Hebdige Dick Subcultura El Significado Del Estilo

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Dick Hebdige 
Subculture 
EI meaning of style 
Barcelona • Well Aires • Mexico PAIDÓS 
Original title: Subculture. The Meaning of Style 
Published in English in 2002 Routtedge. an imprtnt of the Taylor and Prancís Group, 
London and New York 
Originally published in 1979 by Methuen &Co. Ltd. 
Summary 
Rache translation Carles 
Cover Mario Eskenazi 
Acknowledgements. . . . . . . . . 
Introduction: subculture and style 
Free Culture 
Quedao strictly prohibited without written aulorización dei holders copyriKhl, low 
esrablecidas sanctions on teyes, the total or partial reprodllcción this work by any 
means or process. including photocopying and eltratarniento infonnático, and 
distribute copies of it through public rental or lending. 
11 
13 
17 
17 
UNO. 
 From culture to hegemony 
©Dick Hebdige 1979 PART ONE: Case studies 
DOS. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 
 Holidays in the sun: e1 win Mister Rotten 
 Yawning in Babylon. . . . . . . . . . . . .. 
THREE. 
 Back to Africa. 
 The solution Rastafarian. 
39 
39 
43 
©2004 translation. Carles Roche 
©2004 all editions in Castilian 
 Paidós Bdiciones Iberian, S. A, 
 Mariano Cubi, 92 - 08021 Barcelona 
 http://www.paidos.com 
ISBN: 84-493-1609-X 
Legal deposit: B-31.208/2004 
Printed in Hurope, s. L., 
Lima, 3 - 08030 Barcelona 
Printed in Spain - Printed in Spain 
49 
49 
53 
8 SUMMARY SUMMARY 9 
EI reggae andRastafarianism. . . . . 
Exodus: a journey in two directions. 
FOUR. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 
 Hipsters, beats andteddy boys. . . . . . . 
 National production Elegance: the style of 
 the mods. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 
 PIEI white, black mask. . . . . . . . 
 Glam andglitter rock: the camp albino andother 
 amusements. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 
 Discolored roots: the punks andidentity 
 white ethnic. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 
55 
60 
69 
69 
76 
79 
EIGHT. 
 Style as homology. 
 _ EI as signifying practice style. 
NINE. 
 Alright, Culture. But Les Arts? . 
CONCLUSION. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 
Letters. 
Bibliography. . . . . . . . . . 
Further Reading 
Index andName . . . . . . . . . . 
157 
157 
162 
175 
175 
183 
193 85 
89 
223 
235 
247 
PART TWO: AN INTERPRETATION 
FIVE. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 
 Function of the subculture. . . . . . . 
 Specificity: two classes teddy boy 
 Sources dei style. . . . . . . . . 
103 
103 
112 
117 
I ~ sms ................. 
Subculture: unnatural rupture. 
Two forms of integration 
SEVEN. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 
 EI as intentional communication style. 
 The style and DIY. . . . . . . . . . 
 A boost for the style: style repulsive 
125 
128 
139 
139 
142 
147 
Acknowledgements 
 Many people, in one way or another, have col- 
rado in writing this book. In particular, I would like 
thank Jessica Pickard and Stuart HalJ time 
granted generously reading and commenting Dei 
manuscript. Thanks also to the teachers and students 
dei Centre of Contemporary Cultural Studies 
University of Birmingham and Geoff Hurd, the Poli- 
Wolverhampton technique, for keeping in touch 
with key debates. I also want to thank the 
Erica sefiora Pickard for all time and talent investment 
ARE COVERED in the preparation of this manuscript. Finally, gra- 
ences to Duffy, Mike, Don and Bridie to live for so many 
years within the limits of the law without encasilJarse. 
Introduction: 
subculture and style 
 I could get a score of photographs andI have 
stuck with chewed bread crumbs back ai dei regulations 
cardboard hanging from the wall. Some are pierced with 
pieces of brass wire that brings the boatswain andin 
threading which I colored glass beads. With these 
same accounts that inmates ai make co-side 
mortuary neurons, have made, for the most purely crimi- 
tions, star-shaped frames. At night, as vo- 
sotros abris the window overlooking the street, turn to me 
dei back regulation. Smiles and grimaces, and a relentless 
other, I enter every orifice offered ... Presiden 
my most hackneyed customs (Genet, 1966a). * 
 Jean Genet, Santa Maria de las Flores, Madrid, Debate, 
1994, andDelladrón Journal, Madrid, Debate, 1994. (N. dei t.) 
* 
14 Subculture INTRODUCTION 15 
 In the first pages dei Journal dei thief Jean 
Genet describes how, after a raid, police Eng- 
confiscates the tube of Vaseline. That "miserable and dirty 
object "found in his possession, which proclaims its hornose- 
sexuality ai world becomes for a special Genet 
cie warranty, "the sign of a secret grace pron- 
to save dei would scorn 'discovery of EI 
Vaseline is greeted with laughter at the registered office 
ters of the police station and the cops, "smelling of garlic, in- 
dor and to oil, but ... had theirsecurity force mo- 
rai, "he launched a barrage of hostile indirect. EI 
author laughs - "painfully" - with them, but then, in 
his cell, we confess: "The image of the vase-tube 
lina and would not let me. " 
He was, however, sure that this puny object 
so humble, challenge them, only their presence know 
rile police dei whole world, would attract so- 
ber if contempt, hatred, anger virulent andmu- 
das (Genet, 1967). 
 I wanted to start with these extracts Genet 
because he is one of those who have explored further, 
both in his life and in his art, implications sub- 
DEI versivas style. Come back often to large 
Genet issues: the status and significance of the revolt, the 
Style treated as a form of rejection, elevated crime 
to do art form (although in our case the "crimes" 
limited to a mere breach of codes). As to 
Genet, we are interested in the subculture, forms and rituals 
expressive of those subordinate groups -Teddy boys, 
mods, rockers, skinheads andpunks- as soon contemptible 
 ciated and denounced as enthroned, these groups 
 that, as the winds blow at the time, are seen 
 as threats to public order or harmlessness 
 you buffoons. We also intrigued as to Genet, the ob- 
 most trivial subjects, a safety pin, a toe shoe, 
 a motorcycle-Whatsoever objects charged as 
 tube of Vaseline, a symbolic dimension, and end 
 becoming a kind of stigma, in tests 
 of a self-inflicted exile. And finally we, as 
 Genet, try to recreate the action-reaction dialectics 
 gives meaning to those objects. Because, like the conflict ai 
 between sexuality "unnatural" and unworthy of Genet- 
 tion "of the police legftimax may condense on an ob- 
ject unique, tensions between dominant groups and groups 
 subordinates can be reflected on the surfaces of 
 subculture, in some styles made from ob- 
everyday subjects endowed with a double meaning: on the one 
 side, say ai "normal" world of the dangers of 
 sinister presence-Ia-difference and bring upon 
yes vague suspicions, uncomfortable laughs, "virulent anger and 
 dumb. " Moreover, for those who erect icons 
and wield it as gospel or as anathema, these ob- 
subjects become signs of prohibited identity, 
sources of value. AI remember their humiliation ma- 
us from the police, Genet finds comfort in the tube vase- 
lina. It becomes a symbol of his "victory", "I would 
beaten to death rather than deny this ridiculous 
utensil "(Genet, 1967). 
 So the meaning of the subculture always 
dispute is central, and style the area where the conflict 
between lines the more dramatic definition. For this 
reason, much of the pound is dedicated to describe the 
16 Subculture 
process by which the objects are attributed signs 
cance within the subculture and made to mean in 
form of 'style'. As in Genet's novels, the pro- 
process begins with an attack on the natural order, although 
which in the present case the deviation may appear 
rather mild: grow a toupee, buy a scooter or 
disk or certain kinds of clothing. Anyway, the 
process results in the construction of a style in a 
gesture of defiance or rejection, a smile or a grimace 
disdain. Indicates rejection. I believe that the rejected 
zo has reason to be, that these gestures have a signifi- 
ed, smiles and grimaces that are of some value subversion 
sive, although ultimately, ai as the 
Genet photographs of criminals, not otherwise 
the dark side of the rules, as the graffiti in the 
prison wall. 
 However, the graffiti reading may constitute a 
fascinating. Attract your attention. Express 
both impotence as true power, the power of defibrillation 
gure (Norman Mailer says, "Your presence in the Pre- 
presence of them [...] leave written your alias in its territory " 
[Mailer, 1974]). With this book I intend to decrypt 
graffiti, elucidate the meanings inscribed in different 
ing postwar youth styles. But before moving to 
subcultures examined one by one, we must first 
define key terms. The word 'subculture 
ture "is full of mystery. Suggests something secret, oath- 
Masonic cough, an underworld. And also invoked with- 
concept, broader and less convoluted, of "culture." 
We must begin, therefore, with the idea of culture. 
