Subcultural Studies Research Articles

Review Essay: “Free Radical: Music, Violence and Radicalism”

Review Essay: “Free Radical: Music, Violence and Radicalism”

Развитие социального образования в России в конце XIX – начале ХХ века: духовно-нравственные аспекты

the subject of this research is formation and development of social education in Russia in the late XIX – early XX century in its moral and spiritual aspects. Social and pedagogical experiments in that period were merged with the process of origin and formation of social education. Search of the cultural axis of the professions aimed at the social help and support of the population became the feature of this process in Russia. The answer was found in an appeal to the theological aspects of social education. The methodological basis of the study is the concept of cultural and moral continuity and continuity of social education, as well as recognition of not only the social but also the spiritual value of social assistance. Research methods are complex: this is a comparative historical study, text analysis, stratification analysis and study of subcultures, a modeling method. The main research problem is the analysis of the correlation of standardization and formalization of social education and its spiritual and moral essence, the problem of motivating the activities of specialists in the social sphere and the threat of its emasculation. The findings of this study are important for meaningful formation of the modern social formation and determination of its spiritual and moral foundations.

Особенности трансформации криминальной субкультуры в современном обществе: роль организационной культуры

Relevance. The study of the specific organizational culture peculiarities within group entities conducting criminal economic activities is significant for understanding the essence of such organizations, socio-psychological mechanisms of their potential influence on society. So far, the criminal subculture has not been considered from the point of view of postmodernism methodology, the influence of the role of organizational culture on its development. Purpose. Develop the theoretical foundations of the study of criminal subculture that are adequate for modern society. Method. Theoretical analysis of the criminal subculture from the point of view of the methodology of postmodernism. Results. The article provides an analysis of the peculiarities of the nature of modern culture in the conditions of the postmodern and information society, the relationship of the criminal subculture with the culture of society and the social processes taking place in it, the specifics of changes and the cultural transformation of the criminal subculture in a multicultural society (dissemination and introduction into society, modification, acquisition of new forms). Conclusions. Reliance on the methodology of postmodernism gives a deeper understanding of the cultural transformation specifics in the modern criminal subculture. The introduction of criminal subculture into the structure of society is due to the use of objective elements of organizational culture (image, externally acceptable, socialized forms of employee behavior, external compliance with the requirements of conventionality) and concealment of subjective elements of organizational culture (values of the criminal world).

The Film Kids 25 Years On: A Qualitative Study of Rape Culture and Representations of Sexual Violence in Skateboarding

This article examines the 1995 fictional feature film Kids, which locates its story in skateboarding culture. The film reached its 25th anniversary in 2020; it is directed by Larry Clark and written by Harmony Korine, both recognizable figures in skateboarding, and it featured a cast of youth from the New York skateboarding scene. The research analyses narrative content that depicts sexual coercion and rape. Contemporary social and feminist theories of sexual violence, rape culture and media on the film inform the analysis. The discussion points to how the characters that the boys play embody forms of hegemonic masculinity, pointing to the social and cultural dimensions of male power and how sexual violence can be an element of that. The article also presents an occasion to reflect on such issues in skateboarding culture more widely, with emerging insights that can be useful to studies of other male-dominated youth cultures, lifestyle sports and subcultures.

Evaluation of Disulfiram Drug Combinations and Identification of Other More Effective Combinations against Stationary Phase Borrelia burgdorferi.

Lyme disease, caused by Borrelia burgdorferi, is the most common vector-borne disease in USA, and 10–20% of patients will develop persistent symptoms despite treatment (“post-treatment Lyme disease syndrome”). B. burgdorferi persisters, which are not killed by the current antibiotics for Lyme disease, are considered one possible cause. Disulfiram has shown to be active against B. burgdorferi, but its activity against persistent forms is not well characterized. We assessed disulfiram as single drug and in combinations against stationary-phase B. burgdorferi culture enriched with persisters. Disulfiram was not very effective in the drug exposure experiment (survival rate (SR) 46.3%) or in combinations. Clarithromycin (SR 41.1%) and nitroxoline (SR 37.5%) were equally effective when compared to the current Lyme antibiotic cefuroxime (SR 36.8%) and more active than disulfiram. Cefuroxime + clarithromycin (SR 25.9%) and cefuroxime + nitroxoline (SR 27.5%) were significantly more active than cefuroxime + disulfiram (SR 41.7%). When replacing disulfiram with clarithromycin or nitroxoline in three-drug combinations, bacterial viability decreased significantly and subculture studies showed that combinations with these two drugs (cefuroxime + clarithromycin/nitroxoline + furazolidone/nitazoxanide) inhibited the regrowth, while disulfiram combinations did not (cefuroxime + disulfiram + furazolidone/nitazoxanide). Thus, clarithromycin and nitroxoline should be further assessed to determine their role as potential treatment alternatives in the future.

