More Hebdige Questions

1. Hebdige often describes subcultures in political terms, writing that “the tensions between dominant and subordinate groups can be found reflected in the surfaces of subculture”; yet, he also questions the political efficacy such style choices as “opposition . . . displaced into symbolic forms of resistance” (148). Hebdige appears to draw a line between truly political action and merely symbolic action. Moreover, he divides these two modes of resistance between middle-class youth and working class youth. As attentive as he is to class in this book, what are the ramifications of this split? Does he perpetuate working class oppression by denying style as a form true protest? Aren’t “explicitly ideological” types of resistance (writing manifestos, organized protest marches, teach-ins, etc) also forms of symbolic action?

2. Where are the queers in this book? Where are the women? In short, where is the sex? Hebdige claims punk obtained its androgyny through glam (25); but where did glam get it? How did the contemporary struggles for gay and lesbian and women’s liberation effect the development of these subcultures? Though early punk allowed for varied gender presentation, it was still a male dominated and often misogynistic space. The riot grrl and queercore scenes split off in part to create spaces for queers and women to play. Why don’t we hear about this? How do oppositional subcultures recreate systems of oppression? I’m also interested in Hebdige’s claim that David Bowie’s “meta message was escape – from class, from sex . . . into a fantasy past . . .or science-fiction future.” (61) How does (sexual/gender) fantasy function as resistance?

3. I wonder if the rigid policing of subcultural identity is a function of its very instability. The borders between subcultures are presented as stable and rigid, yet they also change and influence one another organically. How did Hebdige come up with his conclusions, i.e. placing certain bands in the category of punk or glam? What about bands or fashions that bridge subcultures? What are the ethics of a researcher imposing identity categories on others? What is the relationship between in-group identity policing and academic taxonomy? Is self-identification the best way to sort people into different subcultures? If not and we rely on outward signs, do we recreate a rigid system that denies the dynamism of subcultural style that makes it so exciting in the first place?