ONE 
From culture to hegemony 
CULTURE 
Culture: culture, care, Christian authors, ado- 
ration, action or practice of cultivating the soil tillage 
agriculture, crop or raising certain anima'les (fish: 
for example); development artificialde organismosmicros- 
cópicos andorganisms so produced, growing or developing 
ment (of the mind, faculties, manners), improves 
or refinement by education andtraining; conditions 
tion dei be formed or refined, intellectual side of 
civilization; special prosecucióno atencióno study 
dedicated to any issues or activities (Oxford 
Enf? Lish Dictionary). 
18 Subculture From culture to hegemony 19 
As demonstrated by this definition, culture is a con- 
rather ambiguous concept. Refracted through centuries 
usage, the word has acquired a number of significant 
two quite disparate, often contradictory. Even 
as a scientific term, refers either to a pro- 
process (desarrol1o artificial microscopic organisms) 
as a product (organisms so produced). * More is- 
Specifically, since the late eighteenth century dei intellectual 
tual and British writers have employed to direct 
critical attention to a range of ques- 
TIONES controversial. The "quality of life", the implica- 
 tions in human terms of mechanization, the divi- 
 dei mission work and the creation of a society of 
 masses have been discussed in the broader context of what 
 Raymond Williams l1amó discussion of "Culture and society 
 ity "(Williams, 196 \). If sueíio of a "society or- 
 ganic '-Ia society as an integrated whole and has 
 of meaning-has been so longevity is mainly gra- 
 ences to this tradition of dissent and criticism. EI suefío has 
 had two primary paths. A drove of 
 Back ai feudal past and the notion of a community 
 structured hierarchically. Here culture assumed a 
 bordering on the sacred function. His "perfectly harmonious» 
 (Arnold, 1868) was wielded against the wasteland dei 
 contemporary life. 
 The other path, much less crowded, we 
 e1 leads to future, towards a socialist utopia where 
 distinction between work and leisure would be annulled. Two defi- 
 basic nitions culture emanated from this tradition, 
 In Castilian we would refer, naturally, to "culture" and 
not to "culture." (N. dei th.) 
although not necessarily congruent with respect to the 
underlined above two paths. The first-se- 
guramente aquel1a with which the reader will be more fa- 
miliarizado-is essentially classical and conservative. 
Represent culture as aesthetic standard of excellence 
ca: "The best that has been thought and said in the world" 
(Arnold, 1868), and derives from an appreciation of how 
aesthetic "classical" (opera, bal1et, theater, literature, art). 
The second, whose origins go back as Williams 
Harder and until the eighteenth century (Wil1iams, 1976), has a 
anthropological point. Here, the term "cultural 
ra "means 
[...] A specific way of life that expresses certain 
two meanings and values not only in art and edu- 
õanza, but also in institutions and behavior 
daily treatment. Analyze the culture is, according 
this definition, to elucidate the meanings and values 
implicit and explicit in a particular lifestyle, a 
particular culture (Williams, 1965). 
 EI scope of this definition is, of course, much 
greater. In the words of T. S. Eliot, covers 
* 
[...] All the activities and interests of a 
people. EI dei derby day, the Henley Regatta, Cowes, the 
August 12, the cup final, the dog races, the 
exhibitor badges, the target and darts, cheese 
Wensleydale, boiled and chopped lime, the remolachaen 
vinegar, Gothic churches dei abbreviation XIX, music 
Elgar [...] (Eliot, 1948). 
20 Subculture 
From culture to hegemony 21 
 As noted Williams, the only way to support 
a definition of characteristics was found a Tajes em- 
new theoreticalprey. Thereafter, the theory of culture 
imply the "study of the relationships between elements 
within a way of life as a whole "(Williams, 
 1965). EI emphasis shifted from the immutable criteria 
historical, fixed to the transformation: 
[...] An emphasis that from studying Dei means- 
two andspecific values, aspire less to compare 
as estableceruna form scale, but, for the study 
their methods of change, causes descubrirciertas 
general and "tendencies" that allow us to understand 
better social processes andwhole cultural 
 (Williams, 1965). 
 What he proposed Williams was therefore a formulation 
much broader relations between culture and society 
tion, that by analyzing the "significant and values 
specific res "treats of exposing hidden bases 
of history, the "general causes" and "trends" so- 
General cial hiding behind appearances ma- 
nifiestas of 'everyday life'. 
 At first, when they began to take root in the uni- 
 universities, cultural studies occupied a bas- 
 tant uncomfortable on the border between these two definitions 
 opposite-Ia exceIencia culture as standard, the 
 culture as "a way of life as a whole" - without 
 opt for any of them as research Iínea 
 tion more profitable. Richard Hoggart and Raymond Wi- 
 lIiams developed a chronic sense of working-class culture 
 as nostalgic tales of their prime- 
ras childhoods (Leeds Hoggart in the case of [1958], one can 
Welsh mining block in Williams [1960]), but their work 
glimpse low predilection for the 
letters andliteracy, Imoralism and an equal- 
palpable mind. Hoggart deplored how the co- 
traditional working-class community-a community 
ity of tested and proven values despite stern aI 
landscape that was a lie, was being undermined 
and replaced by a "World Cotton Candy" of 
noveluchas and cheap thrills, a world so tasteless 
as sordid. Williams defended timidly new 
mass media, but what worried him was primarily affirming 
Tues aesthetic and moral criteria for distinguishing 
Valid products 'junk', the jazz - "A form 
authentic musical "- and football -" a wonderful game- 
so >> - against the "noveluchas of sex and violence, the ti- 
Sunday and the last flush of popular music memez » 
(Williams, 1965). In 1966 Hoggart foundation upon 
which were founded cultural studies: 
First, without appreciating good literature no 
able to understand fully the nature of the so- 
society, secondly, literary critical analysis can 
applied to social phenomena besides the lite- 
ture "academically respectable" (for example, 
popular arts, mass communications) and this 
mode will illuminate the meanings they have for 
individuals andsocieties (Hoggart, 1966). 
 Paradoxically, the implication of which was 
being necessary for a literary sensibility "leerx the 
society with due subtlety and that the two ideas of cul- 
22 Subculture 
From culture to hegemony 23 
ture could ultimately reconciled would also 
to report the first French writer jobs Dei Ro- 
Barthes, although in his case came from validation 
semiotic method-Ia-treated as a form 
reading signs (Hawkes, 1977). 
Barthes: MYTHS AND SIGNS 
 Using models derived from the work of linguist Dei 
Swiss Ferdinand de Saussure, Barthes' wanted to put re- 
lieve the character arbitrary of cultural phenomena, 
revealing the latent meanings of everyday life 
that, for all purposes, was "perfectarnente natural." Adi- 
Conference of Hoggart, Barthes was not interested in dis- 
distinguish between good and evil in the modern culture of ma- 
 sas, but just wanted to show how all the 
 forms and all rituals, spontaneous supuestarnente of 
 contemporary bourgeois societies are subject to 
 a systematic distortion, always likely to be 
 de-historicized, "naturalized" become a legend: 
All France is awash in this anonymous ideology: 
our press, our films, our theater, our lite- 
ture of large circulation, our ceremonies, our jus- 
tice, our diplomacy, our conversations, the 
temperature makes the crime that is judged, the house- 
tion that moves us, the kitchen is sueiía have, 
l1eva clothing that everything in our daily lives, is 
Tax representation is made that the bourgeoisie and 
 us relations man dei andthe world (Bar- 
 thes, 1972). 
 Like Eliot, for Barthes traspa the idea of culture- 
sa limits library, theater andopera for 
a whole of daily life. But this life 
Barthes is charged daily for a transcendence 
more insidious andmore systematic organization. Partien- 
do with the premise that the "myth is a type of speech" 
in Mythologies Barthes proposes to examine the whole 
usually hidden, regal, codes andconventions 
which cause significant characteristic group- 
specific social groups (those in power, by 
example) become universal and"Given" to the 
rest of society. In such disparate phenomena as a 
wrestling, a writer on vacation, a guide tu- 
istic, Barthes finds an artificial nature 
cial, the same ideological bone. Each ha 
Bia been exposed to identical dominant rhetoric (the 
DEI rhetorical sense) to become myth, 
pure element of a "second semiological system 
order '(Barthes, 1972). (Barthes gives the example of a 
Photography Paris-Match in which a black soldier sa- 
luda the French flag, which has symbolic connotation 
ca first andsecond order: [I] gesture of loyalty, 
pear tarnbién [2] "France is a great empire, andall 
sons, without color discrirninaciones, faithfully serve under 
its flag.) 
