Graffiti as Career and Ideology

Abstract

This paper identifies the organizational and ideological sources for the creation and structural evolution of New York City graffiti art. The stages and types of graffiti careers are traced through interviews with 25 graffiti writers and their gallery and gang patrons. The ethnographic analysis serves to build a framework for joining the usually separate sociological literatures on subcultures, deviant careers, and art worlds. Geographical and social proximity to other writers is the principal determinant of entry into graffiti writing and of whether that activity develops into a career. From their social relations with other writers, graffiti writers gain a sense of audience and a belief that graffiti will give them fame. Recently, police repression and the recruitment of a few writers to paint graffiti canvases for sale in galleries have fragmented the graffiti art world. The conclusion suggests that modifications in labeling and subculture theories are needed to explain the causal connections between social relations and ideological meaning.