SP 23 The University of Birmingham Conte for Contemporary Cuiturst Studien University of Birmingham Birminghem 15. Stencilled Occasional Papers ‘THE SKINHEADS AND THE STUDY OF YOUTH CULTURE byThe Skinheads and the Study of Youth Culture by John Clarke Department of Cultural Studies University of Birmingham, P.0.Box. 363, Edgbaston, © DES & author Birmingham BiS 2771. qhis paper is not renlly about the Skinheads as such, but uses then as on cxomple to try to fill out « more theoretical approneh to the enclycie of youth culture.) This spproceh is based on three theoreticnl points (1) thet youth cultures are class besed; (2) that cultures represent both the subjective expericnce of = structural situation and 2 collective response to the problens of that structurel-culturel situction. (3) that mnglish working closs culture has evolved ne 5 subordinate culture, subordinnted to the structurel and cultursl control of the bourgeoisie. Ty scying thet it is subordinate, — we mean that it is noither totally controlled ty the donincnt culture nor totally fre fron that control, but that it enters nogetintions with that dominont culture at stretegic points, ond 2S © Consequence the expression of the central velues and concerns of the working class occur in diepleced forms, typicelly in those creas where the domincnt structurs] ond culturcl srrengenents are at their weckest. In cpplying thece understandings to the anclycis of youth culture ve herve identified four main areca of interest: (1) the clace situntion of tho benrers of the youth culturc. (2) their relstion to their perent culture (3) their reletion to other youth cultures, ond (4) the "n ing" of the culturel style itecl?. The class situation Skinhonde firet emerged xs > fornclized style ently in 1968, and hed their origiacl roots in the Sst End of London. The Reviced voreion of prper for lntionsl Devirncy Symposium, York, Sept. 1973. (The quotstidne throughout cro trken cither from "The Paint Housc' (1972) or froa my conversctions with « number of ex- skinheads in Birainghea).* 1, An outline of this appronch is in J.Clrrke ond T.Jezferson (1973).significance of this location is thet the Est End perhaps best exonplifioe the changes undergone by neny working closs districts in the last twenty years. These changes hnve affected cll the crucial arcas of working class life, the ocouprtionnl structure; housing ona neighbourhood structure; the faaily end leisure petterns. 421 this is perhaps not to say more then thnt English socicty has undergone aronatic changes in the post war period, but it is within such troditionnl working class arose that those ehonges havo hed thoir coverest ond most visible consequences? fe) Ocouprtioncd structures The fundenontal changes in the post-wer occupntional structure effecting ouch arene as tho East End vero those stonming fron technol- ogicel changes ond the increasing use of mass production technicucs. ‘The fundenentel consequence was a polarization of the job structure into two categories, those highly okillod, opccinlized and well paid, jobs associated with the now technology and the deannd for lebour to fill routine unskillcd and low poid treks, both in production and service industries, expturcd in the phrese 'dend-end jobs'. A simultencous chonge was tho collapse of sncli sonle specinlised craft trades which were contrel to the neighbourhood occupations) structure of the Exst Ind. ‘The brunt of those changes uns born by those who hed previously fillod skilled ond somi-skillea jobs — the ‘respectable’ vorking class. These chengce have continued to bear heavily on the children of these fomilics, ns traditional pxtterns of employment closed down, now alternatives did not open. For the majority who did not grin sufficient cduentionnl quclificntions for the technien] pests; 2. The arccs of Birninghon which produced their own distinctive skilled groupings show similar scts of chngos to those of the East End. See white (1971).resignation to one or = succession of a end jobs, or to periods of unemployment wes the only roclistic ¢ enuc. The experiences of those problems nrc compounded by the other holf of the cducxtion— employment nexus, the schools, School is still felt to be = situction whore one is subject to the whins of figures of external euthority: in John Holt!s words (1969-24): "It is place where they arke you go =nd whore they toll you to do things, end where they try to arke your 1ifs unplersent if you don't do then or don't do then right. School is =lso where one is forced to lcarn ond reproduce irrelevent information: "You don't use everything thet you're tcught et school. Sey you're = ven driver, you don't use ‘istory, scicnee, technical drawing, woodwork or motel work." (Point Housc,p.