Modern subcultures list. youth culture

A subculture is a community of people whose beliefs, views on life and behavior are different from those generally accepted or simply hidden from the general public, which distinguishes them from the broader concept of culture, of which they are an offshoot. The youth subculture appeared in science in the mid-1950s. Since traditional societies develop gradually, at a slow pace, relying mainly on the experience of older generations, insofar as the phenomenon of youth culture refers mainly to dynamic societies, and was seen in connection with "technogenic civilization". If earlier culture was not so clearly divided into "adult" and "youth" (regardless of age, everyone sang the same songs, listened to the same music, danced the same dances, etc.), now "fathers" and "children" have serious differences and in value orientations, and in fashion, and in ways of communication, and even in the way of life in general. As a specific phenomenon, youth culture also arises due to the fact that the physiological acceleration of young people is accompanied by a sharp increase in the duration of their socialization period (sometimes up to 30 years), which is caused by the need to increase the time for education and professional training that meets the requirements of the era. Today, a young man ceases to be a child early (according to his psychophysiological development), but according to his social status, he does not belong to the world of adults for a long time. Adolescence is the time when economic activity and independence have not yet been fully achieved. Psychologically, youth belongs to the world of adults, and sociologically, to the world of adolescence. If, in terms of saturation with knowledge, a person matures much earlier, then in terms of position in society, the opportunity to say his word, his maturity is pushed back. "Youth" as a phenomenon and sociological category, born of an industrial society, is characterized by psychological maturity in the absence of meaningful participation in adult institutions.

The emergence of youth culture is associated with the uncertainty of the social roles of young people, uncertainty about their own social status. In the ontogenetic aspect, the youth subculture is presented as a phase of development through which everyone must go. Its essence is the search for social status. Through it, the young man "exercises" in the performance of the roles that he will later have to play in the world of adults. The most accessible social platforms for specific activities of young people are leisure, where you can show your own independence: the ability to make decisions and lead, organize and organize. Leisure is not only communication, but also a kind of social game, the lack of skills of such games in youth leads to the fact that a person and in adulthood considers himself free from obligations. In dynamic societies, the family partially or completely loses its function as an instance of the socialization of the individual, since the pace of change social life give rise to a historical discrepancy between the older generation and the changed tasks of the new time. With the entry into adolescence, a young man turns away from his family, looking for those social ties that should protect him from a society that is still alien. Between lost family and the young man, not yet acquired by society, strives to join his own kind. The informal groups formed in this way provide the young person with a certain social status. The price for this, often, is the rejection of individuality and complete submission to the norms, values ​​and interests of the group. These informal groups produce their own subculture, which differs from the culture of adults. It is characterized by internal uniformity and external protest against generally accepted institutions. Due to the presence of their own culture, these groups are marginal in relation to society, and therefore always contain elements of social disorganization, potentially tend to deviate from generally accepted norms behavior.

Quite often, everything is limited only by the eccentricity of behavior and violation of the norms of generally accepted morality, interests around sex, "parties", music and drugs. However, this same environment shapes the countercultural value orientation, the highest principle of which is declared the principle of pleasure, enjoyment, which acts as an incentive motive and goal of all behavior. The entire value network of the youth counterculture is connected with irrationalism, which is dictated by the recognition of the actual human only in the natural, that is, the dissociation of the "human" from the "social" that arose as a result of the "monopoly of the head." The consistent implementation of irrationalism defines hedonism as the leading value orientation of the youth counterculture. Hence the morality of permissiveness, which is the most important and organic element of the counterculture. Since the existence of the counterculture is concentrated on "today", "now", then the hedonistic aspiration is a direct consequence of this.

Subcultures may differ in age, race, ethnicity and/or class, gender. The traits that define a subculture can be aesthetic, religious, political, sexual, or any other, or a combination of them. Subcultures usually arise as an opposition to the values ​​of the broader cultural direction to which they belong, but theorists do not always agree with such an opinion. Fans of a subculture can demonstrate their unity through the use of a different style of clothing or behavior, as well as specific symbols. That is why the study of subcultures usually understands as one of the stages the study of symbolism, regarding clothing, music and other external preferences of fans of the subculture, as well as ways of interpreting the same symbols, only in the dominant culture. If a subculture is characterized by systematic opposition to the dominant culture, then it is defined as a counterculture. Currently, in the youth environment of our country, three leading categories of subculture can be distinguished, the first of which is formed by young people involved in small business(majors). They are focused on "easy" making money and " beautiful life". They are characterized by business acumen, a fairly well-developed sense of corporatism. They are characterized by moral relativism, as a result of which the activities of such groups are quite often associated with illegal business and offenses.

