While recognizing the role of discussion forums in facilitating community, this article seeks to shift the focus of debate towards the rapidly increasing use of online journal style web logs (`blogs') as a form of social interaction. Through doing so, we illustrate the potential value of the bedroom as a prism through which to understand online journal use at the same time as helping to illuminate the general significance of personal space to the lives and identities of contemporary young people.read more read lessĪbstract: Suggestions that the internet has facilitated existing trends towards the increasing disconnection of individuals from substantive communities have been balanced by a variety of empirical case studies demonstrating significant communal features on some online discussion forums. The paper identifies and explores understandings and functions of these two spaces for young people, identifying a number of apparent similarities in their use. This discussion is informed by research by each of the authors, on young people’s bedrooms and on the use of online journals respectively. We propose here that such online journals often take on for their users the symbolic and practical properties of individually owned and controlled space – something we illustrate through a comparison with young people’s uses of the primary individual centred physical space in their lives – the bedroom. Particularly popular among those in their teens and early twenties, online journals constitute an interactive form of web log whose content tends to be dominated by reflections upon the everyday experiences, thought and emotions of their individual owner. Subsequently, it is argued that researching youth cultures from such a position may offer significant potential advantages-in respect both of the research process and the types of understanding that might b.read more read lessĪbstract: This paper considers the increasing importance of personal, individualized spaces in the lives and identities of young people through a comparative examination of the contemporary use of the physical space of the bedroom and the ‘virtual’ territory of the online journal. In the face of theories emphasising the complexities of identity and the multiplicity of insider views, the paper argues for the continued use of the notion of insider research in a non-absolute sense. This article contributes to the development of such discussion through drawing together a range of previous writings and by drawing upon elements of the author's own experience of researching a contemporary youth subculture as a long-term participant of the grouping. Yet elaboration of the practical and epistemological implications of ‘insider research’ among such scholars has been somewhat limited. Readable and accessible, this groundbreaking book presents a unique chance to engage with a contemporary, spectacular culture.read more read lessĪbstract: Ethnographic research on youth cultures, particularly at doctoral level, is often conducted by investigators with some degree of initial cultural proximity to the individuals or cultures under the microscope.
Hodkinson provides a comprehensive reworking of subcultural theory, making a key contribution to the disciplines of sociology, cultural studies, youth studies, media studies, and popular music studies. Defying postmodern theories that claim media and commerce break down substantive cultural groupings, Hodkinson shows how both have been used by goths to retain, and even strengthen, their group identity.
From dress and musical tastes to social habits and the use of the internet, Hodkinson details the inner workings of this intriguing group. Immersing us in the potent mix of identities, practices and values that make up the goth scene, the author takes us behind the faade of the goth mystique. Based on extensive research by an 'insider', this is the first. Until now, no one has conducted a full-scale ethnographic study of this fascinating subcultural group. The dedication of those involved to a lifestyle which, from the outside, may appear dark and sinister, has spawned reactions ranging from admiration to alarm. Abstract: Goths represent one of the most arresting, distinctive and enduring subcultures of recent times.
0 kommentar(er)