 The application by a method Barthes ba- 
sado on other linguistic distinction speech systems 
coughing language (fashion, film, food, etc.) opened 
completely new perspectives for studies 
contemporary cultural. It was expected that the invisible 
suture between language, experience andreality could be 
localized andunmasked by a semiotic analysis 
24 Subculture From culture to Hegemony 
25 
tico of this type, and find out what the meaning 
the gap between the alienated intellectual and "real" world, 
and that it would disappear as if by miracle in the same 
time. In addition, under the baton of Barthes, the semi otic 
promised nothing less than to reconcile the two definitions 
opposite of culture on which was so ambiguously- 
ron postulates cultural studies: a marriage between 
moral conviction (in this case, Marxist beliefs 
Barthes) and popular topics: the study of all mode 
of life of a society as a whole. 
 That does not mean that semiotics would fit with facili- 
ity within dei project of cultural studies. By 
Barthes share more than literary concerns 
Hoggart and Williams, his work introduced a new "pro- 
lem »3 Marxist tradition outside British dei 
 "Social commentary" and largely committed 
devoid of theoretical basis. As a result, re- 
pente, the old debate seemed limited. It gave the impression 
 sion, in the words of E. P. Thompson, that only reflected 
ba the concerns of a small group of "gentlemen 
 dilettantes. " Thompson wanted to replace the definition 
 williamsiana of the theory of culture as "a theory 
 relationships between elements within one mode 
 life as a whole "by its very formulation, more ri- 
 gurosamente Marxist: "The study of the relationships den- 
 a mode tro conflict as a whole. " It took 
 A more analytical, had to learn a new 
 vocabulary. As part of that process of theorizing, 
 the word "ideology" over adopting a range of sig- 
 ings much wider than before. Barthes, as 
 we have seen, had found an "anonymous ideology ' 
 that permeated all levels of social life possible, 
that was part of the most mundane rituals, certain 
ing the most eventful of social relations. But 
i, how ideology can be "anonymous" and how can 
be of such importance? Before testing which- 
dei reading any subcultural style, we define 
more precisely the term 'ideology'. 
Ideology: a lived relationship 
 In The German Ideology, Marx shows how the 
 foundation of the capitalist economic structure (the 
 goodwill Godelier deftly defined when said 
 that "The benefit [...] is unpaid labor" [Godelier, 
 1970]) cs hidden from theconsciousness of the agents of pro- 
 production. Inability to traverse the opacity 
 appearances to see the real relations underlying 
 them is not a direct result of any operation 
tion executed deliberately masking 
by individues, social groups or institutions. All 
contrary, by definition, ideology runs by be- 
jo of consciousness. Is there, in terms dei "meaning co- 
common ordinary ", where ideological frameworks 
cos are more firmly settled and where more 
are effective, because that's where their ideological character 
logic is disguised more effectively. In the words of 
Stuart Hall: 
It is precisely their "spontaneity", transparency, 
its 'naturalness', its refusal to examine the premises on 
which it is based, its resistance to carnbios or modi- 
cations, the effect of instant recognition, and 
26 
Subculture From culture to Hegemony 27 
closed circle which moves determining 
common sense is, at once, "Wife? taneous" 
ideological and unconscious. With no common sense 
can discover how things are; at most, they learn 
of where they fit in the existing scheme of things. 
Thus, it establishes its apparent unquestionableness 
 as a medium whose transparency is supposed 
 object back invisible its own premises and budget 
 positions (HAL1, 1977). 
 Since ideology saturates everyday discourse in 
form of common sense, can not be placed between. pa- 
réntesis andseparate from everyday life as a set 
to separate "political opinion" or ~ <Points d.e. 
partisan view. " Nor can be reduced to the di- 
abstract dimensions "vision dei world" or ~ M- 
 ployed in typical Marxist sense of "false consciousness 
 tion, "as Louis Althusser He pointed out: 
[...] Ideology has little to do with I ~ 'With- 
science "[...] is deeply unconscious [...] Sm doubt 
ideology is a system of representation, but in the 
Most cases such representations have nothing 
to do with the 'conscience' are usually images and see- 
 ces concepts, but it's mostly about structures 
 as are imposed on the vast majority of men, not working 
 see his "conscience>. They perceived cultural objects 
 two-accepted-suffered Yfuncionalmente act in 
 men through a process that remains madver- 
 Tido for them (Althusser, 1969). 
 Although Althusser is referring here to stru: t.uras 
as family, cultural and political institutions, 
etc.., to illustrate the point we can easily assert 
mind physical structure as an example. Most 
of modern schools, despite the apparent neutrality 
quality of the materials they are constructed (Iadrillo 
red, white tile, etc.) carry ideological assumptions 
cal implicit literally inscribed in the very 
architecture. The categorization dei arts knowledge 
and science plays in the system of power, which al- 
berga different disciplines in different buildings, and the ma- 
majority of universities maintained traditional divisions 
tions and a plant dedicated to each specialty. Furthermore, the 
hierarchical relationship between teacher and student is enrolled in 
design itself dei classroom lectures, where the distribution 
tion-seat tiered staggered banks 
with a raised dais-dictate the fiow of information and 
serve to "naturalize" professorial authority. Thus, all 
a series of decisions about what is possible and what not 
in education may have already been taken, albeit 
 unconsciously, even before deciding the con- 
taken from each of the courses. 
 These decisions help establish no limits 
 only what is taught but how is taught. The edi- 
ings reproduce literally in concrete terms 
 notions (ideological) ruling on what the 
 education, and through that process the educational structure 
 tion, which of course can be changed, passed oc- 
 a pair unquestionable and is presented as "given" 
 (Ie, as immutable). In our example, the is- 
 burning our thoughts have been translated into 
 actual bricks and mortar. 
 So the only people they endorse the re- 
 relations and social processes through the ways 
28 
Subculture From culture to Hegemony 29 
they are represented them. As we have seen, 
these forms are not transparent at all. They come in- 
turns into a "common-sense that endorses ai time 
the adulteress. These "cultural objects perceived- 
accepted-suffered "are precisely those that the semiotic 
policy aims to "examine" and decipher. All aspects 
 of culture have a semiotic value and phenomena 
 unquestionable apparently can work more co- 
 mo signs, ie systems elements com- 
 tion governed by rules and semantic codes not di- 
 rightly apprehended by experience. These signs 
 are as opaque as the social relations that the pro- 
 duce and that they represent. In other words, all 
 significance involves an ideological dimension: 
A sign does not simply exist as part of reality 
ity, but reflects andrefracts another reality. There- 
to, can distort that reality or be faithful, or 
perceive from a particular viewpoint, and so on. 
Every sign is subject to ideological endpoints 
ca [...] EI domain of ideology coincides with the dominant 
 nio signs. Both are comparable. When a 
 sign is present, ideology is too. All 
 has special ideological semiotic value (Volosinov, 
 1973). 
 To expose the ideological dimension of the sig- 
we first must be treated desentraí'íar codes 
employees to organize meaning. Special impor- 
tance have codes "connotative". As stated 
Stuart Hall, "[...] cover the face of social and vuel- 
are classifiable, intelligible, meaningful "(Hall, 1977). 
Then Hall describes these codes as "maps 
of meaning "that are necessarily the product of 
a selection. Roam across a number 
of potential meanings, releasing some of them and 
excluding other dei pitch. We are accus- 
brates to inhabit these maps with the same certainty with 
who inhabit the "real" world: we "think" in the same 
ma extent that "think", and if this proves 
quite "natural." All human societies re- 
produce themselves thereby, by a process 
so of "naturalization" Through this process-luck 
of inevitable reflection of all social life, sets 
concrete social relations, forms concrete of 
organize the world appear to us as universal and 
eternal. That refers Althusser (1971) says'm cu 
that "ideology has no history" and ideology in 
this general sense is always "an essential element 
of any social formation (Althusser and Balibar, 1968). 
 However, as the complex societies 
our, operated by a sophisticated 
division (ie, specialization) dei work, key 
everything has to do with specific ideologies, which re- 
present the interests of groups and classes predominant 
donors at a given time in a given situation. For 
address this issue should first be considered 
how power is distributed in our society. 
That is, we have to ask what groups and classes 
involved in the definition, management and classification dei 
social world. For example, as soon as we think of it 
will realize that access to the media 
of ideas in our society (that is, mainly 
mass media) is not same for all classes. Some groups 
30 
Subculture From culture to Hegemony 31 
pos have more say andmore votes, more options to dictate rules 
more, to organize meaning, while the situation 
other is more unfavorable, are less able to produce 
ai cir world and impose their definitions dei world. 
 So, when we look below dei level 
 the "ideology-in-general" to see how they operate the 
 specific ideologies, and how to acquire some 
 others remain in the marginalization, we found that 
 in advanced Western democracies field 
 ideological is not in any way neutral \. Returning 
 codes "connotative" mentioned by Stuart Hall, 
 we can see that these 'maps of meaning' are car- 
 Pollack explosive transcendence 
 because they are drawn andalong the lines overdue 
 established by the speeches dominant carried on 
 ity, ideologies dominant. So they tend to repre- 
 lay, by dark andcontradictorily that is, the in- 
 group interests dominant society. 
