My Tribe: Post-Subcultural Manifestations of Belonging on Social Network Sites Author(S): Brady Robards and Andy Bennett Source: Sociology, Vol
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My Tribe: Post-subcultural Manifestations of Belonging on Social Network Sites Author(s): Brady Robards and Andy Bennett Source: Sociology, Vol. 45, No. 2 (APRIL 2011), pp. 303-317 Published by: Sage Publications, Ltd. Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/42857540 Accessed: 27-04-2015 05:23 UTC Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected]. Sage Publications, Ltd. is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to Sociology. http://www.jstor.org This content downloaded from 128.195.64.2 on Mon, 27 Apr 2015 05:23:15 UTC All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions Article Sociology 45(2)303-317 MyTribe: Post-subcultural ©TheAuthor(s) 2011 Reprintsandpermission: sagepub. Manifestations of Belonging co.uk/journalsPermissions.nav DOI:10.1 177/0038038510394025 on Social Network Sites soc.sagepub.com (USAGE Brady Robards GriffithUniversity, Australia Andy Bennett GriffithUniversity, Australia Abstract Sincethe early2000s, sociologists of youthhave been engagedin a debateconcerning the relevanceof 'subculture' as a theoreticalframework inthe light of morerecent postmodern- influencedinterpretations ofyouth identities as fluid, dynamic and reflexively constructed. Utilizing ethnographicdata collected on theGold Coast inQueensland, Australia, this article considers suchdebates in relation to socialnetwork sites such as MySpaceand Facebook. Although online identityexpression has been interpreted as exhibiting subcultural qualities, preliminary empirical researchinforming this article lends itself to a moreneo-tribal reading. Keywords identity,neo-tribe, networking, social network site, subculture, youth Thisarticle investigates the post-subcultural turn in youth cultural studies with reference to onlinesocial networksites. Although there is a growingbody of literatureexamining thesocial significanceof social networksites for youth, little attempt has beenmade in thisliterature to map thepatterns of onlineengagement and interactionbetween young peoplewith reference to theongoing subculture/post-subculture debate in otherareas of youthcultural studies. A centralcontention of thearticle is that,although such forms of engagementand interactionostensibly exhibit subcultural characteristics, when sub- jectedto empiricalscrutiny a morepost-subcultural quality becomes evident in young people'severyday use andperception of social networksites. The articleis dividedinto fourmain parts. In thefirst part we explorethe subculture/post-subculture debate in more Correspondingauthor: BradyRobards, G30 Level 4, Griffith University, GoldCoast, Australia 4222. Email:[email protected] This content downloaded from 128.195.64.2 on Mon, 27 Apr 2015 05:23:15 UTC All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions 304 Sociology45(2) depthand also considerextant work on youngpeople's everydayuse of information communicationtechnologies. In thesecond part of the article we outlinethe methodological approachunderpinning the empirical research that informs our findings. The thirdpart of thearticle presents an in-depthdiscussion of our findings; through close analysisof inter- viewee responses,we endeavourto illustratethe extentto whichthe virtual spaces of communicationoffered by social networksites appear to accentuateexisting trends towardsreflexively derived, identity projects as identifiedby post-subcultural theorists in earlierwork. In thefinal part of the article, we suggestthat although our findings tend to supportexisting post-subcultural explanations of youth culture, particularly those inspired byneo-tribe theory, at thesame time they offer new ways of understanding the nature and significanceof such post-subcultural forms of association among young people. Subculture to post-subculture The conceptof subcultureacquired ready usage in researchon patternsof youth leisure andstyle through the work of the Birmingham Centre for Contemporary Cultural Studies (CCCS) (see Hall andJefferson, 1976). Borrowing 'subculture' from the Chicago School, whereit had been used to constructa sociologicalexplanation of youthdeviance (e.g. Becker,1963; Merton, 1957), the CCCS adaptedthe concept as a meansof providing an interpretationof the stylisticresponses of youngworking-class males in post-Second WorldWar Britain. According to theCCCS, post-warBritish youth subcultures, by dint of theirquasi-gang structure, were illustrative of continuingexpressions of class-based solidarityamong working-class youth. The