The second category is made up of "lubers", "gopniks", etc. They are distinguished by strict discipline and organization, aggressiveness, professing a "cult of physical force", a pronounced criminal orientation, and in many cases - a connection with the criminal world. Their "ideology" is based on primitive socialist ideals tinged with "criminal romance". The basis of the activities of such groups is petty racketeering and speculation. Groups of this kind, as a rule, are well armed, and not only with chains, knives, brass knuckles, but also firearms. The youth criminogenic associations described above in conditions of political instability pose a significant danger, since they are quite plastic material, and at any moment can become an instrument of activity of political organizations of radical and extremist orientation.

Modern youth, however, consists not only of informals. The third category is made up of the so-called "yuppies" and "non-oyuppies". They come from middle- and low-income families, distinguished by purposefulness, seriousness, pragmatism, independent judgments, assessments and activities. They are focused on ensuring material prosperity in the future and moving up the social and career ladder. Their interests are concentrated in the field of education, as a necessary springboard for successful advancement in life. In the manner of dressing they are distinguished by a businesslike classic style and underlined neatness. "Yuppies", as a rule, do not have bad habits take care of their health by participating in prestigious sports. They are characterized by the desire to "make money" and successful career as businessmen, bank employees, lawyers.

Hippies are a specific subgroup of a subculture that arose in the United States in the early sixties of the twentieth century, which quickly spread throughout the world, and practically disappeared by the mid-seventies. In the original, the hippies were part of a youth movement made up almost entirely of white teenagers and fairly young adults between the ages of fifteen and twenty-five who inherited the cultural rebellion from the bohemians and beatniks. Hippies were contemptuous of established concepts, criticized middle-class values, and acted as a radical opposition to the use of nuclear weapons, the Vietnam War. They made popular and illuminated aspects of religions other than Judaism and Christianity that were practically unknown at that time. Hippies literally pushed through the sexual revolution; they encouraged the use of psychedelic drugs to expand human consciousness. Hippies created original communes where their values ​​were cultivated.

Punk is a subculture based on the musical passion for punk rock. Since breaking away from the wider rock and roll movement in the mid to late seventies, the punk movement has spread throughout the globe and began to develop in a great variety of forms. Any subculture arises only on the ruins of the previous trend, as happened in the seventies with the hippie-punk shift change. The touching, almost airy, hippie ideals were swept away by the unbridled energy of destruction represented by punk. Punk culture is distinguished by its own style of music, ideology and fashion. It has found its reflection in the visual arts, dance, literature and cinema. Punk itself is made up of many smaller subcultures such as street punk, heavy punk and others. Punk maintains a close relationship with other subcultures such as goth and psychbility; supporters of this movement oppose commercialization, which is one of the main mechanisms of capitalism.

Youth culture is one of the most complex phenomena. This is evidenced by the fact that, until recently, its very existence was questioned. Today, the number of those who doubt its existence has become insignificant, but the problems and difficulties associated with it remain.

The starting points in the study of youth culture are the concepts of youth and youth. Youth is a long phase or stage of life during which each person passes from childhood to adulthood. The content of this transition is the process of socialization. Since this transition is not carried out alone, to the extent that all those who make such a transition constitute . The latter is a socio-demographic group, the unifying features of which are age, social status and socio-psychological characteristics.

It should be said that these signs are very unstable and uncertain, they depend on the nature and level of development of society, culture and features of the socialization process. In general, the stage of socialization is increasingly stretched. So, even in the last century, the period of youth most often ended by the age of 20, since by this age a person began his labor activity and entered into adult life.

Today, due to a sharp increase in the period of education, the upper limit of youth has risen to 30 or even more years. The same thing happens with the lower bound, however, in the opposite direction. Previously, it corresponded to 14 years. Now it is - due to the phenomenon of acceleration - sometimes pushed back to 10 years, especially when it comes to youth culture. However, most scientists agree that the age limits of youth are between 14 and 30 years.

These boundaries indicate that young people make up a huge social group - almost half of the population of society. Because of this, its role in the social and cultural life is constantly increasing. Largely for this reason, a completely new phenomenon has arisen in our time: if earlier young people aspired to become adults as quickly as possible or like them, now there is a counter movement from adults. They are in no hurry to part with their youth, they strive to preserve their youthful appearance, borrowing from young people its slang, fashion, behavior and ways of entertainment. This phenomenon once again testifies that youth culture exists, that it forms, first of all, a phenomenon of our time.

At the stage of socialization, the marked signs of youth - age, social status and socio-psychological properties - undergo profound, qualitative changes. As age increases, physical, physiological and sexual development and maturation occur. A practically absent social status acquires quite specific features: at the age of 18, a person is officially recognized as an adult, which implies corresponding rights and obligations.

Socio-psychological properties also become quite definite and stable, forming a unique character. In addition, a person entering life receives an education, acquires a profession and qualifications, masters the traditions, customs, ideals and values ​​existing in society.

The main channels of socialization are the family, school and higher education. educational institution, peer society, mass media. At the same time, cultural socialization proper constitutes the predominant part in terms of volume and exceptionally important in terms of its significance.