 To understand the question we have to quote Marx: 
The ideas of theruling class are in every epoch, the 
ruling ideas, ie the class which is the force ma- 
material dominant society is both its 
force intellectual dominant. The class that has at its disposal 
 position control means to producciónmaterial 
 Once mental production means, so that, in 
 Generally speaking, the ideas of those who lack me- 
 god of mental production are subject to the \ a. Ideas 
 are more dominant than the ideal expression of the re- 
 discharged into dominant material relationships formof ideas; 
 relationships which make the one class the ruling 
 are the same ideas become dominant (Marx and 
 Engels, 1970). 
 This is the basis of the theory of Antonio Gramsci 
hegemony, which provides the most effective explanation 
how to maintain the domination of capital companies 
ists advanced. 
Hegemony: BALANCE IN MOTION 
"Society can not share a communication system 
common education while facing class-divided follow- 
das "(Brecht, Small organum for the theater). 
 EI hegemony term refers to a situation where 
provisional alliance of certain social groups 
can exert 'total social authority' over other 
subordinate groups, not only by coercion or imposition 
direct dominant ideas, but "earning and confi- 
guring acceptance so that the power of the 
dominant classes appears both legitimate andnatural ' 
(Hall, 1977). Hegemony keep only condition 
tion of the ruling classes "get to do their 
definitions aside all opposition "(Hall, 1977), with 
which are all subordinate groups, if not, 
monitored, then at least one space are contained within 
ideological not look at all "ideological": 
which, however, will show up as permanent and'Natural 
ral "outside history, as if more aliyah 
specific interests (see Social Trends, No. 6, 1975). 
 This is how, according to Barthes, the "mythology" per- 
worth their vital role in naturalization andnorrnalización, 
being Mythologies the most convincing demonstration bar- 
thesiana dei scope of such forms andnormal meanings 
32 Subculture OF CULTURE TO HEGEMÜNÍA 33 
malizados. However, the important afiade Gramsci 
clause that says that the hegemonic power, precisely 
you because DEI requires consent of the majority do- 
mined, can never be permanently exercised 
by the same alliance of "class fractions" As 
have pointed out, "the hegemony l ...] is not universal and 
"Given" to the perpetual domination of a certain class 
nothing. You must be conquered, reproduced, sustained. 
As said Gramsci, hegemony is a "balance mod- 
vile "containing relations of forces favorable or des- 
favor of this or that tendency "(Hall et al, 
 1976a). 
 Similarly, it is possible to normalize per- 
permanently forms. They can always be de- 
constructed, demystified, by a "mythologist" as 
Barthes. Furthermore, the goods may be symbolically 
mind "recovered" in everyday life and equipped with 
 opposite meanings implied by Quie- 
tions originally produced them. The symbiosis between 
ideology and social order, between production and reproduction 
 tion, and is neither fixed nor guaranteed. May be vulnerable 
 Rada. EI consensus may break, or be questioned or 
 canceled, and resistance to dominant groups not tie- 
 ne to be always more or discarded without automatically 
 incorporated mind. Although, as Lefebvre wrote, 
 we live in a society where "l ...] in practice 
 objects become signs and signs and objects 
 a second ranks nature of the first, 
 initial layer of discernible reality "(Lefebvre, 1971), 
 always there, as he argues, 'objections and 
 contradictions that hinder the closing circuit dei "in- 
 between sign and object, between production and reproduction. 
 We can now return ai meaning of subcultural 
j ras uveniles since the emergence of these groups has mar- 
market failure dramatically Dei was consensus on 
postwar. In the following chapters we will see that it 
expressed in the subculture are precisely obtained 
jeciones and contradictions Dei type described by Lefebvre. 
However, the challenge to the hegemony represented by the 
subcultures not emanate directly from them: in reality 
expressed obliquely in style. Objections and 
contradictions are raised and displayed (and, as 
we'll see, "rnágicamente resolved ') in the deep-level 
superficial mind of appearances: that is, at the level 
signs. Since community-sign, the community 
myths consumers, not a homogeneous corpus. Co- 
mo wrote Volosinov, intersects with the classes: 
The class does not match the community-sign, namely 
all users with a single set of 
comunicaciónideológica signs. So arranged classes 
inks used one andonly language. It is of 
This orientation different accents which intersect at 
every ideological sign. The sign becomes the scene- 
nario of the class struggle (Volosinov, 1973). 
 The struggle between different discourses, different definitions 
tions and meanings within ideology is always 
accordingly and ai the same time, a struggle within 
signification: a struggle for possession Dei sign 
extends to the areas of the most trivial. daily life- 
target. Returning once more to our examples 
introduction, safety pins and Vaseline tubes, see- 
We open such items certainly a double 
34 Subculture OF CULTURE TO HEGEMüNÍA 35 
inflection: to use both "legitimate" and "illegitimate." 
These "humble objects" can be magically in- 
cautados 'stolen' by subordinate groups that were ad- 
judicarán meanings 'secret' meanings ex- 
presan, in code, a form of resistance ai order 
guarantees the continuity of their subordination. 
 EI style in subculture is therefore loaded sig- 
ning. Its transformations go 'against nature', in- 
terrumpiendo the process of "normalization". As such, 
are gestures, movements towards a speech which offends 
the "silent majority", which put in jeopardy the principle 
of unity and cohesion, which contradicts the myth dei consensus 
so. Our task, like Barthes, consist of dis- 
sift the coded messages that are hidden behind 
shiny surfaces dei style, plot them as "ma- 
dei pas meaning 'which, veiled, represent those 
same contradictions that are designed to resolve or 
disguise. 
 Scholars who adopt a point of view- 
miotic are not the only ones to read meanings into the 
fertile surfaces life. The existence of subculture 
 ras spectacular opening incessantly these surfaces 
other potentially subversive readings. Again Jean 
 Genet, archetype dei "unnatural" deviant, exemplifies 
 practice dei resistance through style. In ma- 
 manner, is as convinced as Roland Barthes dei ca- 
 ideological character of cultural signs. Feel in the 
 same as he, oppression seamless network 
 forms and meanings that includes and excludes ai mis- 
 same time. Like him, his reading is partial. Develops 
 its own and draws his own conclusions: 
Wowed so severe that building whose details 
united against me. Nothing in the world is irrelevant: the 
stars on the sleeve of a general quotes 
bag, the olive harvest, the style of ju-system 
rídico, dei wheat market, the beds [...] Nothing. This 
order [...] had a meaning: my exile (Genet, 1967). 
 This alienation to the fallacious "innocence" of the ap- 
ences that is injected into teddy boys, mods, punks, and 
certainly in future groups 'deviant' today 
unimaginable today, the impetus to move from the second 
"Fake nature" man dei (Barthes, 1972) to a man- 
cio genuinely expressive style truly 
underground. As symbolic violation burn dei social , 
a movement of this kind attracts and continue to attract the 
attention, causing strictures and acting, we will see, 
as carrier fundamental significance in the sub- 
culture. 
 No subculture has sought more actively 
 separated dei landscape of supposedly unquestionable 
as the normalized forms of the punks; one like 
They have sought to draw upon himself the disapproval more see- 
hemente. For this reason we will begin with the era punk and 
return to it throughout these pages. Maybe re- 
Refer to the appropriate punks, claimed that both theilliteracy and irreverence that led to such radical 
ends them, we now serve to test some 
methods we 'read-developed signs 
in the century-old debate on the sanctity of 
culture. 
Part 
Case studies 
DOS 
April 3, 1969, Marrakech 
What takes the rags are bespoke and expensive 
mariposean all around crazy guy dressed wild. 
There are costumes that seem Bowery stained urine and vomit, 
and when you look closely you discover that are intricate 
fine embroidered gold thread. There tramp costumes dellino 
more delicate, refined and desgastadísimos costumes [...] shadow- 
ros of felt decorated by former junkies [...] pimp suits 
garish and cheap that turn out not to be so cheap and also it 
Howler is a subtle harmony of colors that you only find in 
Chico's best shopping dei Poor [...] is the second hand and 
many go much further, until the sixth hand (William 
Burroughs, 1969). 
Holidays in the sun: the triumph of Mister Rouen * 
 EI British summer of 1976 was excessively dry 
and hot: an unprecedented summer. From May to August 
London died of thirst, smothered under a white sky and 
unavoidable mist exhausts. Acclaimed private 
merely as a divine blessing and "tonic" for the national 
press and television (i, i finally broke "rnaldición» 
British?), the sun was a brief balm after the monotonous 
fatalistic cycle holders during the winter storage had 
campado freely through the tabloids. The 
 • "Holiday in the suo" is the title of an item of the Sex Pistols. 
(N. dei th.) 
