Australian subcultures: Reality or myth?

Abstract

During the course of the last 20 years, the concept of subculture has been heavily contested on the grounds that the theoretical premises it sets out have little or no bearing on the everyday lived experiences of young people. Through what is now commonly referred to as the post-subcultural turn, researchers argue that contemporary youth culture is characterised by a multiplicity of different lifestyle articulations and orientations (see Bennett, 1999; Muggleton, 2000). In the light of this, it is maintained, the notion of a sub-dominant binary relationship between ‘youth’ subcultures and a hegemonically superior ‘parent’ culture is becoming increasingly obsolete (Chaney, 2004).