Политология/6. Проблемы
взаимодействия власти
и общественности (отечественный и зарубежный опыт)
O.V.Chibisova
Komsomolsk-on-Amur State Technical University, Russia
The
Problems of Power-Subculture Interaction
In the article below the problem of power is
contemplated within the scope of interaction of a
dominant culture and youth subculture. But first of all it should be stipulated
that our interest is directed towards studying those under
control rather than those in control. We hope to analyze how the concept of
resistance is used in domestic and foreign subcultural research.
Researchers of many countries of the world treat the
term «subculture» as a culture of a group or class (obvious minority of
people), which stands out against a dominating culture (a society as a whole):
«Subculture is an independent complete formation in the dominating culture,
determinative for a style of life and thinking of its carriers and notable for
its customs, norms, value complexes and even institutes» [4]. That is a subculture
is a culture in culture, and the culture-subculture correlation has been
identified as the relation of submission and relative powerlessness.
Moreover, a subculture-dominating culture relation can
be correlated with a subsystem-system relation, but then it should be kept in
mind that subsystems show a real structure of a system – their more general level – there should be
no opposition between them. But subcultures to a certain extent carry out a
function of opposition to a dominating culture – at
least, a function of protection against its excessive claims on cultural
uniformity. Hence we can presume the existence of two main types of
subcultures: one in accord with a dominating culture and the other resisting
it. According to the definition given by A.I. Kravchenko,
subculture – «it is a part public culture, in separate aspects differing, but
in general conforming and continuing the culture of the nation which has
received the name of a dominating culture», and «subculture which does not
simply differ from a dominating culture, but resists it and comes into conflict
with dominating values» is a counterculture [2].
L.I. Levikova [3, 59] considers a counterculture to be an
independent cultural type which is characterized by availability
of common significant enemy (society as a whole,
or certain social discrepancies to time realities), destructive activity,
directed on a victory over «enemy» and aggressive offensive
position. For our research a certain scientific interest is
represented by the fact that L.I. Levikova interprets in terms of opposition to
dominating culture not only a counterculture, but some aspects of
subculture as well: availability of opposition, struggle for a
survival, closeness, escapism, avoiding meetings with the enemy, passive-defensive
position.
Hereupon there are two natural questions: what can be considered as
resistance, picketing of government institutions or tattooing one’s own body,
and is escapism any more or less resistance than a public protest
action? To answer them, we will address to the typology of resistance made by
Rachel Einwohner and Jocelyn Hollander [5, 544]. The typology highlights the central issues involved in
disagreements about resistance – intent
of the actor and recognition of the act as resistance – and also illustrates the fact that three distinct groups (actors, their
targets, and interested observers, including researchers) may judge an act as
resistance. Let us dwell on the aspect of intentionality of resistance first.
Though intention is not always distinguished by a researcher and realized by
"the disturber of calmness», R. Einwohner and J. Hollander consider it a more important indicator. Thus this
aspect suggests the first set of a binary pair: «unwitting – intended» resistance.
Unwitting resistance is not intended as resistance by the actor yet is
recognized as threatening by targets and other observers. Even if actions are
not directed against someone, there can be people who will consider them as «protest against them» (target-defined resistance). The first wave of classical skinhead-culture can
serve as an example of unwitting resistance. This resistance was showy and fruitless, described as «magical» as it created an illusion of the struggle against system without much chance of improving social and economic aspects of young people’ life.
«Intended» resistance presupposes that the actor is aware that she or he is
resisting some exercise of power and intending to do so. L. Leblenk [6, 18] has proved that there are
self-conscious motives that account for why some girls become punks. Still no
choice can be purely subjective and the one made by punk girls is rooted in the
system of the relations between this subculture and other communities.
Moreover, we can assume that the developed paradigm of relations possesses a
sufficient stability, as V.V. Golovin and M.L. Lurie have shown that having
entered this or that community, a teenager «automatically joins in the system
of the relations existing between his subculture and others, and seizes a
necessary fame complex of other communities simultaneously with the
representative text of his community [1, 63].
The second aspect specified by R. Einwohner and J. Hollander is the
recognition of resistance. Hence the second set of a binary pair: «unrecognized – recognized» resistance. Large-scale protest movements and revolutions whose members
confront their targets directly are easily recognized as overt resistance. Some modern skinheads
identify themselves as members of movement against racial prejudices, national-liberation
movement, and fighters for ideas of a socialism, communism and anarchism. Nevertheless, subcultures are seldom considered as
engines of macro social changes, much more often this function is carried out
by various informal youth associations under political parties or social
movements. On the other hand large-scale protest actions are
rare enough in comparison with more widespread ordinary forms of open
resistance at the individual level. Consider the dreadlocks of rude boys, punk
Mohawk haircuts, clean-shaven heads of skinheads which publicly demonstrate
their membership of a subculture, instead of a dominant culture.
Such behavior often raises doubts whether it can be
recognized as resistance. While overt resistance is understood as resistance by
all parties, covert resistance refers to acts that are intentional yet go unnoticed
(and, therefore, unpunished) by their targets, although they are recognized as
resistance by other, culturally aware observers. An example of the covert
resistance is riot grrrl culture which results from the social problems
experienced by teenage girls. In his research of this subculture K. Schilt [7]
has concentrated on the zines, which girls created in the privacy and which
they exchanged then with other members of the group. In his opinion, «for
girls, the experience of having a space to talk about their lives can be very
important, as there are few chances for girls to express their thoughts and
feelings without fear of ridicule or censure» [7, 79]. Nowadays, the ideas of
zines are realized online in the form of blogs, forums and YouTube videos,
allowing girls to overtly express their anger, confusion, and frustration to
like-minded peers but still remain anonymous to authority figures.
All
above-stated allows us to draw the following conclusion. Power-subculture
interaction is based not on the presence/absence of protest, but on its level
and scale. Counterculture represents full, radical rejection of official
culture and acts as an agency which is destructive to its maintenance and
forms. In subculture the protest has implicit, latent character and concerns
the problems of an individual and personality. But opposition to existing
social order and authorities exists at both
levels.
Literature:
1. Головин, В. В. Подростковые
сообщества в современной России: мегаполис, провинция и деревня - Екатеринбург
: Изд-во Уральского ун-та, 2004. - 373 с.
2. Кравченко, А. И.
Культурология. — 3-е изд.- М.: Академический проект, 2001. http://www.countries.ru/library/typology/ subcultura
3. Левикова, С.И. Феномен молодежной субкультуры:
(Социально-философский аспект): Дис.
д.ф.н. — М., 2005
4. Новейший философский
словарь / Сост. А.А. Грицанов, 1998 г. terme.ru /
dictionary /175/word /СУБКУЛЬТУРА]
5. Hollander, Jocelyn A. Conceptualizing Resistance.
Sociological Forum, Vol. 19, No. 4. (Dec., 2004), pp. 533-554
6. Leblanc, L. Pretty in Punk: Girls'
Gender Resistance in a Boys' Subculture / Lauraine Leblanc. - New
Brunswick: Rutgers University Press, 2001
7. Schilt, K. I'll Resist
You with Every Inch and Every Breath: Girls and Zine Making as a Form of
Resistance. Youth and Society 35, 1 (September 2003)