Case studies 41 
40 Subculture 
nature desempefió its inevitable ideological function 
of "substitute" for the rest of "bad news", supplied 
strating tangible evidence of "improvement" and relegated to a 
Secondly strikes and strife. With pre- 
predictable regularity, the final note of optimism News at 
Ten was occupied by "radiant creatures" who sobrevola- 
Oxford Street ban with their bags Harem and shorts, 
 their bikini tops and polaroids. The sun was the com- 
 ment "rogue" to the crisis: an epilogue casual fill- 
 promises not tropical. Until the crisis could leave 
 vacation. But i run the weeks and months and- 
 Guir heat wave, the old apocalyptic mythology dei de- 
 Taylor was amply confirmed. In the blink of 
 eyes, "milagre-became commonplace, everyday matter- 
 Diano, until a maííana, mid July, 
 was renamed as "unusual condition" means a terrible, 
 latter end, unexpected decline factor dei Great Bretaüa. 
 The heat wave was officially declared drought 
 August, water was rationed, crops took to per- 
 der and lawns of Hyde Park was roasted in delicate shades 
 siena. The end was near and imagery of Latter 
 Days turned to appear in the press. Economic categories 
 cas, cultural and natural phenomena were victims of 
 imprecations tougher than usual until the be- 
 drought took almost metaphysical significance. Named 
 a Minister for Drought, for then Nature 
 had already been officially declared "unnatural", and 
 conclusions are always a necessary afiadió 
 plus of irony not to overstep the limits dei sen- 
 Tido common. In late August, two facts of scale have 
 coincided completely different mythical lasts for 
 confirm the worst predictions: they showed that the ex- 
cesivo heat was endangering the structure my- 
ma of the nation's households (cracking his foundation) and 
e ~ Notting Hill Carnival, traditionally a for- 
paradigm of racial harmony, there was an outbreak of violence 
The festival caribefio, with all its connotations tunstí. 
CAS ~ Body happy and joyful calypso dancing motley 
c ~ n exoncas clothing, became suddenly, and inex- 
phcablemente, in a threatening congregation of ne- 
g: o ~ furious and police harassment. Hordes of young bri- 
color tamcos Soweto put the note on the screens 
national television and conjured the alarming- 
tampa of other blacks, other confrontations, others' long- 
gos and hot summers. " The humble cover cubes 
b.asu! A basic ingredient of all percussion band ca- 
nbena that price, symbol dei 'dei carnival spirit » 
acquired an ominous meaning when soft cops 
cos she was employed as a shield against a desperate 
furious rain of bricks. 
 It was during that summer when extrafio and apocalyptic 
the punk made his impressive debut in the music press. 1 
In London, especially in the Southwest and specifications 
mind near King 's Road, was curdling one 
new movement that combined elements baked 
a range of heterogeneous youth styles. Of done 
the punk claimed a dubious origins. Da strands: 
Bowie and vine glitter-rock were interwoven with elements 
DEI cough prot ~-punk American (Ramones, Heartbreakers, 
Iggy Pop, Richard Hell), faction Dei pub-rock londi- 
inspired by the subculture nense mod sixty (the 
 10l-ers, the Gorillas, etc.), DEI revival Canvey Island dei 
of forty-gang r & h dei South London (Dr. 
Feelgood, Lew Lewis, etc.), Dei northern soul and dei reggae. 
42 Subculture Case studies 43 
 Not surprisingly, the resulting mixture was somewhat unstable 
ble: all these elements constantly threatened with separation 
rarse and return to their original sources. EI glam rock 
contributed narcissism, nihilism and confusion of gender- 
ros. EI punk tabled American aesthetics 
minimal (eg, "Pinhead" by the Ramones or << 1 
Stupid »Crime), the cult of the street and a tendency to 
self-laceration. EI northern soul (A subculture verdade- 
ramente secret middle class youth worshipers 
DEI acrobatic dancing and fast soul the American 
sixties were centered clubs like Wigan Casino) 
contributed his underground tradition of fast rhythms, 
staccato, solo dances and amphetamines, the reggae, 
exotic and dangerous aura of forbidden identity, their con- 
science, her braids and impassivity. EI rhythm 'n blues 
strengthened national and speed stridency Dei northern 
soul, returned rock contributed to its roots and a strong ico- 
noclastia, one hundred percent British personality and 
very selective appropriation of inheritance Dei rock 'n'roll. 
 This unlikely alliance of musical traditions in ap- 
ence mysteriously incompatible verified in 
punk was also ratified by a wardrobe Eclec- 
tico reproducing the same kind of cacophony in the pla- 
nonvisual. This literally attached by safety pins, 
would become the famous and very photogenic phenomenon 
known as punk which, along 1977, supplied 
to the tabloids a nice number of copies as 
predictable as sensational as the quality press 
one catalog of standards splendidly relieved that- 
brantadas. EI punk reproduced the entire history of the indu- 
mentary of the middle classes in the form of post-war 
 collage, combining elements that originally belong- 
 necían to completely different epochs. It was a chaos of 
 ridges and leather jackets, military boots and rubber 
 pointy shoes, shirts and coats, Skins to 
 mod and strides to skinhead, tight pants and lime- 
 cetines multicolored, short military jackets and boots 
metal toe, all bonded 'In place "and 
 "Dei time out" by the spectacular fasteners (irn- 
perdibles and clothes pegs plastic straps 
bondage and pieces of string), which many glances between 
horror and fascination brought upon themselves. The punk is, 
Therefore, an appropriate starting point singularly 
for a study like ours because his style has 
distorted reflections of all major subcultural 
postwar ras. But before we can interpret the signi- 
fication of these subcultures, we must first decipher 
the sequence in which they occurred. 
Yawning in Babylon 
Normal life bores me whenever I can while I is- 
capo (Steve Jones, the Sex Pistols member, quoted in I- 
lody Maker). 
 Nothing more appropriate than the synthesis' dei antinaturals 
punk sweeping the streets of London during that extra- 
fio summer. The apocalypse was in the air and rhetoric Dei 
punk oozed apocalypse: the classic imagery of the cri- 
sis and the sudden transformation. The truth is that the epi- 
fanías dei punk were somewhat hybrid, and represented 
the clumsy and unstableradical confluence of two languages- 
different mind: the reggae and rock. While punks of 
44 Subculture Case studies 45 
hackles began to congregate in a store so- 
Sex mada, located on the corner of King's Road ap- 
erly called Worlds End, publishing 
Diamond Dogs (RC.A. Victor, 1974) by David Bowie 
the triumph of "humanoid superalienado" became coincide 
dir in one way or another with the Judgment Day dei dei reg- 
gae, with the overthrow of Babylon and to the 
 alienation in general. 
 We find here the first of the contradictions 
 endemic dei punk since the visions dei apocalypse 
 superficially fused to the punk came from 
 radically antagonistic sources. From a series 
 sources "artistic" recognized vanguard lite-Ia- 
 raria and cinema underground-, David Bowie and bands 
 dei punk New York had forged a decided aesthetic- 
 mately irreverent and terminal. Patti Smith, punk ameri- 
 cana and former art student, claimed to have invented 
 a new form, the "rock poetry", and incorporated in their 
 concert readings of Rimbaud and William Burroughs. 
 Bowie also cited the influence of Burroughs and used 
 zaba his famous art cut-up random juxtapositions 
 sary to 'compose' letters. Richard Hell used texts 
 Lautréamont and Huysmans. British Bands 
 punk usually younger and more willing 
 proletarian almost always remained outside the litter- 
 ture. Anyway, for better or for worse, the sources li- 
 terarias had a strong presence, if implicit, 
 in aesthetics dei punk UK. Similarly, there 
 ties (through Warhol and Wayne County in Americas 
 ca, and through bands emerged in art schools as 
 the Who and the Clash in Great Bretaíia) with film under- 
 ground and the artistic vanguard. 
 In the early seventies, these trends were 
started to crystallize in an aesthetic nihilistic ·,the 
emergence of the aesthetic, with his obsessions charac- 
tics (polymorphic sexuality and often decided- 
mately perverse, obsessive individualism, a sense 
I do fragmented dei, etc.), generated no little controversy 
among those who were interested in the culture rock (See 
Melly, 1972, Taylor and Wall, 1976). Del Jagger Per- 
formance (Warner Bros., 1969) as amended ai Bowie 
"White Duke" dei spectrum dandy "drowning in his 
opera itself "(Sartre, 1968) has harassed ai rock as 
they say from their own racks and, in the words of 
Ian Taylor and Dave Wall, "played the alienation of 
youth about itself "(1976). EI punk represented 
ta the most recent phase of this process. In the punk the alie- 
nation became almost tangible. You could almost touch the 
hand. He exhibited for the cameras as "passivity" 
as a gap in the expression (see any photo- 
wary of any group punk) as a refusal to speak and 
position. This path-solipsism, neurosis, fu- 
ror cosmetic-had its origins in the rock. 