“6) More importently, school tells you whet socicty thinks of yous one lerrns, in effect, oncs supposed plnce in the sociel order, ond the value which sccicty gives to thet stetus. Lesding, perheps for neny, to the frustrated ples of ' 1 n't no good, they told mc at school I ain't no good’. (Paint House:p.38) This lock of positive self identity which many oxpericnce in the schools is given cdded power by onc of the erucinl chrngcs in the schools systcm. Following the 1944 Eduention Act, its ideologies] self representction os nn open, achicveacnt oriented system where erch individurl supposedly receives the educntion he deserves, serves to underminé the previously held negotiation of cducstion feilure, rhere schools uphdd the fundenental less divisions between ‘thom! ond tus! (not lenst in economic ters: To the extent thet prropts subscrite to this ideology of achievement, the expect tions for the boys, and their conscquent experience of failure, creheightened. qhis exporicnce of school is carricd over into enploynint through the nedintion of rgencies such cs the Youth Baployacnt Service, where, ee the boys renlise, they cannot escope their school history: "Tg you're thick they don't wenna know you but if you got s bit of cducntion and you go in, thoy can't do cnough for you. Tf you vent a trode or soncthing, you go up to the upper Dickes, the oncs upstcizs, but if you just wont anything, they'll keop you downsteirs. I wont up there ond thoy just seencd to pawn me eff, thoy didn’t venne know." (Print Houscsp.61) Both the Youth Exploymont Service and schools careers progrrnmes have to negotinte the contrndictions between ideologies of equal opportunities end the possibilities of sclocting jobs to satisfy one's own nceds and the xeclity fneing sost of these youths of both lack of choice and absence of intrinsic satisfactions. The negotintion is otteapted, albeit unsuccessfully ond with an innrticulnte ewerencss of the contredictions, through the inculor ion of "ronlistic aspir-tions". Houeing ond neighbourhoo: The rodevelopnent of working cles neighbourhoods hes brought with it ite om sct of specinl problens. Those ercns which hove developed strong stinhcad groupings have shown » cimiler complex of related changes. Firstly the population structure of the ncightour— hood has boon altered, in onc voy, by a 'downgreding’ of housing with an influx of coloured imaigrants seeking sisccble ond inexpensive propertics ond congregsting (both for roxsons of mutual essistence end as @ consequence of the housing morkct) in particular districts 3 In = second way, ty the “upgreding of housing through on influx of young middle class frmilics scoking their own hones in districts possessing a cortain "charocter"; nnd thirdly by the rohousing of long resident working class fenilies on new housing estetes, such Se Rex and Moore (1967).te Dagenho or Quinton «nd Ladywood in Birminghom. Whatever the combination of those changes, the not result wos te remove the socinl pnd cultural homogeneity of the sree. The physical redovclopmont of these arexs alee hed sovore cffocts on the neighbourhood culture, end acted in tuo oain directions. One ves the destruction of whet Phil Cohent terms 'cosmunnl space', by removing ond sltering these m jor foci of it, the strect, the local pub, and the corner shop. “Instead there wns only the privatized spnee of the fomily unit, stocked one on top of cach othor, in totel Asolntion, juxtaposed with the totnlly public spcce which surrcunded it". (v.16). ‘The second aajor dincnsion of thess cffects wes the breakdown of the extended kinship patterns of the neighbourhood. This occurred both through the geogrephienl redistribution of fenilics to new srens, thus scpercting fomilics by nerricge fron their fomilics of origin, ond through the srchitecturnl desig of the new flats ond houses which wore built to fit the needs of the typicel middle elces nucloor fomily, not the necds of =n cxtcnded kinship nctwork. Thus the fomily unit could no longer érow upon its traditional sapports of extended fanily nnd neighbourhood, especinlly during the exrly phr of redevelopment, until now pettorns of adaptntion could be established. These effects wore recognized in the subjective experience of the youths thonsclves, especinlly uhere treditionnl neighbourhood ties wore strong, as this quotvtion indicntes. “Phe perticuler block of flats thet I lived in in Stepney, Ring House, vere » complote transfusion of people from = strect eclled Twoin Court. So what you had vas the cane quality of life in Ring House as you ‘ad in Twoin