DOCSLIB.ORG

Subcultural Acculturation: a Dialectic Approach to Consumer Acculturation of Second Generation British Pakistani Men

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Subcultural Acculturation: a Dialectic Approach to Consumer Acculturation of Second Generation British Pakistani Men City Research Online City, University of London Institutional Repository Citation: Zahid, A. (2011). Subcultural Acculturation: A Dialectic approach to consumer acculturation of second generation British Pakistani Men. (Unpublished Doctoral thesis, City University London) This is the accepted version of the paper. This version of the publication may differ from the final published version. Permanent repository link: https://openaccess.city.ac.uk/id/eprint/11873/ Link to published version: Copyright: City Research Online aims to make research outputs of City, University of London available to a wider audience. Copyright and Moral Rights remain with the author(s) and/or copyright holders. URLs from City Research Online may be freely distributed and linked to. Reuse: Copies of full items can be used for personal research or study, educational, or not-for-profit purposes without prior permission or charge. Provided that the authors, title and full bibliographic details are credited, a hyperlink and/or URL is given for the original metadata page and the content is not changed in any way. City Research Online: http://openaccess.city.ac.uk/ [email protected] Subcultural Acculturation: A Dialectic approach to consumer acculturation of second generation British Pakistani Men. 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 youths, which are shaped by the parents’ immigration ideologies and the demands of the mainstream white society that they are living in. 7 CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION An estimated 200 million individuals in the world live as immigrants. In recent years developed nations have had a growing share of migrants who have emigrated
Load more

Recommended publications
  • 1 Asdatown: the Intersections of Classed Places and Identities. Dr. B
    Asdatown: The intersections of classed places and identities. Dr. B. Gidley and Dr. Alison Rooke Dept of Sociology Goldsmiths Introduction This chapter will explore the intersections between classed places and identities, focusing on the UK and examining the ways in which the figures of the ‘chav’ and the ‘pikey’ have been represented in British popular culture and in official policy discourses. We will argue that these representations conflate the racialized identity of the Gypsy Traveller with white working class identities and draw on the presence or proximity of Irish or Gypsy Travellers to the white ‘underclass’ in order to metonymically racialize the white working class as a whole. The politics of space, we will argue, is central to this process. Existing sociological and cultural geography literature hints at the active role of the spatial imaginary in classing people (Charleworth 2000, Robson 2000, Haylett 2000, Hewitt 2005, Skeggs 2005). We will argue that particular spaces and places – housing estates, and places described as ‘chav towns’ – are used discursively as a way of fixing people in racialized class positions. In British culture, there is a long history of reading poverty and class spatially. Indeed, the roots of British empirical sociology can be found in a middle class preoccupation with the poor working class others who could be located in districts of the city. While the persistence of poverty is explained in policy discourse in terms of ‘cycles’ and ‘cultures’ of poverty entrenched in a regressive or ‘backwards’ working 1 class, we will argue that what is regressive – and tainted by its Victorian imperialist history – is the persistent classing gaze which fixes working class people in place.
    [Show full text]
  • The Aesthetics of Mainstream Androgyny
    The Aesthetics of Mainstream Androgyny: A Feminist Analysis of a Fashion Trend Rosa Crepax Goldsmiths, University of London Thesis submitted for the degree of Ph.D. in Sociology May 2016 1 I confirm that the work presented in this thesis is my own. Rosa Crepax Acknowledgements I would like to thank Bev Skeggs for making me fall in love with sociology as an undergraduate student, for supervising my MA dissertation and encouraging me to pursue a PhD. For her illuminating guidance over the years, her infectious enthusiasm and the constant inspiration. Beckie Coleman for her ongoing intellectual and moral support, all the suggestions, advice and the many invaluable insights. Nirmal Puwar, my upgrade examiner, for the helpful feedback. All the women who participated in my fieldwork for their time, patience and interest. Francesca Mazzucchi for joining me during my fieldwork and helping me shape my methodology. Silvia Pezzati for always providing me with sunshine. Laura Martinelli for always being there when I needed, and Martina Galli, Laura Satta and Miriam Barbato for their friendship, despite the distance. My family, and, in particular, my mum for the support and the unpaid editorial services. And finally, Goldsmiths and everyone I met there for creating an engaging and stimulating environment. Thank you. Abstract Since 2010, androgyny has entered the mainstream to become one of the most widespread trends in Western fashion. Contemporary androgynous fashion is generally regarded as giving a new positive visibility to alternative identities, and signalling their wider acceptance. But what is its significance for our understanding of gender relations and living configurations of gender and sexuality? And how does it affect ordinary people's relationship with style in everyday life? Combining feminist theory and an aesthetics that contrasts Kantian notions of beauty to bridge matters of ideology and affect, my research investigates the sociological implications of this phenomenon.
