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Example research essay topic: One Hundred Years Types Of Music - 2,725 words

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Subcultures in Contemporary Society With reference to Naomi Klein's No Logo discuss the viability of the notion of subculture in contemporary society. Culture; a) the integrated pattern of human behaviour that includes thought, speech, action and artefacts and depends upon mans capability for learning and transmitting knowledge to succeed generations; b) the customary beliefs, social forms, and material traits of a racial, religious or social group. Subculture; an ethnic, regional, economic or social group exhibiting characteristic patterns of behaviour sufficient to distinguish it from others within an embracing culture or society. Subculture; compromise solution between two contradictory needs: the need to create and express autonomy and difference from parents and the need to maintain the parental identifications (Phil Cohen 1980) First off all the notion of a culture within a culture is nothing new. But one is forced to ask when does an angry or frustrated group of people become a subculture? What is the minimum number of people officially required to obtain subculture status?

The increase in subcultures could be put down to the ease with which it is to find groups or individuals of a similar belief, out look or standing. The internet could bring together small numbers of people from all over the world who advertise a certain quality that could be related to by others. These leisure styles as Peter Willmot put it, would be the starting point of an association with a subculture. And once you have started your own subculture the rules are there for you to make as you please. Not so, according to Naomi Klein.

In Klein's first paragraph of chapter three; Alt. Everything, she states her frustration at there being nothing new to discover, describing any new lifestyle as simply an old groove, already worn away by people who have stepped off the main. It is not an open space but rather a path that had been worn out before them. (A sub culture is an alternative way of life or a way of your life that is alternative, most people however fail to stay faithful to their ideals behind the subculture and often fall back into the middle ground. The aims and methods of the particular group differentiate themselves between the similar subcultures. ) Until recently one would not have come across the term subculture, but rather, the word class would have been used.

After the Second World War the lines between the classes begins to blur, as individuals, more so than ever before, are able to take control of their prospects being no longer as limited by the status the history of their family has put on them. Of course these privileges, or limitations as some might see them, are not completely out prehistoric. The most obvious example of modern rite by birth is the monarchy that, for their presence and public services, are funded by the tax payer. In fact one could argue that this extremely exclusive circle of people is a subculture. With its different rules, ambitions and aims to that of the mainstream it would be a perfect example of a subculture.

Although sub implies some form of inferiority, one could still describe it as a branch off the main stream. These royals are the face of Britain when they go abroad, and the image they portray is what people will associate with the British. As Klein points out, Tony Blair has been attempting to re-brand, and to change Britains dowdy image into that of Cool Britannia. Has he been successful? Well as far as the image makeover goes it probably was a success.

With prominent, fashionable football players like David Beckham and Michael Owen exuding cool and representing Britain and England at the highest level, it would be hard to get that wrong. Mr Blair himself was also creating a bit of a storm when he wore a shirt that had semi-naked women on the cuffs. This probably did increase Britains cool standings abroad. But if the politics are wrong then his efforts are in vain and these attempts at being cool start to look like pointless distractions. When the Tourist and Farming industries are crippled by a relatively primitive disease it would seem a waste of energies to concentrate on image.

Beyond the realm of royalty, Lords and Ladies, one of the most, if not the most influential groups with in our society today is youth culture. This again is a relatively recent development. But why? There have always been plenty of young folk around; our existence on this planet is proof of that. The influential factor in the equation is the introduction of money. The upper classes always had money to spend on luxuries, but recently so have, what would have been called, the working classes.

This is currently the market to break into if a considerable profit is to be made. Youth culture has been made synonymous with music with the development of Music Television or MTV as it is more popularly know, in the eighties. Klein argues that the commercialisation of musical events is not frowned upon by the youth of today as it would have been. Massive musical concerts that were held in the sixties were a platform to express anti commercialisation and to protest about the ills of the world. Now, concerts are sponsored by the companies whose concern for the world as a whole, are limited to say the least and that previous generations would probably be protesting against. As Woodstock promoter John Roberts says; if a kid went to a concert and there wasnt any merchandise to buy, hed probably go out of his mind Subcultures are now, more often that not, defined by ideas and morals rather than age, money and social status.

A current example of this is the book No Logo written by Klein. The way it has almost reached cult status in that it has a hard core following of people who now refuse to spend there money on products produced by companies like Nike or Gap as they feel they would be encouraging, what is in fact slave labour, in the poorest countries in the world. This high moral ground not only induces intense feelings against the companies involved, but also against other people who buy into the world of Nike or Gap. It is as The Crow is to the world of Goths but without the tragic death of a martial arts experts son. Whatever the idea of a subculture, there is often an image that comes with it. Youth culture covers a massive array of arenas.

Contained within each arena is a diverse and different subculture. As Dick Hebdige talks of the Punks, Skinheads, Mods and Teddy Boys, you could equate them to modern day evolutions subcultures in society today. There is a massive pop culture, responsible for the majority of commercial popular music. Aggressively marketed to appeal to the school playground, because if something is popular in a school playground then it will no doubt result in every kid trying to get hold of the product one way or another.

Targeting the cool kids of a school is now common place. Providing them with items of clothing and accessories with the hope that they will influence their class mates to want them as well is almost an accepted form of marketing products. One thing all other areas of youth culture have in common would be their wholehearted, passionate dislike of what is known as pop. But pop, called so because of its popular status, has ultimately had the last laugh. All other types of music step up against the pop machine and challenge them on their own grounds in the weekly chart. Ironically % 95 of the groups professing denouncement of the commercially manufactured group could be found to be on the same record label or have a sponsorship deal with the same companies as these disliked groups.