It is one of the consequences of the process of socialization in general and cultural in particular. Its socio-psychological origins are in the desire young man and youth in general to self-awareness, self-affirmation, self-expression and self-realization. These natural aspirations do not always receive the necessary support. The fact is that almost all the channels of socialization mentioned above, with the exception of peer society, consider the young person mainly as an object of influence.

From the latter, in this case, you simply need to accept and assimilate the content and values existing culture. However, a person entering the world does not agree to be a passive object, he does not accept everything in the proposed culture. His fresh gaze allows him to see that more sharply. that some elements of the culture of the older generation no longer correspond to the spirit of the times, while others need to be updated.

It is this process of critical reflection and creative renewal of culture, allowing you to make it truly your own, in the end, and leads to the emergence of youth culture.

IN Western literature The origins of youth culture are often considered in the light of the theory of "generation conflict", the conflict of "fathers" and "children". As a rule, such theories are based on Freud's system of psychoanalysis, the core of which is the well-known Oedipus complex. IN ancient myth about the tragedy of King Oedipus, who killed his father and married his mother, Freud saw a universal explanation for all interhuman relations, including relations between generations and nations.

His modern followers see the generation gap as the main and universal driving force of history. In their opinion, all previous history has been a story of struggle between old and young, fathers and children, mature masters and young apprentices, old professors and young students. As contemporary manifestations the struggle of generations points to student and youth movements, to youth culture.

Although the concept of youth culture, based on the theory of generation gap, reflect some features of this phenomenon, in general they suffer clear exaggerations, simplifications and schematism. First of all, they contradict the facts of history. IN primitive society the culture was homogeneous, it did not have any subcultures, as well as generational conflict. At subsequent stages of history, culture begins to differentiate, subcultures appear in it, in particular, urban and rural. However, young people do not yet constitute a special socio-demographic group, which does not give grounds to speak of a generational conflict.

Only in our time, young people are separated into a relatively independent group and become the bearer of a special youth subculture, which, however, exists along with others - women's, urban, rural, etc. Now there are real opportunities for the emergence of disagreements and contradictions between generations.

Indeed, today the pace of social development is significantly accelerating. This leads to the fact that many principles of relations, norms and rules of behavior, knowledge, ideals and values, the very conditions and way of life of the older generation, which underwent socialization 25-30 years ago, and the new generation turn out to be so different that they conceal potential opportunities. for disagreements and contradictions that can escalate into conflict. In addition, with age, a person's ability to adapt decreases, he can no longer perceive and assimilate new things on an equal basis with the young. Therefore, older people are increasingly lagging behind the accelerating pace of life. All this increases the likelihood of possible conflicts.

Nevertheless, in culture there is always a sufficiently strong and solid layer that ensures continuity between generations. But even if a culture does experience profound, radical change at some point, it is not “generation gap” that is the real source of it. The latter can act only as an external form of the ongoing changes, while the real causes are hidden much deeper. In addition, cultural revolutions do not occur so often, which also does not speak in favor of the theory of "generation gap".

Young people most often disagree not with the entire culture of previous generations, but consolidating positions. First of all, she is not satisfied with the existing hierarchy of values. Usually, the elements that make up culture are arranged in this order: education and intelligence, skill and skill, moral values, aesthetic values, etc. However, young people put morality in the first place, followed by aesthetic, intellectual and other values. But even aesthetic and other values, she often looks through the prism of morality. She is primarily interested in art. moral issues. As social studies show, man of culture for her, it is above all a moral personality.

Generally typical for young people emotional and moral perception of the world. Her behavior is dominated by movements, actions and dynamics. Equally, it is characterized by a sharp opposition between good and evil, categorical and maximalism, intolerance of lies, injustice, hypocrisy, insincerity, indifference, etc. It is in this area that young people most often diverge from the culture of older generations.

Here it is most difficult for her to find mutual understanding and mutual trust. Therefore, often the best environment for her is peer communities, which can be both formal and informal. The latter are given a clear preference, since they have less hierarchy, any rules and restrictions.

In them, young people feel most at home. Here it is easiest for her to find mutual understanding. They allow you to spend your leisure time with interest, discuss personal problems, have fun. Through these communities, young people achieve emotional and moral self-assertion. They turn out to be the main place for the creation of youth culture, which is the main form of self-expression and self-realization.

In a narrow sense youth culture It is a culture created by the youth themselves. In this respect, it is similar to folk culture. In terms of its level, it is also often not too high, but this is compensated by genuine sincerity and honesty, frankness and captivating naivety. Like folk culture, youth culture in one way or another opposes itself to official, mass culture and, in part, to high culture.

At the same time, youth culture goes beyond what is created by the youth themselves, and includes a culture specially created for young people, including mass culture. A significant part of the cultural industry is focused on meeting the needs and tastes of young people. This is especially true for leisure and entertainment, as well as fashion, the production of clothing, shoes, jewelry, cosmetics, etc.