 Again and again, however, dictates that irregular 
verente aesthetics were offset by the impera- 
tive musical moralizing otherwise: the reggae. EI 
reggae occupies the opposite corner of the broad spectrum 
channeled influences the punk. Already in May 
 1977 Jordan, the famous stores dependent punk 
Sex and Seditionaries, expressed his preference for the reg- 
gae against new wave on pages dei New Musical 
Express (May 7, 1977). "It is the only music 
dance [we, that is, Jordan and J. Rotten] "Although 
Rotten himself insisted on the relative autonomy Dei 
46 Subculture SOME CASE ESTUDlOS 
47 
punk andthe reggae, proved to be a connoisseur of 
arcana dei reggae in one series of embodiments interviews 
das along 1977. More than any other, the Clash 
noted between groups punk by the enormous in- 
fluence dei visual iconography of street style 
black Jamaicans. Khaki suits with estarei campaign- 
two of the slogans caribeíios DUB andHEAVY MANNERS, 
tight pants 'Sta-Prest' shoes brogue andslip- 
ons, even hats pork-pie (Wide, flat and rounded 
two), all of which were adapted at different times 
by several group members dei. In addition, the group played 
"White Riot", the theme directly inspired by the Carna- 
val dei 76, before a printed background dedicated to dis- 
Notting Hill turbid, and shared a tour disco- 
Theque reggae headed by Don Letts, the black dj 
Rastafarian who shot the documentary Punk while working 
Roxy Club in Covent Garden. 
 As we shall see, even if they seem separate entities 
and autonomous, the punk British and black subcultures 
linked to i reggae were reported on a structural level 
ral deep. But we can not decrypt properly 
 dialogue between the two forms without understanding throughout 
 its amplitude internal composition andmeaning both 
 dei reggae as of British youth culture 
 working class preceding ai punk. This is impo- 
 nen two major tasks. First, trace the roots dei 
 reggae in Caribbean and, second, reinterpret history 
 of postwar British youth culture as a su- 
 assignment of differential responses to the presence of the in- 
 black migration in Britain since the fifties- 
 account. A rereading as it requires the emphasis away 
 areas of common interest, school, police, 
Media andparental culture (that of 
one way or another have been treated more or less exhaustively 
tively by other authors, see for example, Hall andothers 
1976) - andorient the scale, clearly underestimated 
mada in my opinion, race andrace relations. 
THREE 
i, you there, pecha Africa bulky and oblong thigh? Africa 
lunate, wrought iron in the fire, Africa of the millions of 
royal slaves, deported Africa, drifting continent, i, is- 
TAS there? Slowly you vanish, you take refuge in the past, in relation 
cough of castaways, colonial museums, works of scholars; pear 
tonight I call upon you to attend a secret party (Jean 
Genet, 1966b). 
Back to Africa 
 The differences between the rock and reggae should be 
obvious enough to save his ex-documentation 
exhaustive. Mark Kidel leaves it crystal clear: "While 
the jazz and rock often reflect a frenzy anfetamíni- 
CO, reggae tune with the indolence of marijuana " 
(Chronicle of Bob Marley concert, New Statesman, 8 
July 1977), EI reggae draws on experience 
quite specific (Ia of black in Jamaica and Grand 
Bretaíia; whole generation of young British co- 
lar bands formed reggae in recent afias by 
example, Cimarons, Steel Pulse, Matumbi, Black Slate, 
Aswaad). It is formulated in a unique style and a language uni- 
co: Jamaican dialect, thus ghost "oxtail" to 
Love 'and mysteriously declined, "dismantled" and re- 
50 Subculture SOME CASE ESTUDlOS 51 
made on the route between Africa and the West Indies. Adopt 
slow rhythms and heavy, taciturn. It rocks dulcemen- 
you to take a more dominant bass line, while 
more austere than dei rocksteady. 2 Building your 
rhetoric is more dense and less diverse origins, in 
emanates largely from two sources: an oral culture ca- 
 characteristically Jamaican and equally characteristic 
 appropriation of the Bible. There dei pen-marked items 
 tecostalismo Jamaican of "possession by the word" and 
 the invocation and response scheme linking preaching ai 
 Dor and his congregation is reproduced in reggae. ' 
 The reggae addresses a community in transit through 
 retrospective series of parameters (movement, ras- 
 tafari [see p. 53-60], the subject dei Return to Afri- 
 ca), inverted reflection of the historical sequence of the mi- 
 Migration (African-Jamaica-Oran Britain), It is the 
 living record of a people dei trip ---- <him passing the 
 slavery to serfdom-trip that can be traced 
 in the verses of the inimitable dei structure reggae. 
 Africa is echoed in the reggae through its 
 Percussion feature. The voice of Africa in the West Indies 
 has traditionally been identified with the insurrection 
 and, where possible, silenced (see Hall, 1975). In concrete 
 to, the safeguarding of African traditions, as 
 drums, was interpreted in the past by the self- 
 authorities (Church, colonial governments and even some 
 'Postcolonial') as inherently subversive,as 
 a symbolic threat to law and ordered these work 
 proscribed conditions were judged not only antisocial and with- 
 trary aI cnstiano spirit, but openly and radically 
 pagan. Suggested unpronounceable foreign rites, positive 
 bilitaban illicit alliances and rancorous discord smelling 
future days. Pointed to the darkest of rebellions: 
the celebration of blackness. Le restituían to that "Africa 
deported "to the" continent adrift ", a privi- 
legiado within black mythology. And the existing single 
tance of that mythology was enough to instill fear in- 
menso in the hearts of some white slavers. 
 So came to represent Africa for blacks dei 
Caribbean forbidden territory, a lost world, a 
History left to the mercy of conflicting mi- 
Western cough of childhood innocence and evil Consus dei- 
ai substantial man. He became an unrestricted continent 
Mental located at the opposite end of slavery. There 
stood a place where all values and anti-utopian 
ai European scope of dispossessed blacks could 
begin to congregate. And paradójicarnente, would be the Bi- 
--- blia civilizing agent par excellence-the source of 
these alternative values and those suefios me a life- 
jor. Rastafarianism was where these two nuclei 
symbolic (Black Africa and the Bible dei Man Blan- 
co), as ostensibly antithetical, were integrated with the 
maximum effectiveness. To understand how it was possible 
convergence as heretical, and how the meta-message of 
Christian faith (i love submission) was so radically 
transcended, we must first understand how it is transmitted 
tió that faith Jamaican blacks. 
 The Bible is a driving force for both the mu- 
Music reggae to popular consciousness in Antillean 
general. In the past, the colonial authorities had 
used the Scriptures to instill Western values 
and to introduce among Africans European notions 
culture, repression, soul, etc.. Under its auspices sacred 
prices would reach civilization: Western culture cum- 
52 Subculture Case studies 53 
pliría its mission of conquest by divine command. His- 
tempted by the persistent dualism of biblical rhetoric (the 
"Black Satan" and the "Lamb of God-nie-white 
see '), slavery could flourish with relative consciousness 
tively clean, transforming aI 'wild diligent servant-in 
People and filing the order and the divine virtues among 
Africans dispossessed and his rebellious "nature." 
 However, the internal colonization could not be 
 but partial and imperfect. Over the became afies 
 increasingly evident among the hollow practice is- 
 slavery and the Christian ideology that initially "explained 
 ed "Contradictions became increasingly diffi- 
 cult to contain. It was inevitable that the black community 
 empezase to seek his own reflection in the biblical texts: 
 the openness of the religious metaphors invited 
 as many identifications. The Bible also had its 
 dark side: an 'Africa' that lay dormant and forgotten 
 dellenguaje inside white Amo Dei. Reading between 
 lines, one could make the text free that Africa, the 
 redeemed and returned to the "virtuous suffering" 
 Of course, the biblical story readily admits in- 
 interpretations exclusively black: Specifically, offer- 
 ce a range of suitable metaphors to express the 
 condition of the working class and poor black Antillean (Ba- 
 bilonia, the suffering Israelites) and a complementary series 
 Taria metaphorical response to the problems defined 
 nen that condition (release of the Righteous, punishment 
 The wicked, DEI Judgment Day, Zion, the Promised Land 
 da). Catalogs with precision and recall tests and 
 tribulations of slavery (the history of the nation ju- 
 day) and recommends an immediate and internal "cure-de 
 open wound between pain and desire (through faith, 
grace, the Holy Spirit, etc..). The deeper layers 
two West Indian consciousness were influenced not only 
by specific archetypes but modalities ca- 
characteristics of speech that usually convey 
(Parable, aphorism, etc.), Providing frameworks 
Reference completely flexible and expressive. 
The solution rastafari 
 Thus, the Bible was merged with oral culture 
Jamaica, playing a primary semantic function 
maria, acting as a literary model (the Word of 
God). In the Bible you can "make equivocal mean- 
mind all things "(Alfred Jarry, quoted in Shattuck, 
1969). It means that the highly ambiguous for co- 
black community with absolute immediacy explain his position 
tion subordinated within an alien society. 
 Rastafarians believe that the rise of Haille Selassie 
the throne of Ethiopia in 1930 was the fulfillment of the 
secular and biblical prophecies about the imminent fall of 
"Babylon-(ie, white colonial powers) and 
the liberation of the black races. 
