Style: the Content of Subculture (w/Ilze Lāce)

Meanings and changes in Subcultural tastes in Latvia

2002-2010

Jānis Daugavietis & Ilze Lāce (Rīga, Latvija)

At Youth (Sub)cultures in Changing Societies

Tallinn 2-4 February 2011 This work has been supported by the European Social Fund within the project

«Support for Doctoral Studies at University of Latvia».

Image of subcultures

• rebellious character and political meanings?

• socialized for a very long time the pop culture industry, the educational system

• ‘classic pop-rock’ performers and ‘big names’

• virtual communities and styles without distinctive cultural or political behavior

Understanding and use of traditional subcultures - reified and manufactured

1. TheorySubcultures, Post-subcultures and back

2. Methodology & data

3. Analysis

- Social factors

- Contents

- Comparison of 2002&2010

4. Conclusions

Structure

Two theoretical approaches :

‘traditional’ (structural)delinquency, resistance, subordination, [working] class, opposition, deviance, non-conformism, marginalization (associated most with CCCS)

‘postmodern’taste cultures, scenes, tribes, club culture, postmodern subcultures, etc.

homology - Marxist tradition, CCCS* and Pierre Bourdieu**vs

postmodern interpretation of forming social identities (including tastes) ***

* Clarke, J. et. al. (2003) ‘Subcultures, cultures and class’, in Hall, S., and Jefferson, T. (eds. ) Resistance through Rituals, London: Routledge.

** “Distinction..” (‘La distinction. Critique sociale du jugement’ 1979)

**** Bennett, Andy (1999) ‘Subcultures or neo-tribes? Rethinking the relationship between youth, style and musical taste’, Sociology vol:33 iss:3. Muggleton, David (2000) Inside Subculture: The Postmodern Meaning of Style, London; New York: Berg.

Subcultures, Post-subcultures and back (1)

Explanations of tastes:

a) socialrepresents social tensions, contradictions... stable, straight

b) ‘individualistic’individual, unique, changing, unstable, diverse

Critique of the post-subculturalism:

the elimination of the social structures insufficient empirical basis focus on spectacular and minor subcultures generalization of the findings *

* Shildrick, T. A. and MacDonald, R. (2006) 'In defence of subculture: young people, leisure and social divisions', Journal of Youth Studies, 9 (2), pp.125-140.

Subcultures, Post-subcultures and back (2)

2,4 million inhabitants

One big city – capital Rīga (0,7 mill.)

Two main and almost equal language communities – Latvian and Russian

Divided educational system – Latvian language schools and minority language schools (mostly - Russian)

2/3 of Rīga – Russians

Since 2004 ‘school reform’ – 2/3 of classes in minority secondary schools are in Latvian or bilingually

Culturally – segrageted communities* * Tabuns, Aivars ed. (2006) Kultūras. Jaunieši. Mediji, Rīga: Latvijas Universitāte.

Socio-political context of Latvia

Ethnographic studies and / vs quantitative research

We apply:

positivist techniques (quantitative survey, statistical data analysis)analyze

complemented by the ‘insider’ approachexplanations, hypothesis, speculations

Data from two representative sample surveys of Rīga secondary school pupils (2002 & 2010)

more than 400 students surveyed (each year) both Latvian and Russian schools represented average age ~17

Data on their favorite:

genres performers

Approach, methods, data

1. The impact of structural (social) factors on (musical) taste: gender and ethnicity

2. The changes in students’ musical tastes during eight years period?

3. The logic of construction of tastes ORWhat’s inside the ‘black box’ of ‘subcultures’?

Research questions

2002 2010Hip hop, rap 56 Club, dance 49Pop-, Partymusic, Top 40 54 Rock 45Disco 44 Pop music 43Rock 40 Hip hop, rap 40Classical 20 RnB 39World Music 19 Alternative, indie 27Electronic 19 Electronic, techno 24Latin 19 Top 40 24Alternative, indie 18 Metal 21Nu Metal, Korn family 17 Reggae 17Heavy Metal 16 Disco 16Techno 14 Classical 16Punk, hardcore 11 Punk 15Schlager 11 DnB 15Britpop 9 Blues 13Death Metal 8 Latino (salsa, rumba...) 11Jazz 7 Hardcore 9Music hall 6Blues 5Industrial 5

n=417 n=347

Most popular genres (%)

Slight decrease in popularity of hip hop

Three wider styles or dominant groups of listeners: pop rock hip hop

Genres and styles: overview of tastes

Cluster analysis of genres and artists (2002)

rock, subcult.

hip hop

pop

2002 2010Hip hop, rap 56 Hip hop, rap 40

Alternative, indie 18 Alternative, indie 27

Nu Metal, Korn family 17 Metal 21

Heavy Metal 16 Reggae 17

Techno 14 Punk 15

Punk, hardcore 11 DnB 15n=417 n=347

Alternative, indie - one of the ‘new’ emerging major styles

Reggae - the image of freestyle and teenagers’ growing interest in (and availability) of different kinds of psychoactive substances. Latvian cultural market flooded with related symbols and goods.