CCCS workprovided theoretical tools for movingbeyond the pessimistic reading of mass popularculture offered by Frankfurt School writers,such as Adornoand Horkheimer(1969), and mass culturaltheorists, notablyMacDonald (1953). The CCCS did notregard working-class consumers as pas- sive recipientsof mass culturalproducts, but rather saw such productsas a leverfor formsof hegemonic struggle. Subsequent CCCS workon youthby Hebdige (1979) pro- vided a moreelaborate interpretation of working-class youth's use of styleand other resourcesin whathe referredto as semioticguerrilla warfare. Using Lévi-Strauss's (1966) conceptof bricolage and Barthes' (1977) conceptof signifyingpractice, Hebdige consideredhow thevisually spectacular image of punkrock in late 1970sBritain reso- natedwith the socio-economic climate of an industrialnation in decline. The dominanceof subcultural theory held sway in youth cultural studies until the late 1990swhen a new seriesof criticaldebates emerged concerning the continuing validity of theconcept of subculturevis-a-vis an alternativetheoretical paradigm referred to as 'post-subculture'.Originally coined by Redhead(1990), theterm post-subculture was substantiallydeveloped, and theorized,by Muggleton(2000) in worksuggesting that contemporaryyouth culture can no longerbe regardedas a directreflection of class background;rather, argues Muggleton, youth identities today are a productof individual choice and reflectthe heightenedreflexivity that is partand parcel of late modern, consumer-basedsocieties (see also Chaney,2004; Miles,2000). Similarly,in work focusing on youthand music, Bennett (1999, 2000) arguesthat the collectiveexpressions of contemporary youth, rather than adhering to thefixity of class- and neighbourhood-basedsubcultures as depicted,for example, in thework of Brake This content downloaded from 128.195.64.2 on Mon, 27 Apr 2015 05:23:15 UTC All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions Robarásand Bennett 305 (1985), exhibitqualities more closely associated with what French sociologist Maffesoli termsneo-tribes. According to Maffesoli, neo-tribes are 'withoutthe rigidity of the forms of organisationwith which we are familiar,[tribe] refers more to a certainambience, a stateof mind, and is preferablyto be expressedthrough lifestyles that favour appearance and form'(1996: 98). The deploymentof neo-tribe theory in youthcultural research has been such thatit has become a significantelement in the post-subculturalturn (e.g. Cummings,2006; Luckman,2003; St John,2003 ). The subculture/post-subculturedebate has continued,giving rise to a seriesof critical positionson thecontinuing currency - ornot - ofsubculture as a meaningfulconcept for understandingthe leisure practices of contemporary youth. Hodkinson (2004) has argued thatwhile post-subcultural theory may be ofrelevance for some aspects of contemporary youthcultural practice, for example in relationto dance culture,other youth cultural groupingssuch as 'goth' exhibitqualities of collectiveand stylisticfixity that adhere moreclosely to conventionalsubcultural readings. In a similarfashion, Shildrick and MacDonald(2006) suggestthat class-based inequality continues to playa criticalrole in manyneighbourhoods and regions, impacting on access to leisureresources and strongly informingyoung people's sense of themselvesand theirpeer group allegiances. Finally, Robertset al. (2009) contendthat geographic location can also play a crucialpart in determiningyoung people's aestheticattachment to, and understandingof, leisure resources.One notablefacet of this, argue Roberts et al., is thatthose young people living in regionsoutside the central power bases forleisure capitalism, such as EasternEurope andparts of the Russian Federation, often tend to exhibitfar more conservative and sta- ble tastesin music,fashion and associated leisure practices. Significantly,despite the high level of debate concerning this topic, little attention has beenpaid to itssignificance for our understanding of youngpeople's use of theinternet and social media.As a social phenomenon,the internet has had a powerfuland lasting impacton theconfiguration and operationof western(and, increasingly,non-western) society.Bowker (2007: 21) contendsthat the widespread adoption of the internethas beenas criticalas theadvent of the printing press and the development of written records, althoughits potential, in manyways, even exceeds these paradigmatic shifts. The notion ofthe 'global village', first imagined by McLuhan (1962) inthe 1960s and fully realized in theearly 90s withthe widespread adoption of theinternet, still persists as a powerful metaphor.However,