 Makes sense that a tradition of fervent hetero- 
doxy as this, which generated many readings "contained- 
of material conditions misérrimas jamaica- 
us, allthough producing Rastafarian solution: the gesture 
appropriation to tear the black pearl oyster 
European to discover an "Africa" stranded between 
pages of the Bible. Well Rastafarianism is a read- 
ra that threatens to challenge the sacred text itself, with 
challenge the very PaIabra Dei Father. 
54 Subculture Case studies 55 
 The profound subversion of Religion dei man 
God summons white in Ethiopia and ai 'suffering' ne- 
gro in Babylon has been particularly attractive 
for both working-class youth in the ghettos of 
Kingston and the communities of Greater Antillean 
Bretaüa, given the context, explanations abound. Per- 
trechado with his "dreadlocks," and his "righteous anger", the rasta- 
man dramatically resolves contradictions 
materials that oppress and define antilla community- 
na. He 'decrypts the sufferation, key term in the vocabu- 
Lario dei expressive culture ghetto, * naming their 
historical causes (colonialism, economic exploitation) 
and promising liberation through exodus Dei 'African 
ca ". Ei is the living refutation of Babylon (that is, the 
contemporary capitalist society), which does not deny 
history that was stolen. Stubborn and opinionated, makes 
poverty and exile "signs of greatness', symbols ** 
esteem, notes that \ levarán Africa back ai 
and Zion when Babylon be thrown down. And, even more im- 
portant, draw their "roots" in red, green and gold, *** di- 
 dissolving the abyss of centuries separating the community 
Antillean of his past and a positive assessment of its 
 blackness. 
 Until the late sixties least the dreadlocks 
 were persecuted by accentuating those differences 
 Sufferation: disease, poverty, tribulations degree 
end. (N. dei th.) 
 ** "The most sordid signs became for me in the sig- 
us of the greatness "Genet, 1967. 
 *** The colors of the Ethiopian flag stamped on articles 
tandispares as badges, jackets, shirts, sandals, tams 
(Wool hats), sticks (vvaras corrective '). 
of race and class that the newly independent Government of 
Jamaica was trying desperately to hide. "How- 
go under the most favorable of Manley? the ras- 
tafaris were given some recognition that marks 
the beginning of what was described as a "cultural revolution 
tural "(interview with Stuart Hall, Radio 3, July 1977), 
widespread displacement in schemes de- 
industrial and ideological development "receding 
Europe and America to approach Cuba and the Third 
World. This shift coincided point for point 
with the evolution of popular music industry ja- 
maicana, and reggae has proven to be an ideal 
for the "post- rasta. 
EI reggae andthe Rastafarianism 
 Even disks ska early sixties 
under the 'rudeness' (Rudeness) light and compass and point- 
zante, ran a strand of Rastafarianism (Don Drum- 
mond, Reco, etc.) that became increasingly palpable 
as the decade progressed, until the quota 
rasta within dei reggae began to set, more or less ex- 
sively, the direction the music would take. The 
reggae began to slow his pace to adopt a 
metabolism almost African.The lyrics 
shifted to the Jamaican consciousness, while his arti- 
lation was going to evaporate in blurring 
"Dub-" and finally being replaced by the "talk-over" 
The "dread" (fear), the ganja (Marijuana), messianism 
This reggae 'Heavy' rhetoric of blood and fire, 
turbulent pace can be attributed to the influence ras- 
* 
56 Subculture Case studies 57 
ta. And it was largely through Dei reggae, interpretation 
do in 'sound-systems "(nightclubs frequented by young- 
YOUNG working class) and only available to local 
through an underground network of small retailers, 
as the Rastafarian spirit, the "dreadlocks-and ethnic-identity 
nica is communicated to the members of the community 
Greater Antillean Bretaüa. 
 For black youth unemployment, the "heavy dub" and 
the "rockers"! "were an alternative soundtrack, thousand 
sometimes preferable aI music that plagued the new 
malls where they spent the day without ha- 
cer anything, *subject to random tyrannies Dei "their". ** 
But of course, the primitive religious meanings 
Rastafarianism Dei suffered in the transition adjustments. 
 Somewhere between Trenchtown and Ladbroke Grove, 
Rastafari worship had become a 'style', a 
expressive combination of locks (Braids), Camouflage 
Khaki and "grass" he said aloud alienation ex- 
perimentada by many young black British. The 
 alienation could barely avoided: it was recorded in the 
 lives of young working-class West Indians as 
poor housing, unemployment and police harassment. Already 
 1969 they knew that their white counterparts were five 
 times more options to find skilled jobs 
 (Ohserver, July 14, 1968). Porlo other along 
 sixty relations with the police had seen- 
 nest steadily deteriorating. Mangrove EI process, in 
 See Corrigan, 1976, who argues that the main problem 
ma experienced by "boys" is like "killing time. " 
 ** Arrested under the Act "suspects" (Suspec- 
Ted Persons): see Time Out, August 5, 1977. 
* 
1969 marked the beginning of a long series of bitter con- 
confrontations between the black community and the authorities 
(Carib process, the process Oval Carnival 1976) 
leading to a progressive polarization. 
 It was during this period of growing animosity in 
a time when the conflict between young blacks 
and the police was openly acknowledged in the press, 
when music reggae began treating imported di- 
directly the problems of race and class and revive 
African heritage. EI reggae and forms that preceded it 
had always had alluded to these problems ma- 
biased manner. The mediation between opposing values discussion 
curred through a series of archetypes rebels the "rude 
boy "," the gunman, the Dodger, etc., who remained 
strongly linked to particular and tended to celebrate 
status individual of the revolt. 
 With the dub and heavy reggae, this rebellion multiplied 
circulated: was generalized and theorized. Thus, the I- 
roico rude boy immortalized by the ska and rocksteady 
- The offender lonely, desperate, throws against 
implacable authority was supplanted as the core 
identity by Rastafarian who breaks the law in a plane 
deeper and more subtle while. The rasta not only put 
aI endpoint somber solo cycle rejection and condemnation 
officer in the context of Jamaican history absent but 
banished him forever moving the conflict to 
Elsewhere, the forgotten areas of everyday life 
na. AI put into question the neat joints 
DEI sense (the aspect ellenguaje, etc.), the rasta 
led the crusade beyond obvious Dei the battlefield 
law and order to the realm of the "obvious" itself. It was here, 
literally in the "skin-social formation where 
58 Subculture SOME CASE ESTUDlüS 59 
frankly the Rastafarian movement was more innovative, 
system polarities refracting white-black, ha- 
ciendo of blackness as a positive sign, an essence-pleted 
rich in meaning, a lethal weapon while sanctioned 
by divinity. EI adjustment process that intensified the 
interiorizándolo conflict was reflected in the music and 
found its mirror image in the musical form. As already 
said, reggae became darker and African dialect 
more impenetrable, more obvious threat. At the same 
time, "Orange Street Battles" (<< Battle [s] on 
Orange Street "album ska Prince Buster), object-lite 
ral, bloody and, despite everything, humorous chronic 
sixties, were replaced by a generalized 
"War in Babylon" "<War inna Babylon" Max Ro- 
meo, Island, 1976). This "war" was twofold: was fought in tor- 
not ambiguous issues a series of designated 
relationships both real and imaginary (race-class nexus / 
Babylon economic exploitation / suffering Bible) 
was both real and metaphorical battle, he described 
forms a world mired in an ideological maraíía 
where appearance and illusion were synonymous. 
 Clearly, the war also had its dubious com- 
compensations: a feeling of solidarity and projects 
to, an identity, an enemy more or less clearly 
defined. Even the tension between violence and religion 
as possible "solutions" could decrease if the con- 
conflict between "Cops and Robbers" "that terrifies the nation 
 with their weapons and ammunition-'<Police and Thieves "Ju- 
 Murvin juniors, Island, 1977) was considered not only as 
 complement but as the meaning the bloodless 
 battle fought by the Rastafarians in the ideological field. 
 This shift was much easier the more 
moved away one of the original sources dei reggae and 
Rastafarianism. In Great Britain, in each "sound-sys- 
tem 'local, in every major city where immigrants 
immigrants had settled in sufficient numbers, a 
army of righteous beings, victims militants themselves congregate 
Garia to swear allegiance to the flag of Ethiopia. 
