Abstract
In this paper, we explore the contribution of material and digital ethnography to providing a deeper understanding of youth subcultures. We provide the context by reviewing some of the research carried out by the Centre for Contemporary Cultural Studies (CCCS) to provide a historical overview of cultural studies and critically appraise how they have drawn on ethnography as a way of deepening our understanding of young people’s subculture. We then draw on digital ethnographic data to explore the lived experiences of Ana girls, that is, young women who advocate anorexic and bulimic behaviours as legitimate lifestyle choices, as they explore and negotiate their identity through online social media platforms with like-minded people. The aim is to demonstrate the potential of longitudinal digital ethnography to provide insights into these girls’ transgressive voices played out through online spaces. In narrating the Ana girls through digital storytelling, we argue that digital ethnography is the only way to access and understand their experiences and as such, has a unique role to play in advancing sociological understanding of their complex lived experiences. Thus, we suggest that digital ethnography provides a unique way of capturing longitudinal data and that this knowledge is important to bring about greater understanding of the challenges facing these girls as they grapple with complex problems. This greater understanding could inform changes to practice needed to better support Ana girls in online spaces.
Highlights
Social life is ongoing, developing, fluctuating, becoming
We argue that the application of ethnography, and more recently, digital ethnography, to the study of youth subculture can provide powerful insights into transgressive spaces that are otherwise largely obscured in social research
The aim of this article has been to engage with the special issue theme by focusing on the methodological value of ethnography and digital ethnography as a productive and critical way to research youth subcultures, subversive and transgressive subcultures
Summary
Social life is ongoing, developing, fluctuating, becoming. It never arrives or ends. More recently still in England and again much of the global north and south, the advent of mainstream youth subcultural digital spaces such as Instagram, Pinterest, ask.com, Facebook, myproana.com and schoolroom.com have provided spaces for transgressive behaviour They have formed a key part of the backdrop to high-profile cases of young people taking their own lives whilst encouraged to do so by anonymous online users. To address and overcome these limitations, Bennett et al recommend that researchers ‘manage his/her identity in the field, being open about his/her intentions in order that respondents are not deceived into providing information about themselves’ [14] When this reflexivity is applied to the data, in conjunction with participants taking a more active ‘interpretative role’, ethnography, as a way of uncovering people’s lived experiences, is invaluable. We outline the origins of youth subcultural research in England, drawing on research that has been and remains influential since the time of publication
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