Court, except that naw people live side wy side and over and under exch other. Ie P. Cohen, "Subculturel conflict and vorking eless consunit;Everyone knew everyone clsc iatimtely. Fints sre not dilce thet now. Flsts are not whet I renonber Ring House beings tequse they drew people fron sll over. They doa't tke + gtroct full of people, who have sort of scen ench other and ‘elped creh other and fought oneh othor, and sort of livod together. They don't teke thnt lot cad sry bang you lot ate gonna live in ‘ere. Thst perticuler good thing is missed in Specks of flnts, becouse they ‘ave trken 2 person fran ‘Ackncy “na snother from Woolwich, snd so on." (Print Houso: pel9)+ are_and Consumption: the acvclopnent of the so-orllod telnssless' society Las boon most visible in the ficld of loisurc, where once clearly snrkod close poundnrics hve become quite blurred. Partly this stons from the wide availability of new forms of leisure options (0-g. television and cars), and partly from changes in older leisure institutions. or dimension of thie has beon the decline of the neighbourhood as the focus of Leisure, and e concentration of the jor Ledeure facilitios in city centres. The closing of loce} cinoane hrs beon followed ty the redevelopment of multi-cinenn contre town cites, while city contre pubs heve sot the rec-sign standards ond petterns for many onc tine ‘locris', Many of the stylistic ehenges ove much to the nage of youth es affluent ond potential consumers, ¢ trond which is even more visible in the nost zocont fora of centre town lcisure fo ilities, the disoos. Phese clustors of contrel fncilitics heve meant provisions have boca forocd into competing for trode on the tora: got ty those frcilitics, the development of otylized interiors for pubs, the provieion of evening discos end pop concerts, «nd the restructuring of sone surviving lec] cinemas, Those changes. cabody « belicf in the chrnging nature of the users of those fneilitics, scoing his as possessing the once-clearly niddle cles characteristics of afflucnce, nobility snd the rbility to nrketrationsl' selections smong the lcisure terantives offered to him. @his chrnge is reflectcd in the exphr: is of tcompotition’ in the Neisure industry", end 3 captured in the description of the role of the user as noving fron that of member to thet of consuac: Host inpertantly for the discussion of the skinherds, these chengce & sre nlso visitle within profecsionni footbell.' Ghe mein post-wer changes in footbell acy be sumacrized ce those of profeccionalizntion, intcrn-tioncligction, end commerc: ization. J will bricfly oxpend on cach of these changes snd then attempt to secount for thom end finnlly sct out their conscoucnecs for the grnc- Firstly, profcssionclizntion refers te on inerensinely enleulatery auerencss in the gre of the tcchnier] requirements for success. This attitude ic monifcsted in conccrns for tnetics, scientific nethods of treining and high dcannds of physicel fitnces. 5: 1ys spidly rising trensfor feos indie-te the readiness of clubs to add to their ascets in ordcr to ssoure cuceses or avoid frilure. Secondly inter: donelizntion describes the increncing introduction into the gene of forcign conpetition as = supplement to the doncstic gene. This has taken the form of both cup competitions and Sricndly fixturce. There hrve - so been 2 nuabor of attempts to introduce more thentrical rdditions to the gnc, such ss Ancrican style chccr— orders, end the pro-metch relense of belloons. Finclly the comnerciclizntion of football is to be found both in the incrensing financil concerns of the grac, rising trenefer fees, entrence prices ond grtc reecipts. These concerns are 715 §. Also of note is the diversification of those compenics once Gnvolved in only one sector of leisure provision. this scotion dzevs honvily on the vork of Ion Taylor (1971).to to found in the widesprend group improvenents ade by footbell clubs. The inprovemento te fncilitics include the ercntion of more sented neconmodntion, inproved provision of toilet end ber facilticn, votter reir hmont facilitics, including restnurants st some grounds, nna the crortion of socicl clubs for cupporters: Footbrll clubs, anticipsting the diseppesrnee in the nev socinl order of the traditional cloth-capped footbell fan, felt they would have to compete for su enoce vith the providers of alternntive types of entertrinacnt, television ccpcciclly. If the trnditionel fan no longer existed, then nor voulé treditionnl loycltios, snd they would be competing for the fovours of the new classless, rotionclly scleetive consumer. Consequently, the gene had to be ande as exciting and éremtic os pocsible to appecl