    [Show full text]
  • Cartographies of Differences: Interdisciplinary Perspectives
    New Visions Cartographies of Differences of the Cosmopolitan This volume investigates the process of learning how to live with individual and group differences in the twenty-first century and examines the ambivalences of contemporary cosmopolitanism. Engaging with the concept of ‘critical cartography’, it emphasizes the structural impact of localities on the experiences of those living with difference, while trying to develop an account of the counter-mappings that follow spatial and social transformations in today’s world. The contributors focus on visual, normative and cultural embodiments of difference, examining dynamic conflicts at local sites that are connected by the processes of Europeanization and globalization. The collection explores a wide range of topics, including conflicting claims of sexual minorities and conservative Christians, the relationship between national identity and cosmopolitanism, and the ways that cross-cultural communication and bilingualism can help us to understand the complex (eds) and Gill Valentine Ulrike M. Vieten nature of belonging. The authors come from a variety of disciplinary backgrounds and all contribute to a vernacular reading of cosmopolitanism and transnationalism, aimed at opening up new avenues of research into living with difference. Ulrike M. Vieten is a Queen’s Research Fellow at the Institute for the Study Cartographies of Differences of Conflict Transformation and Social Justice at Queen’s University Belfast. Her research deals with the (de-)construction of racialized, classed and gendered boundaries in the context of cosmopolitanism, nationalism and citizenship Interdisciplinary Perspectives and currently focuses on right-wing populism in Europe and beyond. Her publications include Gender and Cosmopolitanism in Europe: A Feminist Perspective (2012) and Revisiting Iris Marion Young on Normalisation, Inclusion and Democracy (2014).
    [Show full text]
  • Proud to Be a Chav? | Nouse
    Nouse Web Archives Proud to be a chav? Page 1 of 4 News Comment MUSE. Politics Business Science Sport Roses Freshers Muse › Features Columns Arts Fashion Film & TV Music Travel Food & Drink Gaming Proud to be a chav? The term ‘Chav’ appears to be going nowhere, but Gina Heslington investigates whether its usage is acceptable Tuesday 10 February 2009 “Can I just ask, are you a guy or a girl?” I hesitate, take a sip of bad punch in a plastic cup and gaze upwards. “Are you serious?” “Yes! I mean, are you, like actually a girl, or a guy dressed up as one? I can’t tell.” “I won’t dignify that question with an answer.” I can’t believe I used that line. I throw the drunken boy a dirty look and totter off in my ridiculously high heels. I plough through the intoxicated party goers and head for the drinks corner. So much for making an effort, my makeup’s on thick, my hairs up, my Union Jack thong pulled painfully high for all to see. Yet this is no drag and slag party. I thought I was embracing my Northern roots, exposing the true essence of Geordie life; I may not speak with much of a traceable accent, but I’ve pole danced with the best of them. It turns out there are downsides to trying to be the star of the local ‘Chav-esque’ themed party. Yet as I gaze around, shreds of guilt begin nagging at my conscience. My friend tries to reassure me: “it’s only because you’re tall and thin.” “That I was mistaken for a man?” I growl back, doubt taking hold, but not, however, regarding my gender.