10 years of broadband home internet - expansion and diversification of global (western) mass culture. Further fragmentation of tastes?

The most popular ‘subcultural genres’ (%)

Girls Boys

“Pop-, Partymusic, Top 40”, “Latino”, Ruki Verh, Pink, Madonna, Shakira, Tumsa, “Pop genres”, “female artists”

“Electronic”, “Nu Metal / Korn family”, “Heavy Metal”, Korn, Rammstein, Metallica, “Hip Hop”, “Subcultural genres”, “hardest rock” (factor)

Conceptualisation :

Popularity“Lightness”Gender

Conceptualisation :

Subcultures“Heaviness”Aggression

Significant differences in taste: gender based choices (2002) *

* Daugavietis, Jānis (2005) ‘Rīgas vidusskolēnu muzikālās gaumes: atšķirīgais un kopīgais’ (unpublished master thesis), Rīga: University of Latvia.

Social divisions at play

2002 girls boys 2010 girls boys

Hip hop, rap 55 59 Hip hop, rap 38 42

Alternative, indie 16 20 Alternative, indie 29 24

Nu Metal, Korn family 11 24 Punk 16 15

Heavy Metal 10 24 Reggae 15 18

Techno 10 21 Metal 14 29

Punk, hardcore 8 16 DnB 13 17

• Gender based differences have almost disappearedfour cases in 2002 / one in 2010

• From typical top40 consumers girls moved towards different alternative styles, except still masculine hard and metal music

• .. or changes of the ‘alternative’ styles: they have moved towards top40 format or / and more feminine audience

Subcultural taste: genre by gender (%)

2002 Latvian Russian 2010 Latvian Russian

Hip hop, rap 57 56 Hip hop, rap 39 42

Alternative, indie 26 11 Alternative, indie 32 21

Nu Metal, Korn family 23 11 Metal 22 20

Heavy Metal 18 15 Reggae 19 13

Techno 11 17 Punk 15 15

Punk, hardcore 10 12 DnB 10 22

• Many local scenes are ethnically homogenous - exclusively ‘latvian’ or ‘russian’

• Usually ‘Latvian scenes’ are bigger and more diverse

• Russian speaking community often does not have enough resources for building and sustaining smaller ‘sub-genral’ (alternative, subcultural) scenes

Subcultural taste: genre by school language (%)

The Content of Subcultural tastes

‘Traditional’ survey - a closed list of genres/ styles

We used also open-ended question: “write your 5 favorite artists”the latent classifications and understanding of the meanings respondents ascribe to the musical genres and styles presented to them*

• Crosstabulation of data in two variables - genres & performersexploring the contents of genre: confronting it with the performers mentioned

• Cluster analysisexplores ‘empirical structure’ of the data, groups & classifies cases or variables with similar values

* Daugavietis, Jānis (2006) ‘Muzikālās gaumes latento klasifikāciju izpēte’, LU Raksti: Socioloģija 701, pp. 71-82, Rīga: University of Latvia.

Genres & Artists 2002 & 2010

• Hip hop, rap listeners:Eminem; Nelly&Kelly; Linkin Park; Limp Bizkit; Pink; Руки Вверх; Korn; Rammstein; Jennifer Lopez; Shakira; Madonna; Britney Spears; Taty (2002) and David Guetta; Bob Marley; Linkin Park; Beyonce; Eminem; Guf; Prāta Vētra; Akon; Rihanna; Armin van Buuren; DJ Tiesto; Inna; Timbaland (2010)

• Hip hop, rap fans (having the genre as the first choice):Eminem; Nelly&Kelly; Limp Bizkit; Linkin Park; Pink; Cypress Hill; Ja Rule; Руки Вверх; D-12; Korn; Jennifer Lopez; Prodigy (2002) and Eminem; Guf; Многоточие; Centr; David Guetta; Linkin Park; МакSим; Sekkta; St1m; Timbaland; 2Pac (2010)

• Alternative, indie:Korn; Linkin Park; Eminem; POD; Limp Bizkit; Nirvana; System Of A Down; Metallica; Radiohead; Marilyn Manson; Prodigy; Puddle Of Mud; Rammstein; Земфира (2002) and Linkin Park; Prāta Vētra; AC/DC; Bob Marley; Kings of Leon; Nickleback; Papa Roach; Bon Jovi; Guns’n’Roses; Billy Talent; Blink 182; Coldplay; DJ Tiesto; Muse (2010)

• Heavy Metal (2002) Rammstein; Linkin Park; Eminem; Korn; Nirvana; Limp Bizkit; Metallica; Marilyn Manson and Metal (2010) Rammstein; Metallica; Nirvana; Korn; Limp Bizkit; Marilyn Manson; Sepultura; Godsmack