Main types and forms youth culture is conditioned by the world of feelings and emotions. It occupies a central place music, because it is she who has the strongest emotional impact. Only music can express feelings most deeply. It fills life with poetry, infects with energy, changes and cheers up. Music can become the main means of communication. It is the best way to express yourself. The main genres in this case are rock and pop music, and the whole culture is often called rock culture. Rock music in popular culture really goes beyond art and becomes a style or way of life.

Along with rock and pop music, slang (jargon), clothes, shoes, appearance, manners, ways of entertainment, etc. also act as elements of youth culture. Slang, or youth speech, is different from the generally accepted literary language special and small vocabulary, as well as increased expressiveness and emotionality. Clothing and footwear primarily includes sneakers, jeans, and a jacket. In appearance great importance attached to the hairstyle, the length of the hair: for hippies they are long, for punks they are short and painted in bright colors. All elements of culture carry a symbolic meaning, they mean the commonality and unity of the bearers of culture and emphasize its isolation and isolation from the general culture.

Youth culture is subculture existing alongside others. It is a rather amorphous entity, embracing student, creative, working, rural youth, various kinds of outcasts, etc. A significant part of the youth is either not connected with it, or this connection is very weak, purely symbolic. Youth culture is divided into many groups and trends, the most active of which unite around certain rock ensembles.

Some of them are fans (fans) of some sports team- football, hockey, basketball, etc. For a while, one of the leading groups becomes the leader, then yielding its leadership to another: after the beatniks and hippies, punks appeared, then rockers, metalheads, etc.

In general, the role and significance of youth culture, its influence on the general culture remain local. They are not comparable with the role and influence of mass culture. However, at certain historical stages, the role and influence of youth culture can increase dramatically both in scope and in significance. A prime example then it became counterculture movement that took place in the West in the 60s, the main driving forces of which were student youth and the intelligentsia.

Initially, the movement arose as a political radical left. In the early 60s. it merged with the cultural movement and quickly gained momentum, becoming a powerful counterculture movement. Without abandoning political goals, it decided to go towards them not directly, but through culture and art, through a revolution in consciousness, lifestyle and value system. The movement was based on the ideas of J.-J. Rousseau, F. Nietzsche, 3. Freud. The guiding thread of the movement was the concept of the modern follower of Freudianism G. Marcuse. presented by him in the book "Eros and Civilization" (1955).

The counterculture came out with a complete denial of all Western civilization and the dominant culture. According to its supporters, at the very beginning, Western civilization had two development trends, one of which was symbolized by Orpheus (Dionysus, Narcissus), and the second by Prometheus (Apollo, Hermes). Orpheus embodies free play and pleasure, love and beauty, sensuality and bliss.

Prometheus, on the contrary, symbolizes labor and necessity, reason and domination over nature, the denial and suppression of freedom, rationalism and practical benefit, restriction and repression of natural, sensual inclinations of a person. Western world made a choice in favor of Prometheus, and his entire evolution can be viewed as a consistent oblivion of what Orpheus symbolizes - feeling, play and pleasure, and the assertion of what Prometheus embodies - mind, work and benefit. The result of this evolution was a "repressive civilization" based on the dominance of soulless technology, hard forced labor, the conquest of nature and the suppression of man's sensual and aesthetic abilities. The counterculture acted with the rejection of technocracy, reason and intellect, which constrain and limit sensuality, with the denial of technology as a threat to art. The sharpest criticism was directed against the cult of consumerism of mass society and mass culture. Of all the existing culture, according to the supporters of the counterculture, worthy of preservation and further development avant-garde art was declared, which was a real "realm of freedom".

The counterculture proclaimed new system values, in which a special place was occupied by the “new sensuality”, freed from any external restrictions, freedom of expression, play, imagination and fantasy, “non-verbal” ways of communication, etc. On the way to achieving new values, great importance was attached to the search for " new community”, the specific forms of which were various kinds of “communes”, which arose on the basis of natural, spontaneous relations of brotherhood and love, devoid of any hierarchy and subordination.

A special role was given "sexual revolution" which was supposed to make love truly free, to save it from all the restrictions of the former hypocritical morality. The sexual revolution was one of the main ways in which the "new sensuality" was formed.

As the new values ​​were put into practice, a transition from Promethean reason to Orphic sensibility, from productive labor to carefree play, was to take place. The highest and ultimate goal of the counterculture movement is to proclaim society as a work of art. Art in such a society - in the spirit of avant-gardism - will have to merge with life itself. In this society, the path to aesthetic pleasure and enjoyment will no longer be mediated by art. Pleasure and enjoyment will directly arise in every activity understood as play.

One of the notable phenomena of the counterculture was "hippie", whose style of life and behavior in a special way showed some of the characteristic features of the whole movement. protest against existing society and culture took with them the form of an escape from this life and culture. They chose Jesus Christ, Buddha, Gandhi, Francis of Assisi as examples to follow. They left the cities, lived in communes. The symbols of love were flowers that hippies wore in their hair, on clothes or embroidered them on it, cut out of paper, braided into wreaths. Hence, their course was called the “flower revolution”. Along with love, hippies were addicted to drugs.