    [Show full text]
  • BBC Voices Recordings: Milton Keynes
    BBC VOICES RECORDINGS http://sounds.bl.uk Title: Milton Keynes Shelfmark: C1190/37/05 Recording date: 31.03.2005 Speakers: Clifford, Simon, b. 1982 Melbourne, Australia; male; council worker (father b. Teddington, HR manager; mother b. Ontario, housewife/office clerk) Collett, Matt, b. 1980 Northampton; male; self-employed skate shop owner (father b. Chelmsford, headteacher; mother b. York, headteacher) Christopher, b. 1988 Glasgow; male; sixth-form student (father b. London; mother b. Scotland, sales representative) Snusher, Liam, b. 1985 Milton Keynes; male; shop assistant (father b. Luton, antique restorer) The interviewees are all skateboarders. PLEASE NOTE: this recording is still awaiting full linguistic description (i.e. phonological, grammatical and spontaneous lexical items). A summary of the specific lexis elicited by the interviewer is given below. ELICITED LEXIS ○ see English Dialect Dictionary (1898-1905) ● see Dictionary of Caribbean English Usage (1996) ∆ see New Partridge Dictionary of Slang and Unconventional English (2006) ◊ see Green’s Dictionary of Slang (2010) ♥ see Dictionary of Contemporary Slang (2014) ♦ see Urban Dictionary (online) ⌂ no previous source (with this sense) identified pleased happy; chuffed; stoked (“surfing terminology”); rad (“bare◊ rad”, “skater/BMX” term of approval) tired fucked; knackered unwell poorly (“bare◊ poorly”); ill, sick (“bare◊ sick” of genuine illness); unwell (not used); shitty, “feel like I’m dying”♦, fucked♥, death on legs⌂ (of hangover) hot roasting; boiling; baking; hot cold
    [Show full text]
  • The 'Chav' Subculture: Branded Clothing As an Extension of the Self
    Journal of Economics and Behavioral Studies Vol. 5, No. 3, pp. 173-184, Mar 2013 (ISSN: 2220-6140) The ‘Chav’ Subculture: Branded Clothing as an Extension of the Self *Roger B. Mason1, Gemma Wigley2 1Durban University of Technology, South Africa 2University of Wolverhampton Business School, Wolverhampton, United Kingdom *[email protected] Abstract: This paper explores the chav phenomenon as a consumer subculture, with special reference to branding and consumer behaviour. The study is important because of the presence of chavs in many consumer markets, and their significant role in the consumption of numerous products. The aim of the primary research was to compare the branded clothing choices of two groups, namely chavs and non- chavs. A qualitative method was used, namely a survey of thirty 14 to 23 year olds (fifteen each of chavs and non-chavs), followed by in-depth interviews with four of the respondents. The issues studied were the relationships between the choice of branded clothing and the respondents’ social experiences, or backgrounds, as well as whether these backgrounds acted as motivations for the respondents’ consumer behaviour. The findings indicate a relationship between the wearing of branded clothing by chavs and their social backgrounds. Their consumption behaviour may be explained by the wearing of branded clothing as an extension of the self. The findings also provide an indication of differences between chav’s and non-chav’s perceptions of branding and consumer behaviour. Keywords: Chav, subculture, branded clothing, consumption, designer brands 1. Introduction Chav was the buzzword of the year in the United Kingdom in 2004 (Carter, 2004; Bennett, 2013).
    [Show full text]
  • ‗Celebrity Chav: Fame, Femininity and Social Class' Draft Imogen Tyler and Bruce Bennett
    On-Line Papers – Copyright This online paper may be cited or briefly quoted in line with the usual academic conventions. You may also download them for your own personal use. This paper must not be published elsewhere (e.g. to mailing lists, bulletin boards etc.) without the author's explicit permission. Please note that if you copy this paper you must: include this copyright note not use the paper for commercial purposes or gain in any way you should observe the conventions of academic citation in a version of the following form: Imogen Tyler, ‘Celebrity Chav: Fame, Femininity and Social Class’ Draft, published by the Department of Sociology, Lancaster University, Lancaster LA1 4YT, UK at http://www.lancs.ac.uk/fass/sociology/papers/tyler-whitetrashcelebrity.pdf Publication Details This web page was last revised on 12th October 2009. ‗Celebrity Chav: Fame, Femininity and Social Class‘ Draft Imogen Tyler and Bruce Bennett To be published in European Journal of Cultural Studies There is nothing new about celebrity culture. It is an intrinsic feature of a world structured by mechanical reproduction. However, what has been visible over the last few years in Britain is a modulation of representations of celebrity figures in entertainment and news media through reality TV series, newspapers and gossip magazines. In a somewhat cynical turn, certain celebrities have been depicted increasingly as exploitative, aspirational parvenus whose public performances we should respond to not with desire, admiration or benign interest, but rather with a pleasurable blend of contempt, envy, scepticism and prurience. This shift of representational emphasis involves the oppressive and punitive foregrounding of class, whereby selected celebrities are understood to be ineluctably anchored to an essential class identity regardless of the extent to which their social and financial circumstances have been transformed as a result of their conspicuousness or notoriety.