to the uncommitted, the spectetor had to be mode confortabl's, end his every whin catered for. Further, the uncommitted were unlikely to como exch Sxturday to untch an unsucccestul teony thorofore grenter attention hed to be paid to voiding frilure. Inn Toglor describes the conbined effect of these changes 55 “Bourgeoisificstion", wich is the proeces syhich legitinizes provioucly working cless activities for the middle class or aore aceurstcly, sctivitics vhich wore previously scen xo legitinete only for the working class, eich oe wrtehing doubtful filas or congreg-ting on the kop" (agTizp.364) Taylor syabolisec thie nudienee chrnge by commenting thet: nclerrly to sttend the Scturdey geno is no longer simply =n netivity of the Andy Crpps: the Brian Glanvilles and the Seofeseer Ayers of this world cre unnshrmedly interceted." (1971sp.364) his process hes brought with it « changed conception of the football supporter. The "gonuinc™ supporter is no longer the troaitioncl cloth-cnpped figure, living for the Sctardey gant, his own fortunce jnextricably linked with those of hia tenn nnd cotively portietpstingo. 4n the geme, but has noved towrrds the passive, scletive consuner of entertsinment, of the ene ns 2 ‘guectacle', snd who objectively assesses the grace I would charsetcrice thie as = transition from tho "fan" to the "speetntor". These changes =: © ty no means totel, cither in the cheractor of the foote-1 ert , or in the club's attitude to their supporters, but the chenges which hove tcken ni nal certcinly have hed the ‘spectator’ in a The differcnee between the new bourgeois involvement in footh=11 and the trnditionel experience of footbell is well illustroted ty Hunter Device! recont roporting of the 'Sicink 4 Specinl'. Dnvies travelled to Coventry with » treinlond of Spurs’ skinherds end stood with then on the terreces. He scys that becuse of nll the singing, shouting and sccrf woving they couldn't hnve tinc to obsorve the nicitics ond technicalities. "It would be too ensy to eny that they woren't intercetcé in the gme only in the result. But by the very nature of stemding physicclly ond precipitously so closc together =nd by acking co auch noise and reicing their sexrvss nd pushing cach other, it is herd te beliove thet they oan cver follow snc. Coventry did win, by onc goal to nil. Unlike Bill Wicholcon, the fone didn't criticize the Spurs players. They didn't even adait thet Cyril Knowles hnd acd bad game, which he had, Cyril wes bloody unlucky they 711 id." (1972) Whet Devies hee niescd, with ais passive, retional anclysic of the gmc, is the physical and caotionnl cxpericnce of being part of 2 football crowd united in your suxport for your tena. This exemple plso illustrates « dincnsion which is nicsing frou the onelysis of simileritics in lcicure patterns, which is, thot involvement in siniler tivitice ary held alternctive acanings for different groups. To put it more theorcti ly, cultu ‘This and Inter scctions drev on argucacnts from J. Cl~ "Footbell end Hooligenisa ond the Siinhonds". (1973)10. nnd nctivitics do not totclly determine the mecnings attached to thon, ut are susceptible to being appropricted by different groups for their ow uscs ené te invested with their own meanings.” An irrclevent but cle-r czrnple of th 3 is in vhat I onee thought to vem gentic and inagi: tive children's folk eong vhich turne out to oe (from onothcr cultur=l vicwpoint) ¢ communist inspircd incitcnent to young people te ues dangerous druge* the song in auestion. as I'm cure sll reds under the bed spotters will reclise ie "Puff tho Ingie Dregon". Porcnt Culture: Iniurning to the relation of youth cultures to their parcnt cultures which I hove chosen to do ie to nt I feel to be the nost fruitful foraulstion of this rel- tionship, that by Phil Gohen in hie article 'Subeulture] conflict and vorking ¢lnss conmunity' and try to select those points ot vhich I feel our anslysie differs significrntly. To sunmerise hic crgunent, Cohen secs cubeultures nc a wry of working out the internal conflicts of the peront culture by decsniing the “tensions which fnec to free in the fraily ond roplcing thom by 2 gcaeretional specific symbolic system". Thus for Cohen, working class youth subculturcs hrve the ent function of cupressing ond resolving "slbcit mcgiceily", the contradictions which rennin hidden or unrcsolved in the parent culture". and the fundeacntnl contredietion is thet, st an ideologicrl level, between traditional working clase puritenisa and the nov hedoniss of consumption, the subculturcs cone to symbolize one or other of the options open to the parent oulturc. @. Cc. Allon ‘more cubveroion than mects