In the early 70s. The counterculture movement is in crisis and is slowly fading away. It gives way to neo-conservatism, which proclaimed a new value system, in many respects the opposite of the counterculture. In the 70s. youth culture returns to its status as one of the subcultures.

Youth culture is a transitional stage in the life of young people. Together with the completion of the process of socialization and inclusion in adult life, young people either become consumers of mass culture or give preference to high culture, to some extent remaining faithful to some elements of youth culture.

Subcultures and counterculture

Culture, taken in all its manifestations, is heterogeneous and contradictory. Even within a relatively integral culture, for example, the culture of a particular people in a certain era, it is possible to distinguish different groups of people (rural, urban, professional, age, etc.) with their own special attitudes, values, preferences, and customs. Consequently, relatively independent cultural tendencies appear in all these groups. Such independent cultural spheres within the dominant culture, are called subcultures.

Subcultures are characterized by a number of features that are reflected in the main areas of life of a particular group. For example, we can talk about the subcultures of youth, representatives of the art world or the underworld, which have their own special moral standards, language (jargon), manners, and behavioral style.

Many of these subcultures are not only different from the official culture, but directly opposed to it. For example, the youth movements of the 1960s were distinguished by a sharply critical attitude towards the values ​​accepted in the dominant culture. (hippies, rockers, punks, etc.) Taken together, these protest subcultures form a counterculture. Thus, counterculture can be called a set of attitudes directed against the official culture.

The whole process of cultural history is sometimes presented as a struggle between official culture and counterculture. For example, Christian communities in the first centuries new era sharply contrasted their values ​​with the prevailing attitudes of the era of antiquity, the time of decline. In the Soviet Union, all attitudes directed against the communist and state ideology. In both cases, the counterculture after for long years struggle has ousted official culture and took her place.

Such global changes in culture occur extremely rarely - in times of crisis, when the prevailing values ​​cease to correspond to the changed reality. The rest of the time they remain an unclaimed reservoir of innovation. Modern interest in countercultures both in the West and in Russia is due precisely to the fact that modern culture shows all the signs of a systemic value crisis. It is possible that the ways out of this crisis are now being formed in protest countercultures.

Counterculture

Counterculture- sociocultural attitudes that oppose the fundamental principles underlying a particular culture, characterized by a rejection of established social values, moral standards and ideals, standards and stereotypes of mass culture. The term "counterculture" appeared in Western literature in 1960. It was introduced by the American sociologist Theodore Rozzak (born 1933), who tried to combine various spiritual influences directed against the dominant culture into a relatively holistic phenomenon. Counterculture theory aimed to overthrow modern culture which appeared to be organized violence against a person. This protest took various forms, from passive to extremist.

Youth counterculture has become the most significant in the life of modern mankind. It was originally directed against technocracy industrial society. Property, family, personal responsibility and other fundamental values modern civilization were hailed as prejudices, and their defenders were seen as retrograde.

The most famous example of counterculture was the youth movements of the 1960s and 1970s. beatniks and hippies, who concentrated anti-bourgeois ideas and opposed the Western way of life and bourgeois morality. In the mid 1940s. the founders of beatnikism D. Kerouac, W. Burroughs A. Ginsberg began to experiment with the concepts of friendship, new vision and new consciousness, and in the 1950s. their books appeared, where they tried to substantiate a new worldview associated with the poeticization of the masculine principle, masculinity and rebellion, the rejection of puritanism and hypocrisy of bourgeois morality and the traditions of the consumer society. These searches led them to the East, instilling in subsequent generations an interest in Buddhism, psychedelic practices that hippies were especially fond of.

By the 1960s the spectrum of youth trends in the counterculture has expanded, increasingly involving teenagers in their ranks - teenagers from 13 to 19 years old.

rockers- leather-clad motorcyclists, terrifying the townsfolk, cultivating the "male spirit", cruelty and directness of interpersonal relationships based only on physical strength. They are aggressive, rude, noisy and confident. The embodiment of their lifestyle is rock music, the heavy and simple rhythm of which fits well into their lives.

Punk movement became especially popular in the 1970s and 1980s. Punks shocked respectable people with breathtakingly colored and designed hairstyles and swear words, as well as with their outfits - old school uniforms “decorated” with garbage bags, toilet chains, pins. They were opposed teddy("teddy boys"), who declared themselves the guardians social order, And fashion(“modernists”) who sought to approach the middle class. Later, they broke away from the "mods" skinheads, or "skinheads", aggressive towards all deviant, from their point of view, groups.

In other words, these movements arise, then subside, but new movements are born, which await the same fate. But they don't disappear without a trace. Their value orientations dissolve in the bosom of the dominant culture, which begins to change under their influence. We can say that countercultures have a powerful creative charge contributing to the dynamics of culture.

