Youth Cultures and Subcultures ─ Australian Perspectives

This volume critically examines a€?subculturea€? in a variety of Australian contexts, exploring the ways in which the terrain of youth cultures and subcultures has changed over the past two decades and considering whether a€?subculturea€? still works as a viable conceptual framework for studying youth culture. Richly illustrated with concrete case studies, the book is thematically organised into four sections addressing i) theoretical concerns and global debates over the continued usefulness of subculture as a concept; ii) the important place of a€?belonginga€? in subcultural experience and the ways in which belonging is played out across an array of youth cultures; iii) the gendered experiences of young men and women and their ways of navigating subcultural participation; and iv) the ethical and methodological considerations that arise in relation to researching and teaching youth culture and subculture. Bringing together the latest interdisciplinary research to combine theoretical considerations with recent empirical studies of subcultural experience, Youth Cultures and Subcultures will appeal to scholars and students across the social sciences.

Sarah Baker is Associate Professor in Cultural Sociology in the School of Humanities, Griffith University, Australia. She is the co-author of Creative Labour: Media Work in Three Cultural Industries and Teaching Youth Studies Through Popular Culture, and co-editor of Redefining Mainstream Popular Music. Brady Robards is Lecturer in Sociology at the University of Tasmania, Australia. He is the co-author of Teaching Youth Studies Through Popular Culture and co-editor of Mediated Youth Cultures: The Internet, Belonging, and New Cultural Configurations. Bob Buttigieg is currently completing a PhD in the School of Humanities at Griffith University, Australia.