Definition: The term "Subculture" is used in sociology and anthropology to define a group of people with a distinctive set of behaviors and beliefs that differentiates them within the dominant culture of which they are a part.
A subculture can be formed from the age , ethnic group or gender of its members. The qualities that determine a subculture to appear can be aesthetic, political, sexual, or a combination of these.
Subcultures are often defined by their opposition to the values of the dominant culture to which they belong, although this definition is not universally accepted, since an opposition between subculture and culture does not always occur in a radical way.
Features of a Subculture
A subculture is frequently associated with people of all ages and social classes who have common preferences in entertainment, in the meaning of certain symbols used and in the use of social media of communication, behavior, idiosyncrasy and language, among others not so notorious. In this sense it is also said that corporations , sects and many other groups or segments of society can be observed and studied as subcultures .
According to leading theorists who have studied subcultures, such as Dick Hebdige , members of a subculture will often signal their membership in the subculture by distinctive use of clothing and style. Therefore, the study of a subculture often consists of the study of the symbolism associated with the clothing , music and other customs of its members, and also of the ways in which these same symbols are interpreted by members of the dominant culture. . If the subculture is characterized by systematic opposition to the dominant culture, then it can be described as a counterculture.
Origin of the term "Subculture"
In 1950, the American theorist and sociologist David Riesman observed that in a majority community there was a group of people who did not follow the same life patterns. Riesman viewed this subculture as a culture with its own peculiarities within the prevailing culture.
In turn, several theorists of the twentieth century have carried out specialized studies in culture. This is the case of Dick Hebdige, social researcher, who published his book: Subculture: The Meaning of Style, in 1979 and which constitutes a valuable contribution to the cultural studies carried out at the Center for Contemporary Cultural Studies (CCS) from the University of Birmingham, England, an institution where he acquired his studies in sociology. Thus, Hebdige is taken as an important reference when dealing with the subject of youth subcultures. In addition, Hebdige considers that the members of a subculture when validating their belonging to it must have certain peculiarities such as style, clothing, language and / or the way of relating,