Having a counterculture is not specific feature 20th century Opposition to the dominant culture, the birth of new values ​​occurs in world culture again and again. Christianity emerged as a counterculture in the Roman Empire, secular culture in the Renaissance, Romanticism at the end of the Enlightenment. Any new culture is born as a result of the awareness of the crisis of the culture of the previous period on the basis of existing countercultural attitudes.

Subculture

Subcultures- large components of integral local cultures (ethnic, national, social), characterized by a certain local specificity of certain features and arising from the fact that any society is heterogeneous in composition and includes different social groups - national, demographic, professional, etc. Despite the differences between them, they have some common values ​​and norms, determined general conditions life is the dominant culture. But the differences between the groups at the same time form each of them their own culture, called the subculture. In fact, this is a part of the general culture of a people, in some aspects different from the dominant culture, but in main terms consistent with it. As a rule, subcultures are associated with numerous, compactly located and relatively isolated groups of people. Usually subcultures are located on the outskirts of the area of ​​distribution of an integral culture, which is associated with the specific conditions prevailing there. The formation of subcultures occurs according to ethnographic, estate, confessional, professional, functional characteristics, on the basis of age or social specifics. The social group that formed the subculture may differ from the representatives of the dominant culture in language, lifestyle, behaviors, customs, etc. Although the differences can be very strong, the subculture does not oppose the dominant culture and includes a number of values ​​of the dominant culture, adding to them new values ​​that are specific only to the non. Examples of subcultures can be rural and urban culture. Thus, the Russian Old Believers differ from the basic culture by the specifics of their religious beliefs; the specific lifestyle of the Cossacks is associated with their special professional functions as defenders of the country's borders; the subculture of prisoners arises from their isolation from the general population; subcultures of youth and pensioners arise in connection with age differences, etc.

As a rule, subcultures tend to maintain a certain autonomy from other cultural strata and groups, do not claim the universality of their culture, their way of life. Because of this, they are distinguished by a certain locality and a certain isolation, but they remain loyal to the main value orientations of a given culture. Subcultures are only deviations from the main path of cultural development. They do not aim to remake the dominant culture, but adapt to it in their own way and in this they differ from the counterculture, which seeks to remake the world.

Today in the world society there are many different subcultures. Representatives of a particular subculture are called informals- they are distinguished by originality, unusualness, brightness. An informal person tries to demonstrate his individuality. We present a list of the main subcultures, and then we will talk about some of them in more detail.

• Alternatives
• anime people
• Bikers
• vanilla
• Glamor
• Gopnik
• grungers
• graffitiers
• Cyber ​​Goth
• Metalworkers
• New Age (New Age)
• Punks
• Pedovki
• Rastafans
• Ravers
• rockers
• rappers
• Skinheads
• dudes
• straight age
• Tolkienists
• Trash Models
• Freaks
• Football fans
• hackers
• Hippie
• hipsters

Alternatives

In the early 90s, an alternative subculture was formed, which included rappers, metalheads and punks. Representatives of this subculture are distinguished by friendliness towards representatives of other directions. It is believed that the subculture was formed thanks to the group Rage Against The Machine.

The appearance of alternatives is catchy, they are quite easy to distinguish from representatives of other subcultures. As a rule, they walk around in piercings and wear wide clothes. Representatives of this subculture do not have any special ideology.

Bikers

The biker subculture originated around the 60s and 70s. Representatives of the current - bearded long-haired men - cannot imagine their life without a motorcycle, beer and rock music. These attributes are the hallmarks of bikers.

As a rule, they ride in groups and each of the bikers is a member of the club. By the stripes on the clothes, they determine which club he is a member of. This is a distinctive sign, thanks to which bikers differ from each other.

The biker subculture adheres to its own value system, which is strikingly different from the generally accepted norms of a “civilized society”.

Gopnik

The gopnik subculture began to exist in the last years before the collapse of the USSR. The ideology and behavior of representatives of this trend are similar to the behavior of hooligans. A hallmark of gopniks is a propensity for violence, low level intelligence and prison slang, which in terms of complexity of understanding can sometimes be compared with the complex languages ​​of the world.

Gopniks, as a rule, like to listen to music in the style of prison chanson. They are often aggressive towards other subcultures. In particular, such movements as emo, goths, rappers, gopniks do not recognize and conflict with their representatives.

Gopniks cut their hair short and wear tracksuits. These are the main distinguishing features of the adherents of this subculture.

Goths

The formation of the ready subculture originates from music. Distinctive features of the Goths is the predominance of black clothing, girls go with dark makeup. Representatives of the subculture wear accessories symbolizing death - teeth, crosses, pentagrams, etc. The Goths do not have their own ideology.

The mood of the adherents of this trend is dominated by decadence and a gloomy look. The Gothic movement spawned a separate subculture - Satanists.