With Nu Metal and Hip Hop now continually in the charts, confirming their pop status, is it now foreseeable that the term pop music will evolve to have a broader meaning, encompassing everything that is truly popular, or has the music industry been saturated so much by the boy band that pop will forever be known as passive apolitical drivel with sampled snare drum beats fronted by puppets on strings. The ultimate accolade has been paid to the two genres of music Hip Hop and Nu Metal. Their status is so well known that MTV have felt it fit to dedicate each to its own specific channel with MTV 2 offering the guitar a stage and MTV Base providing a foundation from which the hip hop and Rn B can be introduced into the mainstream. Off course there are extremes of both these types of music, and to be on the cutting edge it is not good enough to know the tracks they play on their respective MTV stations, one must be aware of the next big thing before it is all over MTV.

One of the largest as yet untapped genres of music still able to retain its underground status would be the arena of Drug bass. With its hard and relatively fast beats it is still something that certainly has not, and never seems like it would be able to marketed to the general public. It is almost certainly something that a parent would describe as a racket and that will inevitably enable it to keep its cool status. If there is a subculture that is able to generate considerable revenue, whether it is through an associated image with clothing lines, sports equipment or with music with people eager to purchase the tapes, records or CDs then the corporate executives of large companies have the financial backing to buy into the market and make a profit. It is association with subculture and lifestyles that produce the most revenue for large companies. It is the association with the cutting edge that makes the brand popular and makes them trendy with the mass youth market that, are always eager to be seen to be fashionable.

After all, the best advertising from a marketing point of view is seeing people, and even better famous people, people you idealize and look up to using and wearing the product. And whether companies adapt and evolve an existing brand to fit into the lifestyle or whether they create a new brand is of no consequence, because either way, the money will do the talking and the product will become the thing to obtain. But what attracts people to a subculture, a life style. Certainly amongst the youth culture it could be argued that it is a case of acceptance and wanting to belong.

The fear of being isolated and alone is often the overriding factor when it comes to trying to fit in... On a smaller scale, or larger depending on how you look at it, the internet has enabled the international subculture. A way of life that once, could only be celebrated alone as no one else knew about it is now open to the World Wide Web. These net-cultures bring together individuals or small communities with a certain life styles uniting them as never before.

Space time compression has brought about the broadening of the local community. If time spent travelling a was the measure of local then this area has considerably increased in the past one hundred years. Whereas five hours might have take you from London to Southampton one hundred years ago, now within five hours one could be in New York or North Africa. This has made it possible for these subcultures not only to communicate virtually, via the internet, but to actually meeting in person. International conventions summer and holiday camps, with the individuals lifestyle the only theme are becoming more and more commonplace.

Would a subculture exist if no one knew about it? Surly the purpose of a subculture is to be recognised as different from the mainstream. If a subculture is not recognised at all, then its existence as a platform or stage for professing an alternative lifestyle is rendered useless. As But where the internet provides the opportunity for people of similar persuasions to unit together in a positive way, i.

e. their love of a way of life, it also offers the opportunity for people to unite together against a particular subculture. The Anti-Hippie Action League is, as it states, against the hippie philosophy. Apart from having the most vile forms of fashion known to mankind the author, Benjamin Granby describes hippies of recent years as com modified culture bunch of ignorant kids trying desperately to fit in and all they end up doing is lining the pockets of major corporations. And with a site like this generating over six thousand visits it would seem that the writer sentiments are held buy a small community of people. Just typing subculture into various search engines provides you with a basis of over ten thousand links with which to work from.

That doesnt mean that there are over ten thousand subcultures represented, but it does mean that no matter what you are looking for you are more than likely going to be able to find it. Anything from voles to vampires is represented! But there are several other areas of youth culture, almost all that have been commercialized and sold to the youth as opposed to them discovering it for themselves. Because that is what it comes down to. Self discovery. With so many life styles being sold to you, choosing one just to fit in defeats the purpose of self discovery.

The fact that there are several categories to choose from automatically limits ones choice. The idea of subculture is that it is not mainstream, not necessarily exclusive but elusive and fitting in to one of many is generally the case. Even if your aim is not to fit in, then by default you are moving yourself from one category to another and thus existing in another subculture. As an individual one might not wish to be associated with a group, but the fact that one would be categorised says as much about the society in which we live as it does about the individuals appearance. The notion that something must have a place, a name or category is bizarre one. The idea of categorizing someone because of there appearance is equally outrageous yet one everyone is guilty of.

Subcultures are often the result of people wanting to make a statement about what they see to be the faults of society or their position in it as a whole. Forming a subculture would enable them to claim a higher status within that particular community, completing a search for recognition and power! Subcultures offer a form of escapism, into a world where you make the rules of what is cool and fashionable. Subculture has the ability to make anything cool.

The traditionally most un-cool group of the computer age: the nerd, or computer geek as they are sometimes called have a subculture of hackers. Hackers are cool because they break the law; intruding in on private files of companies installing crippling viruses. They have power. Law breaking is nothing new to elevating a sub culture; vandalism caused by rock fans (Woodstock 1994) and the endless illegal drug abuse of hippies to ravers. So do subcultures exist anymore or do we now exist in just a wider community of commercialism. The definition of subculture has defiantly changed since the days of anti-establishment subcultures, simply because most subcultures have now been bought out by the commercial giants of the establishment.

And it would be bad business management to not promote yourself to a wide and influential audience. As far as there being nothing to be discovered one would have to question Kleins definition of and motivation for, discovery. All these subcultures have been a series of reactions to events in the past and present. At the time they were viewed as natural progressions not discoveries. These people didnt see them as creations, or attempts to blight anyone else trying to create something original, but rather as a natural progression of personal discovery. Bibliography: No Logo: Naomi Klein Dick Hebdige: The function of Subculture Benjamin Granby: A quick anti hippie tirade Websters New Collegiate Dictionary.


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Research essay sample on One Hundred Years Types Of Music

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