MASARYK UNIVERSITY BRNO FACULTY OF EDUCATION Department of English language and literature The origin and development of skateboarding subculture Bachelor thesis Brno 2017 Supervisor: Mgr. Zdeněk Janík, M.A., Ph.D. author: Jakub Mahdal Bibliography Mahdal, Jakub. The origin and development of skateboarding subculture; bachelor thesis. Brno; Masaryk University, Faculty of Education, Department of English Language and Literature, 2017. NUMBER OF PAGES. The supervisor of the Bachelor thesis: Mgr. Zdeněk Janík, M.A., Ph.D. Bibliografický záznam Mahdal, Jakub. The origin and development of skateboarding subculture; bakalářská práce. Brno; Masarykova univerzita, Pedagogická fakulta, Katedra anglického jazyka a literatury, 2017. POČET STRAN. Vedoucí bakalářské práce: Mgr. Zdeněk Janík, M.A., Ph.D. Abstract This thesis analyzes the origin and development of skateboarding subculture which emerged in California in the fifties. The thesis is divided into two parts – a theoretical part and a practical part. The theoretical part introduces the definition of a subculture, its features and functions. This part further describes American society in the fifties which provided preconditions for the emergence of new subcultures. The practical part analyzes the origin and development of skateboarding subculture which was influenced by changes in American mass culture. The end of the practical part includes an interconnection between the values of American society and skateboarders. Anotace Tato práce analyzuje vznik a vývoj skateboardové subkultury, která vznikla v padesátých letech v Kalifornii. Práce je rozdělena do dvou částí – teoretické a praktické. Teoretická část představuje pojem subkultura, její rysy a funkce. Tato část také popisuje Americkou společnost v 50. letech, jež poskytla podmínky pro vznik nových subkultur. Praktická část analyzuje vznik a vývoj skateboardové subkultury, která byla ovlivněna změnami Americké masové kultury. Konec praktické části obsahuje propojení hodnot mezi Americkou společností a skateboardisty. Keywords culture, subculture, skateboarding, development, society, values, mainstream Klíčová slova kultura, subkultura, skateboarding, vývoj, společnost, hodnoty, mainstream I hereby declare that I have worked on this thesis independently, using only the sources listed in the bibliography. …………………………………………….. Author's signature Acknowledgement I would like to thank my supervisor Mgr. Zdeněk Janík, M.A., Ph.D. for his patience and kind advice. I would also like to thank my friends and family for their encouragement and support. Table of content 1. Introduction ............................................................................................................. 9 2. Culture and subculture ........................................................................................ 10 2.1. Definitions of culture...............................................................................10 2.1.1. What does culture involve.........................................................11 2.2 Definitions of subculture...........................................................................11 2.3. Emergence of new subcultures................................................................12 2.4. Stratification system and language..........................................................12 2.5. Function of subcultures............................................................................13 2.6. Subcultures and style...............................................................................14 2.7. Youth subculture studies..........................................................................14 2.7.1. American subcultural studies....................................................15 2.7.2. British subcultural studies.........................................................16 2.8. Cultural and historical background of America in the 1950s..................17 2.8.1. Society in the 1950s..................................................................17 2.8.2. The Cold War............................................................................18 2.8.3. The automobile revolution........................................................18 2.8.4. Mass culture..............................................................................19 2.8.5. Teenagers and the culture of alienation.....................................19 2.8.6. Summary...................................................................................21 3. History of skateboarding ...................................................................................... 22 3.1. Surfing and surf culture............................................................................22 3.2. Skateboarding Pre-1959...........................................................................25 3.3. Skateboarding in California 1959-66.......................................................26 3.4. Skateboarding disappears, 1967-74.........................................................29 3.5. Skateboarding revolution, 1975-79..........................................................29 3.6. Dogtown and Z-Boys...............................................................................30 3.7. Skateboarding as an underground activity, 1979-84................................33 3.8. Bones Brigade and the beginnings of street skateboarding.....................35 3.9. The X-Games, 1995-97............................................................................38 3.10. Modern skateboarding, 2000-2017........................................................39 3.10.1. Skateboarding at the Olympic Games.....................................39 3.10.2. Skateboarding and social media..............................................42 4. Skateboarding and American values .................................................................. 43 5. Conclusion ............................................................................................................. 46 List of references Appendix 1. Introduction In 2016, skateboarding was announced to be for the first time included at the Olympic Games in Tokyo, Japan. After sixty years of its history, skateboarding found its way from the underground activity, often labeled as fad, into the mass culture, with its own niche industry and media. The focus of this thesis is to analyze the events that led to such major shift. Moreover, this thesis puts emphasis on skateboarding subculture and its values, which are connected with American values. I have decided to choose this topic because I have been a part of skateboarding subculture for more than ten years. I find this subculture very friendly and unique as it stands on two fundamental pillars which are freedom and friendship. Hence this topic has been very interesting and beneficial for me as I acquired insight into the subculture of which I have been a member for nearly half of my life. The main goal of this thesis is to analyze the development of the skateboarding subculture and its values in comparison with American values. In addition, the thesis reveals why skateboarding emerged in California and provides cultural background which stood behind the emergence of new subcultures in the United States during the sixties. The thesis is divided into two main parts. The theoretical part provides definitions of culture and subculture. Subseqently it analyzes features of subcultures such as their function, emergence and style. The end of this part deals with subcultural studies. The practical part depicts the cultural background of the United States in the fifties regarding the preconditions for emergence of new subcultures. Moreover, this part provides a brief history of surfing subculture and analyzes its ties to the skateboarding subculture. The following chapters are further divided according to periods of time, which were influential for the development of skateboarding and the last chapter analyzes the connections between skateboarding and American values. 9 2. Culture and subculture 2.1. Definitions of culture When a man talks about culture in general, there are many ways how to define this term. It is caused by the fact that these definitions usually list different features of the culture. Some definition includes for example language, beliefs, attitudes etc. while another one includes values, experiences or traditions. The definitions are not mutually exclusive, one definition usually only omits what another one states and vice versa, but they are mostly very similar. To give an example, Ting-Toomey and Chung (2012) define culture as it follows: “[Culture is] a learned meaning system that consists of patterns of traditions, beliefs, values, norms, meanings, and symbols that are passed on from generation to the next and are shared to varying degrees by interacting members of a community”. (p. 16) Another definition by Samovar and Porter (2003) states that, “[Culture is] The deposit of knowledge, experience, beliefs, values, attitudes, meanings, social hierarchies, religion, notions of time, roles, spatial relationships, concepts of universe and material objects and possessions acquired by a group of people in the course of generations through individual and group striving”. Both definitions agree that culture is something shared among a certain group of people, they may only differ in the description of the features the groups have in common. Culture as such is continually evolving as it faces the changes of reality. Even though individuals are the producers as well as products