    [Show full text]
  • Broadcast Bulletin Issue Number 284 27/07/15
    Ofcom Broadcast Bulletin Issue number 284 27 July 2015 1 Ofcom Broadcast Bulletin, Issue 284 27 July 2015 Contents Introduction 4 Standards cases In Breach Today NTV Mir Lithuania, 28 and 30 January 2015, 18:00 6 Subh-e-Pakistan Geo TV, 29 December 2014, 10:00 25 Family Guy TV6 (Sweden), 3 April 2015, 19:30 30 49 Days Phoenix Chinese News and Entertainment, 12 May 2015, 20:30 36 Resolved Drivetime Corby Radio, 13 April 2015, 15:00 38 Not in Breach Top Gear BBC 2, 2 February 2014, 20:30 41 Advertising Scheduling cases In Breach Breach findings table Code on the Scheduling of Television Advertising compliance reports. 51 Broadcast Licence Conditions cases In Breach Providing a service in accordance with ‘Key Commitments’ Penistone FM, 12 to 14 March 2015 52 Fairness and Privacy cases Not Upheld Complaint by Mrs B and Mr C Countdown to Murder: Killer Schoolgirl, Channel 5, 3 September 2014 55 2 Ofcom Broadcast Bulletin, Issue 284 27 July 2015 Complaint by Miss R 24 Hours in Police Custody, Channel 4, 6 October 2014 62 Complaint by Mr S 24 Hours in Police Custody, Channel 4, 6 October 2014 72 Complaint by Ms D Muggings and Mayhem: Caught on Camera, Channel 5, 20 November 2014 85 Complaint by Ms T Muggings and Mayhem: Caught on Camera, Channel 5 20 November 2014 94 Investigations Not in Breach 107 Complaints Assessed, Not Investigated 108 Complaints outside of remit 116 Investigations List 118 3 Ofcom Broadcast Bulletin, Issue 284 27 July 2015 Introduction Under the Communications Act 2003 (“the Act”), Ofcom has a duty to set standards for broadcast content as appear to it best calculated to secure the standards objectives1.
    [Show full text]
  • Ned Aesthetics in Contemporary Glasgow: Performing Classes, Appropriating Races
    Ned Aesthetics in Contemporary Glasgow: Performing Classes, Appropriating Races by Samantha Pockele A thesis submitted to the Faculty of Graduate and Postdoctoral Affairs in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in Anthropology Carleton University Ottawa, Ontario © 2013 Samantha Pockele Library and Archives Bibliotheque et Canada Archives Canada Published Heritage Direction du 1+1Branch Patrimoine de I'edition 395 Wellington Street 395, rue Wellington Ottawa ON K1A0N4 Ottawa ON K1A 0N4 Canada Canada Your file Votre reference ISBN: 978-0-494-94330-4 Our file Notre reference ISBN: 978-0-494-94330-4 NOTICE: AVIS: The author has granted a non­ L'auteur a accorde une licence non exclusive exclusive license allowing Library and permettant a la Bibliotheque et Archives Archives Canada to reproduce, Canada de reproduire, publier, archiver, publish, archive, preserve, conserve, sauvegarder, conserver, transmettre au public communicate to the public by par telecommunication ou par I'lnternet, preter, telecommunication or on the Internet, distribuer et vendre des theses partout dans le loan, distrbute and sell theses monde, a des fins commerciales ou autres, sur worldwide, for commercial or non­ support microforme, papier, electronique et/ou commercial purposes, in microform, autres formats. paper, electronic and/or any other formats. The author retains copyright L'auteur conserve la propriete du droit d'auteur ownership and moral rights in this et des droits moraux qui protege cette these. Ni thesis. Neither the thesis nor la these ni des extraits substantiels de celle-ci substantial extracts from it may be ne doivent etre imprimes ou autrement printed or otherwise reproduced reproduits sans son autorisation.