 EI "sound-system-was perhaps perhaps more than any 
other institution in the lives of work-class West Indians 
jadora, ellugar where blackness could be explored of for- 
more comprehensive ma, where better and could freely 
expressed. For a community besieged by the dis- 
discrimination, hostility, suspicion and the blindest incomplete 
understanding, the "sound-systemx came to represent, on 
especially for young people, a valuable free sanctum 
outside influences, whose black heart beats, if- 
by following the rate unchanged dei dub, could return you to 
Africa. In clubs like the Four Aces, in Seven Sisters 
Road, north London ai, an exclusively public 
black eyes looked into Babylon face to face 
resonant line drawn by a low trans-turn 
cover by 1000 watts of power. The energy almost po- 
days with fingers touching. Hung in the air, invisible and 
electricity, channeled by a battery of speakers fa- 
home manufacture. Was present in all and each of 
dei spells 'toast'. "In an atmosphere of sound vi- 
brante, smoky and Nemesis, did not cost ima- 
ginar that "Judgement Day dei-was just around 
the corner, that when, finally, "shine the relám- 
payment ", the" weak heart would fall and would just black 
standing »« <Lightning Flash "Big Youth, Klik, 1975), blin- 
as lived by fear, "forgotten his former suffering 
ment. 
60 Subculture CASE ESTUD10S ALGUNüS 61 
 That was how the 'sound-system' became associated with 
Stronger forms and "entrenched" Dei reggae. The 
two struck up a mutual dependence, and indeed was- 
rum, to all intents and purposes identical. The music had to be- 
been virtually banished from the airwaves. I could only vi- 
Thanks vir ay by a bulky computer network and 
cables, valves and microphones that were the "system 
ma "and that, although legally owned by an em- 
Single presario, were in a much more pro- 
community-owned farm. And it was through the 
music, rather than through any other means, as 
communication with the past, with Jamaica and is as- 
to Africa, considered vital for the maintenance of 
black identity was possible. EI "system" let flu- 
yese the sound, the sound was intimately linked to the 
notion of "culture" and if someone attacked aI system, in- 
tonces the community itself felt symbolically 
threatened. EI system thus became sacred land, 
territoryto defend against possible contamination of 
white groups. The police interference was, of course, 
 harshly received as an insult and in some ca- 
cases the mere presence of the police was enough to unleash 
the violent reprisals of black youth. The riot- 
bios of Notting Hill in 1976 14 and the incident Dei Carib 
Club in 1974 15 can be interpreted in this light, as 
 symbolic defenses Dei community space. 
Exodus: a journey in two directions 
 Fortunately, the white community relations 
generally not used to be so tense. In certain areas of 
 London, At least, there was a whole network of underground channels- 
 ranean which for years had connected margins 
 of the indigenous population with their counterparts in the sub- 
 West Indian cultures. Open from the beginning aI traffic 
 illegal "grass" and jazz, those were the internal channels 
 basis for much broader cultural exchanges. EI 
 time and a common experience of deprivation, the lives 
 spent in proximity around resemblance joint 
 to concerns, estrecharían ties. Even preserve- 
 do each his own distinctive way, the two 
 cultures in their shared loyalties tuned to fa- 
 ily and the street, aI pub and aI neighborhood. With significant ex- 
exceptions (Nottingham and Notting Hill in 1958, and Hoxton 
some areas dei East End in the seventies), began to di- 
bujarse a pattern of relatively peaceful coexistence. 
Fifties and early sixties were the best 
cn time this regard. In general, the first generation 
of West Indian immigrants had too much cultural space 
ral in common with their white working-class neighbors 
to allow the development of open antagonism 
cough. Anglophiles declared even when they were "in their 
Home »Jamaica, shared the same objectives, looking 
ban the same amusements (a pint of beer, a 
game of darts, a dance on Saturday night) and more 
Alia Dei foreign accent, resorted to the same "language- 
dei je fatalism ', 16 resigned to its lower position, with- 
trusting that their children would enjoy better prospects, 
better lives. Things, of course, did not improve aI rit- 
mo scheduled early seventies and full employment 
seemed a remote possibility indeed, a moment 
little remembered today, not at all representative of 
British economic trajectory since the war. 
62 Subculture Case studies 63 
 Meanwhile, black niíios born and educated in 
Great Britain felt much less likely than their 
parents to accept the inferior status and narrowness of op- 
tions open to them, nor to submit to the 
mainstream definitions of blackness. The reggae sumi- 
Minister core around which could crystallize another 
culture, another set of values and definitions of one 
same. Such changes were subtle in the is- 
Linden black youth, the gait, the ways, the vo- 
ces appeared, almost overnight to maiiana, less in- 
glesas. Even moving mode of young black 
 new trust betrayed: a 'fresh' more aware 
 cient, more elastic, less shuffling. "El 
 costumes had also experienced a number of sig- 
 nificant adjustment over the years. The aspirations 
 tions of the first immigrants resulted in the tra- 
 jes rainbow mohair and ties with drawings, 
 bright patterned dresses and shoes cha- 
 leading role in his arrival in Great Bretaíia, Each snowy 
 cuff reflected a desire to succeed, to "leave ade- 
 Lante "in traditional terms dictated by the 
 white society, while, with tragic irony, all 
 hopes were actually fit inadvertent 
 mately betrayed by the stridency of each sleeve 
 American, overly gaudy and garish for 
 British tastes of the time. Thus, the de-dreams and 
 senganos of a generation were enrolled in the 
 own court (as ambitious as unlikely) of the 
 garments with which chose to make his entrance. 
 The trip to Grand Bretaíia was, like most 
 voluntary migration, an act of faith: an exodus. Exi- 
 Gió a specific combination of motivations against- 
dictory: less anxiety desperation or when the 
host country, faith in the efficacy of the action, desire 
elevate the status and confidence that the Motherland recom- 
nocería their obligations, would welcome and recom- 
His lost children would think. 
 In the first wave of immigrants, mostly 
composed of skilled and semi-skilled men, 
the momentum of success was tempered by the conservative 
conservatism: the belief that Great Britain was bound by 
decency and justice that would normally be attributed 
Buia in Jamaica, to provide a reasonable standard of living 
those willing to work. The vast ma- 
majority, the West Indian immigrants of the fifties 
wanted jobs, houses, respectability, a place for 
his family settled once and forever. On the other 
hand, those who came later, in the sixties, used care- 
cer qualification and perhaps were more rotundamen- 
you desperate: dissatisfied with how little Jamaica 
had to offer (Hiro, 1972). For them, moving to 
England represented a desperate attempt arafiar- 
you something valuable to life, while a solution "Ma- 
cal "to their problems. Perhaps because they had less than 
lose, put more into play with their transition from 
Greater Antilles to Bretaíia: hopes of character and intensity 
Dad almost religious. Therefore, the disappointment that befell 
on this second wave of immigrants was, in identical 
measure, deeper, more radical and expressed with ma- 
greater immediacy. In any case, while the immigration 
migrants began to congregate in the cin-impaired 
peripherals polecats major cities of Great 
 Bretaíía, began to emerge a new West Indian style. Di- 
eho style was less painfully limited by the 
64 Subculture SOME CASE ESTUDlOS 65 
British influence, less torn between sobriety and "co- 
value "and the idea behind éllatía (unwelcome soft eyes 
cos) that failed Great Britain when 
deliver the promised goods, and that immigrants, 
disenchanted, had thrown in the towel. 
 On the outskirts of West Indian society, ai least, 
produced significant changes look. Rustler and 
Street types, perhaps spurred by the rise of clubs 
and black nightclubs in the mid-sixties, began 
take care of their appearance, combining hats, sunglasses 
and Italian suits to create an Indian equivalent dei 
look "Soul brother" of the United States; clothes cefiida, agile, 
nevertheless black and urban. This Soul Brother i moved 
pace with the sleek lines dei jazz, the ska and r & b nor- 
teamericano. Reproduced the timbre and the scansion of these 
forms in his gait and his slang. I tried to shelter- 
 is, in dark interiors, dei world of "normal people" 
 and whites. Thus, reread their own ills and 
 caribefía became tacky in the main statement 
ples and foreign, in sign of his Otherness. It was in good- 
 na measure under its auspices as blackness is recovered 
 Ro and i was symbolically reach of young 
 Antilleans. This would leave blackness and deployed from a 
 through the music of the sixties; emerged in the jazz of 
 vanguard (John Coltrane, Miles Davis, Pharoah Saun- 
 Sanders, Archie Shepp, for example), and (most importantly for 
 our purposes) in the duh and heavy reggae " 
 Naturally, this phenomenon had its visual corollary 
 in the locker room. In the seventies the "youth" was developed 
 oping unique and inimitable style: a form refracted 
 aesthetics of Rastafari, copied from the covers of the al- 
 Imported bumes reggae and declined to meet 
 the needs of second generation immigrants 
 tion. Rastafarianism was a mediated, ADO despoj 
 almost all their original religious meanings: a distilled 
 hand, a highly selective appropriation all 
 internal elements ai Rastafarianism which stressed the 
 importance of resistance and black identity, and 
 served to put ai black man and his "queen" of salt- 
 vo of the dominant white ideology. EI whose central axis 
 pivoted around all the style rasta was a difference li- 
 laterally registered in the EIP dei black people, and that di- 
 Conference would spread, be prepared, be made through 
 image. These young black men who passed ai 
 "Humble Lion» 19 began cultivating