the c: ahd Peterson *sounds of sooicl ehrnge'. ' in Donisof?ii. ‘Phe point + which ve diverge from Gohen is on the extent of continuity between prrent nd youth cultures: that ic, wo do not sce the youth culture -s morcly resolving the contredictions of the porent culurc. There pre tuo dimensions to this. Firstly, there ore cignifiernt discontinuitice oo well re continuitice betwcen the parent ond youth culturc in both stracturn] and cultural situstione. Host motrbly these lie in the srcce of educntion nd caployment, where the young are faced with structursl pocitions -nd culturel cxporicnces of thea which are not identicn] with those of their parents. Indeed, as wo onv ith the cduestion=] ideology of equal opportunity, this lack of identity may be the source of cxtre problems for the young to resolve. Also the fnet @f being in different structur pnd culture] positions (clthough these are in large part derived froa their parents’ structurcl ond culture] positions) neens that diffcront cultur1 responses ere open to the young. This opens up our sccond difference fron Cohen, for his vicw of the peront culture is sn implicitly strtie one - it is for the youth culture to resolve the problems for the porcnt calturc, wherecs vs would orguo that the monbers of the parent culture arc thomsclves, simultoneouc vith tho devolopnont of youth culturcs, evolving nev negotictions with, and adoptations to, their chenged positions, for exemple the development of mere frnily centred Icisure patterns, and involvement in institutionclized nostelgis such os 'Coronction Stroct'. To illustrate these points, I went to return to the cerlicr discussion of the change in footb:11. In the period of these post wer chenges, with footbe1l clubs coming to identify themselves ~s of the ‘leisure business" and carrying « chenged innge of the spectator the pre-wer working class involvement in professionala2. football (in which Tootb:ll gave expression to some of the control velues of working einsé culture) une undornincd? It wos altered both froa inside the grme itsclf by the changing incge of the supporter ond from outside by the ch g stracturs} position of the working elses and their solf inege of their place in thnt new-socinl order. As the paront culture wo ng towsrds » more spoctotorial position in football, so members of the younger goncrotion were expericneing the vourgceisificntion of footbell from a different stondpoint. The ‘subeulturel rump ' ng Inn Taylor describes then, nttoapted te ronscert in perticulerly distinctive weys, the relvtion of the ‘fen’ ‘to foothell - becoming vhet might be called the 'superfen', and ceting out of footb=1l's bly position in working clesc culture: sost no those of territorial loynlty, violenec, and excitement. The tronsition2] nature of the parent culture's relation to the spectator image of the supporter gocs sone try to oxploining the sabivelent attitude of many older supporters to the activities of those "hooligans" at motches. Thus the perent culture and the youth culture evolve their oun acts of negotistions to the cnc structural ‘ericis', while the youth euiture em vo seen to be reproducing (elthough in v distinctive for) nna resolving soae of the tensions of the paront culture's own chonging situation, and it can be seen that those differing responses betucon the peront and youth culture ercote their om tensions and ambivalences. This cxomple nlso serves to illustr+te onc further important difference between the culturel responses of the parent culture ond the youth culture typicclly involve the youth culture , which is thet the percent eulturc!s negotiations legitinate and institutionclized outicts, wheress 1p reaponece are often non-institutioncliaed (c.g.strect GQ. See Gritcher "Football es populer culture: en outlinc".13. dolinquoncy) or Millogitinnte use of institutioncliced facilitice, is portly dopendont on their exploitation of two tynce of social sc. Firstly, the tredition: leewry -fforded to youth to theve ite fling! before sscuning alt repponeibilitice (though thie Lsouny is often double cdged, sinulicncously celebrating the freedom of youth ond condemning its irresponsibility); snd sccondly, the spece provided by those Icisure facilities which have devcloped specificelly sround the ‘teenage consumer’ market. ‘Through suck ‘spree’ the young are more able (temporarily at least) to impose thcir om definition snd menning on the situation. Relation to other Youth Cultures: Thoir relntion to other youth culturce is the last of the historicel dincnsions slong which the Skinherés must be pleecd. The previous fou yorrs of English youth culturc (from 1964 onverds) were donineted