• Techno (2002) Eminem; Руки Вверх; Brooklyn Bounce; Nelly&Kelly; Linkin Park; Prodigy; DJ Aligator (Project); Rammstein; Limp Bizkit and DnB (2010) David Guetta; DJ Tiesto; Armin van Buuren; Guf; Justin Timberlake; Linkin Park; Noize MC; Rihanna; Eminem

Alternative, rock n=151 Rock (89%) Alternative, indie

(50%) Metal (38%) Pop music (35%) Punk (29%)

Popular music, n=196 Club, dance (75%) Hip hop, rap (55%) RnB (54%) Pop music (49%) Top 40 (35%) Electro, techno (33%)

Linkin Park Prāta VētraBob Marley

David Guetta, Armin van Buuren, DJ Tiesto, Rihanna, Eminem, Lady Gaga..

AC/DC Metallica, Guns’n’ Roses, Papa Roach, Muse, Bon Jovi, Kings of Leon, Led Zeppelin..

3 of the most popular performers are shared in both

taste groups

POP MUSIC „LIGHT” ALTERNATIVE CLUBBERS Top 40

Prāta Vētra 46% Bob Marley 38% Linkin Park 29% David Guetta 38%

One Republic 14% Metallica 20% DJ Tiesto 22% Eminem 16%

Placebo 14% Moby 17% ATB 18% Rihanna 14%

Coldplay 12% Guf 12%Armin van Buuren 14% Akon 13%

Black Eyed Peas 12% Guns n Roses 11% AC/DC 14% Lady Gaga 13%

Kings of Leon 10% Gustavo 11% Slipknot 9%Justin Timberlake 11%

n 74 n 66 n 77 n 71

Pop music (64%)RnB (49%), Club, dance (45%), Rock (45%)

Rock (61%), Hip hop, rap (47%), Alternative (39%), Pop music (36%, Club, dance (36%), Reggae (35%)

Rock (52%), Club, dance (44%), Alternative (34%)Hip hop, rap (31%),Pop music (31%)Metal (27%)Punk (24%)

Club, dance (72%),RnB (59%), Hip hop, rap (56%),Pop music (49%).

‘Light alternative’ and ‘clubbers’ seem to be more ‘subcultural’ by genres

than by performers

The tastes of traditional subcultures (punk, metal, rock, hip hop, etc.) are part of mass culture with no substantial differencesmostly - international (or local) popular music ‘mega-stars’, which cannot be associated with this subculture

Proportion of respondents with ‘real subcultural taste’ - insignificant

Locality might be of importance. Tendency for a local consumer to support local scenes - demand for localityTaking just ‘real fans’ of genre – more local artistse.g. in 2010 more often name local Hip hop, rap performers Guf, Многоточие, Centr, St1m, Каста from Russia or Sekkta, Gustavo, Kreisais Krasts and others form Latvia

Some conclusions and further assumptions

Local (Lv+Ru) 2002

Local (Lv+Ru) 2010

Latvian 2002

Latvian 2010

Russian 2002

Russian 2010

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

Local artists selected (%)

Changes in subcultural tastes: focus on locality

Performers were coded as belonging to the local (Latvian / Russian) or global music. Three codes given: local (Latvian + Russian); Latvian; Russian.

Punk, hc (Lv’02)Techno (Ru’02)

Hip hop (Ru’10)

DnB (Ru’10)

Heavy metal (Ru’02)

Punk (Ru’10)

Alt., indie (Ru’10)

DnB (Lv’10)

Punk, hc (Ru’02)

Techno (Lv’02)

Punk (Lv’10)

Hip hop (Lv’10)

Alt., indie (Lv’10)

Hip hop (Lv’02)

Metal (Ru’10) Hip hop (Ru’02)

Metal (Lv’10)

Heavy metal (Lv’02)

Alt., indie (Lv’02)

Alt., indie (Ru’02)

-0,6

-0,5

-0,4

-0,3

-0,2

-0,1

0

0,1

0,2

0,3

0,4

Number of selected local artists by certain subculture listeners below average

Thesis: weak local scenes

... above average

Thesis: stronger local scenes

Average listener

Local artists by genres

Conclusions

Contents and meanings: ‘mass styles’ and ‘maistreamisation’ => ‘megagroups’

dominate in all genres blurred, media mediated meanings

meanings transformed into some kind of ‘fashion catalogues’ (genres, styles, artists...)

Structural factors changing, but still important (gender & ethnicity)

differences converge, the remaining are mainly in «heavy» genres

Global / local ‘locality’ is important for musical subcultures more than for

other genres Remarks on subculture as homogenous

phenomena global ideas + local interaction (exsistence of real ‘scenes’) Small countries – are local ‘subcultures’ imagined?

... just “groups”, “friends”, “local scenes” or “mini cultures”?

Paldies

Спасибо

Tänu

Danke

Thanks

Ačiū