Subculture Theory: An Historical and Contemporary Assessment of the Concept for Understanding Deviance
- 20 February 2014
- journal article
- research article
- Published by Taylor & Francis Ltd in Deviant Behavior
- Vol. 35 (6), 496-512
- https://doi.org/10.1080/01639625.2013.859049
Abstract
Subcultures attract attention in culture, society, and the media because they have been theorized as not merely distinct from, but also in opposition to, the dominant culture. In the United States and the United Kingdom the concept of subculture has been a major explanatory tool for sociology and criminology to understand deviant behavior. For nearly a hundred years the concept has been at the center of academic struggle for superiority between rival paradigmatic approaches, which have employed different theoretical explanations. In this article I critically assess the origins and politics of the way the concept of subculture has been applied primarily to youth cultures in terms of the relationship between agency and constraint.This publication has 51 references indexed in Scilit:
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