by two groups, the Modo nd the Underground. Tho Mods, ae Phil Cohen observes, vere an attempt to realize, in stylized form, the socinlly mobile, afflucnt uorkcr style. ‘Their dress, music ond use of drugs reflected, though in forms never envienged by the expounders of the sfflucnt society thesis, the hedonistic ond conspicuous consumption involved in thet inngc. But by 1968, the ‘mod' style had becone almost totclly institutionslized and connereicliaed, ite opportional and threntening clements worn avey by its incorporntion ao a otyle of concunption (ne opposed to = life style.) Ite arece had been incorporated into the glossy inoge of Carnaby Street ond nationuide chains of boutiques (not to ncntion thet still-cxant phononcnon the trendy excoutive). Its pop herocs, once integral clenonts of the a1 boulture itself, hnd become institutionclized as superstars, the untouchebic properties of the music world, involving : 19 thenselves incrensingly in production end nusicel complexiti 10 On this point, soc P. Fowler (1972)1s. Rogor Daltrey of the Who geve his view of this process in on interview with Sounds lest Decenber, referring to how the group hed lodt thet uyorking class feeling” in thelr recent music (cspocielly the LP phe: ¥ho's next") by beconing overconcomcd vith nore "polisked production". dc inversion ‘As Cohen notes, the Skinhends represented 2 'systemm ef the Mods — whorens the nods oxplored the upwardly mobile option, the Skinhends oxplored the lunpon". If the Skins reprosented on inversion of the Mods, their view of the underground 2nd hippicdan wes one of clmost total opposition- the hippies were besically middle class, individurlist and intellectunlist (especially in terms of their music, indulging in the complexities of jemz-clessicel-rock, or the ‘significant! lyrics of contemporery folk music). Pote Fowlor connents that "nothing wns more lonthsonc (to the Skinheads) then the junk of progressive rock" (1972). The hippies were also highly visible in terns of their cloth and heir styles, which, as this quote shows, werc not seen as the skinherds' epproved styic. ‘ho older people eterted uesring hippic styles, I don't like ‘ippic style. Couldn't stand the wey they dressed, too scruffy for ne, it looked dirty end scruffy.' (Pcint Eousc:p 34) For those "gbout te be skinhends" attempting te create oné cupport a necningful identity in the fcc of the sit ion they were condemned to, existing youth culturcl options were virtunlly bankrupt. The nods = connerein] corruption of the original dictinctivences, end the Hippics vere cesentinlly slien end meaningless.1b. Rerding culture] style: I uw went to suggest thnt the “ncoming of the intornel cloncats of 2 style such es the skinhccds can only be understood ty locxting it against thie sort of hicterical bickground. The culture itocl? is om expression of the subjective experience of #1 historical conjuncture snd 7 response to it. The clenonts of the style represent the nost formal objcctivntions of that response, being oth on integrel port of the culture and < stylized representation of it. What I an going to do now, using Phil Cohen's fundonentl insight that the ckinhords offer = stylized ronesertion of the nditionzl concerns of yorking clzss culture, is to cxomine the clenents of the style co articulating those concerns. Phe retura to football (nn cleucut cbscnt fron previous working cless youth culture devclopncnts) articulated 2 number of those concerns. Host inportently the cupport of a particular ton provided = focus for the asscrtion of territoricl loyeltics, involving both * unified collective identity (We cre the Holte enders, the chod ctc.), end an assertion of territorial rightc, not those of property ewnerchips, ‘bat of community identity. As Cohen notes: “Pcrritoriclity ic simply the proccos through which cavirennental Youndarice (2nd foci) arc uscd to cignify group boundaries (end foci) end become invested with a subculture] veluc”. (p-27). This cesertion tekes place both physically, through the defending or teking of the home “cni" end symbelicelly such as through the slogens such as "Suethwick Mob rules here". ‘The Skinhead nobs ploecd grent emphesis on thie torritor: basic, and the ‘mob! may te viewed as fn cttonpt to retricve the discppenring sensc of coumunity, with its caphrsis on nutunl mesictence in noncntc of need. Thus, onc fandenentel rule wes not to ‘cut snd run' froa figtts, as one16. ex-Snethrick s! "ghe only recl # egsure on cbout ws if you were the first to run and leave a fight. They'd get you for thet, no matter whet hespened in the fight." Phe Generel point ic reinforced by this connent: "It's a conmunity, gong, isn't