Metalworkers

The subculture of metalheads originated in the 1960s and has spread almost all over the world. The impetus for the emergence of the subculture was music in the style of Heavy Metal. Metalheads, as a rule, are called fans of heavy rock music and all varieties of metal.

In the image of a representative of the subculture there are leather clothes, images of skulls, a lot of metal jewelry on the body (chains, spikes, bracelets, etc.), heavy boots, ear piercings, bandanas. Ideology and philosophy, as such, they do not, all beliefs and views are focused entirely on music.

Punks

The punk subculture began to take shape as early as 1930 in England. The first punks were people from the poorer areas of Wales. They were engaged in robberies, fights, brawls. The ideology and worldview of punks is reduced to anarchy.

Distinctive features of punks are the Mohawk, a symbol of the punk movement, as well as leather jackets worn over the naked body, torn T-shirts, a large number of face piercing.

dudes

The subculture of dudes was formed in the second half of the 40s - 50s. At this time, young people dressed in defiant clothes appeared on the streets of cities. Representatives of the movement were distinguished by cynicism in their judgments and indifference to Soviet norms of behavior.

The dudes of those times protested against the standard stereotypes of behavior, uniformity in clothing. The subculture undoubtedly left a bright imprint on the Soviet era.

Stylish men wore tight trousers (“pipes”), long double-breasted jackets, bright shirts combined with colorful ties, pointed boots and dark glasses.

The girls decorated their clothes with sewn bows and lots of jewelry. Stilyagi, as a rule, were the children of high-ranking officials or professors.

Freaks

The subculture of freaks was formed in the 20th century in North America. Representatives of the current adhere to the main idea - to stand out among the crowd of people around them. For these purposes, not only clothes are used, but also behavior and philosophy. The term "freak" comes from English word Freak, which means - a strange man. Each follower of the subculture seeks to create his own unique image.

Freaks are ardent adherents of piercing - they massively pierce all sorts of places for themselves, and also cover their bodies with tattoos with images, inscriptions and patterns.

Hippie

The hippie subculture originated in America in the 1960s. In a short period of time, it quickly spread throughout the world, but how separate course, ceased to exist closer to the 1980s. Representatives of the subculture were distinguished by their peacekeeping position (pacifists), they opposed nuclear weapons and any violence.

Hippies were involved in the distribution of drugs among young people, ostensibly to expand their consciousness.

Representatives of the hippies wore loose clothes, a large number of baubles on their hands and long hair.

The modern urbanized society, mostly multicultural, includes a large number of subcultures, defined in sociology (also in anthropology and cultural studies) as groups and whose beliefs differ from the interests of the general culture.

Subcultures are a set of cultures of groups of minors, different in styles, interests, behavior, demonstrating rejection. The identity of each group largely depends on social class, gender, intelligence, generally accepted traditions of morality, nationality of its members, is characterized by a preference for a specific style of clothing and hairstyles, gatherings in some places, the use of jargon - something that forms symbolism and values. But it should be noted that today each group is not characterized by a strict identity, it can change, in other words, individuals freely move from one group to another, various elements from different subcultures are mixed, in contrast to the classical separate categories.

Youth subculture can be defined as a way of life and a way of expressing it, developed in groups. The main theme in her sociology is the relationship between social class and everyday experience. So, in the work of a French sociologist, it is said that the main factor influencing the nature of a group is the social environment - the occupation of parents and the level of education that they can give their children.

There are many studies and theories regarding the development of these cultures, including the concept of declining morals. Some historians argue that until about 1955, the youth subculture as such did not exist. Before the Second World War, young people, who were called exclusively children until they came of age, at least in Western society, had very little freedom and no influence.

The concept of "teenager" has its origins in America. One of the reasons for the emergence of youth groups is called the increase in the culture of consumption. Throughout the 1950s, a growing number of young people began to influence fashion, music, television, and film. The youth subculture was finally formed in the mid-1950s in the UK, when teddy boys appeared, distinguished by special attention to their appearance(they were replaced by fashion in the 1960s) and rockers (or tone up boys) who gave their preference to motorcycles and rock and roll. Many companies adapted to their tastes, developing marketing strategies, creating magazines such as the English music magazine New Musical Express (NME for short), and eventually a television channel - MTV. Fashion shops, discos and other establishments aimed at wealthy teenagers were opened. Advertising promised a new, exciting world for young people through the consumption of the goods and services offered.

However, some historians argue that the youth subculture may have appeared earlier, during the period between the world wars, citing the flapper style as an example. It was the "new breed" of girls in the 1920s. They wore short skirts, cut their hair short, listened to trendy jazz, excessively painted their faces, smoked and drank alcoholic beverages, drove cars, and generally showed disregard for what was considered acceptable behavior.

Today there is no one dominant group. Youth subcultures in modern Russia are mostly forms of Western youth cultures (for example, emo, goths, hip-hawkers), but are characterized by Russian specifics.

Any civilized society presupposes the existence, implementation and organization by people joint activities. The methods of its organization can be both formal and informal; they do not replace each other and proceed according to significantly different laws.

