.2.3 Resolving Contradictions ................................. 272 4.3.2.2.3.1 Asserting a Tough Masculinity: .................... 274 4.3.2.2.3.2 Expressing Wealth ......................................... 284 4.3.2.3 Leisure ....................................................................... 289 4.3.2.3.1 Music and Raves .................................................... 290 4.3.2.3.2 Marijuana Consumption .................................. 304 4.3.2.3.3 Selling Marijuana .............................................. 309 CHAPTER 5: DISCUSSION ........................................................... 317 CHAPTER 6: CONCLUSION ........................................................ 355 CHAPTER 7: LIMITATIONS ........................................................ 360 REFERENCES ................................................................................. 363 APENNDICES .................................................................................. 374 APENNDIX A: Sample from field notes .................................... 374 APPENDIX B: Sample Interim Analytical Document .............. 376 APPENDIX C: Informant Descriptions ..................................... 394 APPENDIX D: Glossary .............................................................. 402 4 Acknowledgements I would like to use this opportunity to thank the young Pakistani men who allowed me into their lives and gave me the opportunity to ‘hang around’ in their group. I would also like to thank Tuba Ustuner for her commitment to my research, and for her constant support. None of this would have been possible without Tuba’s assistance. Finally, I would like to thank City University for providing financial support and the freedom to pursue my research unhindered. 5 Authorization I hereby declare that I am the sole author of the thesis. I authorize the City University London to lend this thesis to other institutions or individuals for the purpose of scholarly research. I further authorize the City University London to reproduce the thesis by photocopying or by other means, in total or in part, at the request of other institutions or individuals for the purpose of scholarly research. ___________________________________________ Adnan Zahid June 15, 2010 6 Subcultural Acculturation: A Dialectic approach to consumer acculturation of second generation British Pakistanis. Abstract The extant literature has been very effective in identifying different types of identity projects, running the gamut from assimilative, integrationist, to rejectionist; where the individual migrants either accept, combine or reject the ‘home’ and ‘host’ national cultures. However, the literature has ignored the heterogeneity within these cultures and the factors that shape these formations. The role in acculturation of subcultures within the host country and the distinctions in the culture of origin are under-theorized. In this dissertation I aim to address this gap in the literature by looking at the various ‘home’ and ‘host’ cultures, and I seek to provide some explanation of the reasons for the choice of assimilative or rejectionist identity projects. To that end, I conducted an 18 month ethnographic case study of second generation Pakistani men in a medium-sized town in England. My work is in the tradition of consumer culture theory, an area of inquiry that is concerned with exploring the intersection of consumption and larger socio-cultural dimensions. As opposed to the “individualistic” consumer identity projects described in the literature, I find that consumer acculturation is subcultural among these youths. I find two distinct subcultures, which I name as ‘popular-boy’ subculture and ‘gangsta boy’ subculture. And these subcultures of acculturation are developed as a synthesis of the two contradictory forces that these youths encounter. These two contradictory forces are the parents’ demands on the