it, it's only another uord for coamunity, kids, thugs or vhatever.... (Point Hoase: p.31) This defence of community nay also be seen in the lesc frequent 4nvolvonont in "poki-beshing", an inarticulete response to the threat to the culture] and recial unity. Coloured immigronts are also obvious scapegorts for the problems of the working clacs, being doubly visible. Firstly in a racicl sense, =nd secondly by vicibly conpeting with the working cleus Zor linited resources (notsbly hin « perticular district. The reol housing end onpleynont) wi neture of the structurcl inequelities are by conporiven obscured ‘dy geographicr] end ideological barriers. Further, at the tine of the ckinkesd's crystallisation, auch racial scapegoating uae Aenonts given public and official cupport and incentive by the s ana actions of beth Labour sn@ Conservative by sectors of the media (at 2 theoretical level, this reinforces the point that eubordinete cultures are not self-contained but are infused with eleaents of the dominont culture). However, "paki-bashing" vos not 2 sinple expression of racial scznegoating, for it vee over laid with 2 significant cultural component which distinguished between Asions ond Yeet Indions. West n@iens were net seen os so extensive = throat because many of the petterns of their culture were much closer to those of working class youths than were those of the Asicns, vhose introspective, family centred and cehievenent oriented wey of life woe much closer to © middle class cutlook.i. The Asian culture wes espeoiclly visible in terac of the pattems of local shop o ership vhich developed in the arcas in which thoy settled. At a ci level Hest Indian youths re respected because they were tough, and willing to defend thenselvec. To return to football, it also provides and allovs the wweeeion of excitenont. That oxi: sed to teke place within certes in lecitiaate ond institutionalized tounderics (¢ those of chanting and cheering, but excluding he use of ‘vulger! and terude' languege). The source of that exeitenent is inctitution— ally sunposed to be the natch itself, but the skinheads extended both the couree and exprossion of excitenent (illegitinetely, of couree) through their om vielence. Fighting both expreaced their involvenent in the gone, and ues a source of excitement both directly in the physical activity of the fight and indirectly as a topic of conversation to dispel the continua? threat of beredon in the periods ‘between fights and other group exploits. The violence (both actual and talk ebout) acted as an oxprescion of tourhnoss, of the nacculine self incge. Of particular synbolic importance here is the group activity of "queer bashing", for the definition of ovcer extended to those ucles uho looked 'odé' (i+ce were not overtly arsculine looking) cx this statement shous: wguelly it'd be just 2 little bunch vho'd find coneone they thought looked odd - like this onc night ve vere up by farley Yoods and ve sav this bloke who looked odd ~ he'd got long hair and frills on his trousers." It ic significant thet both the Hods and the Hippies ied cone cone way touards undermining long stending culturrl incges of nageulinity and fenininity. The Skinhecds cttonpt to escert 2 cleorly defined nasculinity can also be seen in their clothing end hair styles, which gave ns stylized ‘hardness! to those who wore thea.18. ‘The clothes also had 2 strongly functional appearance, looking like s of it vere an extension of vorking clothes (and indeod 3: functional - especiclly the bocts!). y sey of a Generel eonclucion about the style, it is a necessary precondition for vorking class youth culty; to provide beth a fecling of control and 2 stroncly velidated identity to their menbers, ac those aro denied to them by their structural cituntion. 4s those two statenents show, the skinhesd style offered both: "You got a terrific feeling of power, when a group of 200 of you were running don the street, nobody world dare touch you, oven the polico kept out of the way. "Well, it got you a lot of attention didn't it ~ the press ené thines, everybody kmev who the skinheads were...if wc hadn't done those things nobody would have noticed us Some notes on "culturcl diffusion": ‘The caphasic in our general approsch bas been on the grounds of specific youth cultural styles, and has involved no specific attompt to survey how the style spreads and is taken up ty other groups. However I feel thet sone generc] comments on thie topic can be nade. Firstly, I vould suggest thet the neans by which such styles are diffused cen be divided into tvo main areas: the mast nedizy ‘and the personcl-sroun contact with becrers of