    [Show full text]
  • Little Britain’S Fictional Teenage Single Mother, Vicky Pollard
    Dynamics of Social Class Contempt in Contemporary British Television Comedy Sharon Lockyer School of Social Sciences Brunel University Uxbridge Middlesex UB8 3PH, UK Tel: +44(0)1895 267373 Email: [email protected] Dynamics of Social Class Contempt in Contemporary British Television Comedy Dynamics of Social Class Contempt in Contemporary British Television Comedy Abstract British television comedy has often ridiculed the complexities and characteristics of social class structures and identities. In recent years poor white socially marginalised groups, now popularly referred to as “chavs”, have become a prevalent comedy target. One of the most popular and controversial television “comedy chavs” is Little Britain’s fictional teenage single mother, Vicky Pollard. This paper examines the representation of Vicky Pollard in light of contemporary widespread abuse of the white working class. Highlighting the polysemic and ambivalent nature of Vicky Pollard’s representation, the paper argues that whilst Little Britain’s characterisation of Vicky Pollard largely contributes to contemporary widespread demonization of the working class, there are moments within Little Britain when a more sympathetic tone towards the poor working class may be read, and where chav identities are used to ridicule the pretensions, superficiality, and falsity of middle-class identities. The paper concludes that television comedy has been, and continues to be, a significant vehicle through which serious concerns, anxieties, and questions about social class and class identities are discursively constructed and contested. Keywords: chavs; social class; television comedy; Little Britain; Vicky Pollard; interpretive diversity; representation 2 Dynamics of Social Class Contempt in Contemporary British Television Comedy Introduction Sending up the dynamics and intricacies of the British class system has been a central ingredient of British television comedy since the 1950s.
    [Show full text]
  • Bogan-Ville: Reframing Class and Place Through Humour
    University of Wollongong Research Online Faculty of Science, Medicine and Health - Papers: part A Faculty of Science, Medicine and Health 19-2-2013 Welcome to Bogan-ville: reframing class and place through humour Chris Gibson University of Wollongong, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://ro.uow.edu.au/smhpapers Part of the Medicine and Health Sciences Commons, and the Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons Recommended Citation Gibson, Chris, "Welcome to Bogan-ville: reframing class and place through humour" (2013). Faculty of Science, Medicine and Health - Papers: part A. 173. https://ro.uow.edu.au/smhpapers/173 Research Online is the open access institutional repository for the University of Wollongong. For further information contact the UOW Library: [email protected] Welcome to Bogan-ville: reframing class and place through humour Abstract On August 4, 2009, Australian online news commentary website the Punch announced that Albion Park, in the Australian industrial city of Wollongong, was one of the nation's top ten “most bogan” places. This paper explores what it means to be bogan in Australia, tracing historical antecedents, local debate at the time of this media event, and the manner in which the politics of class and place identity are negotiated through humour. Some local residents railed against associations with “lower-class” culture or feared damaged reputations for their neighbourhoods; others responded in sometimes unexpected and creative ways—through humour, and by claiming bogan as an alternative source of legitimacy for working-class identity. I reflect on this case for how humour operates ambiguously in an age of email, blogs, and social media technologies—building on previous norms of media dialogue and on established understandings of class polarisation in Australian cities.
    [Show full text]
  • Branding Burberry: Britishness, Heritage, Labour and Consumption
    Branding Burberry: Britishness, Heritage, Labour and Consumption Sian Weston Goldsmiths, University of London Thesis submitted for the degree of Ph.D. in Sociology September 2016 1 I declare that the work presented in this thesis is my own. Sian Weston 2 In memory of my inspirational and stylish mother, Lyn Weston. 3 Special thanks to my supervisor Professor Beverley Skeggs for her unceasing encouragement and undimmed confdence in my work throughout the course of my research, and for making my time at Goldsmiths a pleasurable chapter of my professional life. Thanks to Nirmal Puwar and Pamela Odih for conducting such a positive upgrade examination; to Monica Sassatelli for reading my entire thesis pre- submission, and to staff and students within the Department of Sociology for providing a strong and challenging research culture, with special thanks to Bridget Ward as the welcoming face of the department. Heartfelt thanks to friends Helen Carnac, David Gates, Linda Sandino, James Bosley, Linda Florence, Faye McNulty and Kay Politowicz for their loyal, enthusiastic and on-going support throughout my research, and for knowing when I needed solitude to write, and when to step in with food, drinks, and offers of entertainment. Thanks to Jake Ford and Lisa Olausson, Abigail Ford and Jason Prince, and to David Littler and Gillian Blease for providing much- needed bolt holes when the going got tough. I owe artist Bedwyr Williams, senior GMB union offcer Mervyn Burnett, former Burberry machinist Joan Young and her co-workers Leigh and Anne a huge debt of thanks for helping me to complete such an engaging period of primary research.
    [Show full text]