For example, in formal groups, relations are, as it were, impersonal: people act according to prescribed laws or rules. IN informal relationships, people or groups of people, there is communication and communication through public opinion or system of interpersonal relationships.

In other words, “formals” are members of society who adhere to the norms and laws of this society, and “non-formals” do not comply with these norms, “go beyond” social stereotypes and templates.

Teenagers are informal

At the heart of any informal movement is the idea of ​​a free community of like-minded people, preserving emotional warmth and at the same time providing each member with a certain individual freedom.

Informals are those who break out of the formalized structures of our lives. They do not fit into the usual rules of conduct. Destroys all patterns and stereotypes, not only in appearance, but also in relationships. They strive to live in accordance with their own interests, and not those of others, imposed from outside.

In the 1980s, with the first impulses of freedom, the so-called "System" gained strength - a youth association mainly of punk rockers and hippies. It existed as a protest or rebellion against the communist system.

The informal youth subculture and its Sistema movement collapsed along with the collapse of the USSR, but new way people's lives, the desire for a better life and gradual disillusionment formed a large number of other informal youth and adolescent groups.

Features of youth subculture

In the modern world, whether we notice it or not, a fairly stable youth subculture has already formed. It has its own internal and external features. Firstly, this general interest and one ideological program for all participants of the informal youth organization. Secondly, the fact that non-formals have a desire to assert themselves, along with competition in a group of the same.

At the same time, each informal youth group has a weakly expressed internal structure and internal communications.

Modern youth subcultures

Another important feature and feature of all youth movements is their external features. Each group has its own name, its own informal status and the so-called dress-code (clothing code). Those. a form of clothing or an attribute that indicates that a teenager or young man belongs to one or another informal model of youth subculture.

Let's understand the classification of modern youth subcultures

So, to start everything informal associations are divided into groups, and those, in turn, into micro groups. When dividing, they are guided purely by likes and dislikes.

There are also exclusively informal teenage movements, informal youth and mixed groups. There are anti-social informals and positive-minded.

General classification of informal youth organizations and types of youth subcultures

Sports directed informals

These are the so-called sports fans. Their movement is characterized by clear discipline and organization. Young people and teenagers who are well versed in a particular sport know its history. propagandize healthy lifestyle life. Appearance they are recognizable - sports scarves, caps, t-shirts, etc.

Politically oriented youth subcultures

The most socially oriented youth subculture and informal grouping. They differ social activity, participating in various rallies and have a clear political position. These include: pacifists, Nazis (skinheads), punks, etc.

• a youth subculture of pacifists who oppose war and approve of the struggle for peace.
• youth subculture "skinheads" (from the English. Skin - skin, Head - head) spontaneously emerged marginal organization, which is characterized by nationalist views and willingness to defend them. Skins are easy to distinguish from others: shaven-headed, black and green jackets, nationalist T-shirts, jeans with suspenders.
• the youth subculture of punks is basically an extremist informal teenage movement, whose behavior is distinguished by shocking and unbridled desire to attract the attention of others.

Philosophizing youth subcultures

Among them, such a youth subculture as hippies stand out. Sloppy clothes, blue jeans, embroidered shirts, T-shirts with inscriptions and symbols, amulets, bracelets, chains are distinctive external signs hippie. Informal youth is in the eternal search for the meaning of life, knowledge of themselves and the world around them.

Musically directed informal movement

The youth subculture of rappers, rockers, breakers, parkour (street acrobatics), etc. Informals of this youth subculture are united by a steady interest in music or dance. And this interest is most often transformed into a lifestyle.

Other modern youth subcultures

• Goths (they popularize the cult of death in every possible way, they look very similar to vampires);
• emo (short for the word "emotions"). Their youth subculture is based on the idea that the life of a teenager is a very severe test, and therefore an emo informal person is sad and sad. This is evidenced by the black color in the clothes of a teenager, combined with pink, which is a symbol of love and friendship.
• The youth subculture of anarchists is distinguished by their demonstrative straightforwardness in their views and aggressive behavior. Black color in clothes, and a mandatory metal accessory.

Psychology of informality

Informal adolescents have their own psychological characteristics, primarily a desire and a tendency to imitate. This is understandable, since teenagers “do not yet know how” to be themselves, they are in search of the meaning of “I” and their purpose in life. Another characteristic of any informal youth subculture is the desire to stand out, the craving for autonomy and independence.

The realization of this aspiration is quite real in a group of people like himself. But in fact, a teenager dissolves in a crowd of his own kind. “The vast majority of informal groupings of the youth subculture do not rest on conscious unity, which rarely happens among adolescents, but on the sameness of the loneliness of its members.”

One of the conditions for the existence of teenage informal groups is the presence or creation of opponents, ill-wishers, etc. Most often, the world of adults becomes enemy number one. A teenager informal expresses disagreement, dissatisfaction with the system and extends this protest to all informals in the group.