the style. Hass medic stereotyping of specific groups, although intended to condean ond ib © effect. oxcludé euch groups, oy well have the ope: It wider audience, among certain clonents ef the style availoble to = whoa may be croups who find it homologous with theix concerns, and appropriate it for their om use. Although that use is unlikcly to be totally unrelated to the centrsl clencnts of the styic itself, it See, for example, Jock Young's analysis of deviency ompliziention, 1971. Theoreticelly, clthough the message is encoded within the omincnt necming systen it is open to different decoding by those within 2 aubordinete or oppecitional meaning systen. (See S. fill, 1973).19. it is not toally deterainea ty them either, 20 we vould expect to find varictions in the use and meoning of the original style occurring in accord with the particular situations and concerns of different groups. One najor effect of suck stereotyping is to focus attention on perticuler stylistic and behevioural elenents, and less on the overall content of the subculture. Ye might charocterice this representation ac the presentation of a "life style" ac = "consuni style". The second means of diffusion - that of face-to-face contzet (in the ease of the Skinheads, typically at football natches) is alco likely to produce a concentration on specific stylistic and behaviour=1 elements. The taking of the “nano ond" ty a group of visiting ends i & not a cituction which is conducive to obtaining 2 fully detailed and aympathotic understanding of the inner workings of the eubeulture, rather it is likely to create and reinforce escociction ‘between the style and the situated behavioural elements (the violence, ia this ease). Both of these ‘methods of diffusion’ point to a conclusion which is also rexchable froa a different perspective. Simply thot the creators of 2 style are likely to have greater conmitmont to a particular style (isc. a greater concern with ite authenticity) then those who take it up at a later stage. In Schute's teras it is part of a primary zone of relevance, that ar which one is, in part, able to dominate and control, rether then a secondary zone, one vhich provides natericls to be oppropricted for one's own project. "(1970:112) The Politics of Youth Culture I want to conclude sith sone connents on what we heve called the "pdl: es' of youth culture: this use of 'politiccl' is a wide20. one by whick we meon thet noxbers of youth cultures cre involved in a struggle for control - the attczpi te exert sone ecntrel over their own life situction. They attoapt, through their nogotictions to create meaning for their om existence an@ to symbolically oxprese those, rather then simply acruiescing in the Goninon? cultural neaninge. That these expreosions should take place symbolically “rother than in teras of verbo] erticulecy chould not surprise uc in a culture where such articulacy is viewed with suspicion end dictrurt, and whose members are systenstically denied the articulacy necessary to express their real situation. Phio struggle to control meaning ie one which is fundamental to the social order (especiclly where the dominant class is attempting to oxtend its cultural hogenony). Here one con sce the significance of the mediz's stercotyping (and therety redefining) youth cultures as an attempt by tho dominont class to reaffirm ite om viow of society as the only correct one. It is not coincidental that in o struggle to control neaning, that one of the neat frequent adjectives cod to describe disapproval of behaviour by the young, should be meaningless.21. Bibliography J. CLARKS and "Phe politics opular culture: cultures ond 7. JEFFERSGT subcultures". Payor at Conforonee "Popular eulture: Zurope and Ancricn"; University East Anglic, August, 1973- J. CLARKE "Footbell Hooliganisa and the Skinheads", €.0.0.3., 1973. COE “subeulturel conflict and Working Cless conmunity". wes, 2. C, CRITCHER "Football 22 popular culture — on outline", 0.6.6. , DAVIES “The Glory Gane", Wiedenfeld and Nicolson, 1972. S. HALL "Bneoding and Decoding in the Television Discourse”, paper for the Council of Europe Colloguy on “Preining in the oriticel reading of Televisual language". University of Leiccater, Septenber, 1973. "the Paint House: vorés fron an Znst End Gang", Penguin, 1972. J. REX & R. MOORE “Roce, Conmunity and Conflict", Oxford U-P., 1971. A. SCHUTZ "On Phonomcnology and social relations", University of Chicago Press, 1972. I. TAYLOR "Footbell iicd" in Dunning (od.) 'A Sociology of sport’, Cass, 1971. "Popular music and youth cultural groups in Birninghen", Ph.D.» 0.0.0.5. 1972. D. HITE “Brua's Mobs", Hew Socioty, 21 October 1971.