Diasporic Consciousness and Identity Trauma in Jhumpa Lahiri’s The Namesake

In the contemporary era, immigration, exile and expatriation are related to home, identity, nostalgia, memory and isolation. These are the recurrent theme in the diasporic writings of the post-colonial writers like V.S. Naipaul, Salman Rushdie, Bharati Mukherjee, Jhumpa Lahiri and so on.
 Identity is a topical issue in the contemporary study of culture with many ramifications for the study of ethnicity, class, gender, race, sexuality and subcultures. It becomes an issue when something assumed to be fixed, coherent, and stable is displaced by the experience of doubt and uncertainty. When a period of uncertainty and confusion upsets a person’s identity, it becomes insecure, usually due to a change in the expected aims or role in society. This identity trauma brings a sense of longing and loss as seen in Lahiri’s stories.
 The present article focuses on the first generation and second generation immigrants adherence to the old and new land as can be found in Jhumpa Lahiri’s The Namesake. Lahiri represents her characters struggling to balance the two worlds that involve the issues of immigration, race, class, and culture.

Evaluation of Natural and Botanical Medicines for Activity Against Growing and Non-growing Forms of B. burgdorferi.

Lyme disease is the most common vector-borne disease in the US and Europe. Although the current recommended Lyme antibiotic treatment is effective for the majority of Lyme disease patients, about 10–20% of patients continue to suffer from persisting symptoms. There have been various anecdotal reports on the use of herbal extracts for treating patients with persisting symptoms with varying degree of improvements. However, it is unclear whether the effect of the herb products is due to their direct antimicrobial activity or their effect on host immune system. In the present study, we investigated the antimicrobial effects of 12 commonly used botanical medicines and three other natural antimicrobial agents for potential anti-Borrelia burgdorferi activity in vitro. Among them, 7 natural product extracts at 1% were found to have good activity against the stationary phase B. burgdorferi culture compared to the control antibiotics doxycycline and cefuroxime. These active botanicals include Cryptolepis sanguinolenta, Juglans nigra (Black walnut), Polygonum cuspidatum (Japanese knotweed), Artemisia annua (Sweet wormwood), Uncaria tomentosa (Cat's claw), Cistus incanus, and Scutellaria baicalensis (Chinese skullcap). In contrast, Stevia rebaudiana, Andrographis paniculata, Grapefruit seed extract, colloidal silver, monolaurin, and antimicrobial peptide LL37 had little or no activity against stationary phase B. burgdorferi. The minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) values of Artemisia annua, Juglans nigra, and Uncaria tomentosa were quite high for growing B. burgdorferi, despite their strong activity against the non-growing stationary phase B. burgdorferi. On the other hand, the top two active herbs, Cryptolepis sanguinolenta and Polygonum cuspidatum, showed strong activity against both growing B. burgdorferi (MIC = 0.03–0.06% and 0.25–0.5%, respectively) and non-growing stationary phase B. burgdorferi. In subculture studies, only 1% Cryptolepis sanguinolenta extract caused complete eradication, while doxycycline and cefuroxime and other active herbs could not eradicate B. burgdorferi stationary phase cells as many spirochetes were visible after 21-day subculture. Further studies are needed to identify the active constituents of the effective botanicals and evaluate their combinations for more effective eradication of B. burgdorferi in vitro and in vivo. The implications of these findings for improving treatment of persistent Lyme disease are discussed.

Вплив світових субкультур на формування інноваційних видів туризму

Мета дослідження. У статті проаналізовано вплив світових сучасних субкультур на формування інноваційних форм, видів та підвидів туризму. Методологічну основу дослідження становить критичний аналіз основних дефініцій культурологічних та релігієзнавчих джерел для дослідження світових субкультур, конкретно-історичний аналіз і міждисциплінарний синтез основних принципів формування інноваційних форм, видів і підвидів туризму. Застосовано методи індукції та дедукції, а також контент-аналіз. Наукова новизна полягає в тому, що визначено нові види та підвиди туризму, які можуть формуватися на основі освоєння світових субкультур, зокрема, духовно-езотеричний (новий підвид релігійного туризму), креативно- розвиваючий туризм. Обґрунтовано та введено до наукового обігу теорії туризмознавства поняття «духовно-езотеричний туризм» та «креативно-розвиваючий туризм». Висновки. Проаналізовано найбільш відомі субкультурні об’єднання та їх світоглядні принципи щодо взаємовідносин із суспільством та його традиційною культурою. Визначено пріоритетні субкультури, що створюють базу для формування інноваційних форм, видів та підвидів туризму. Введено до наукового обігу теорії туризмознавства поняття «духовно-езотеричний туризм» та «креативно-розвиваючий туризм». Обґрунтовано доцільність використання досвіду вивчення різних субкультур у пошуку інноваційних форм організації туристичних подорожей, орієнтованих на всебічний розвиток особистості.

Emerging ethnic minority sub-cultures: young Tamils in the post-war context in the Tamil-dominated areas in Sri Lanka

ABSTRACTSignificant socio-cultural and political changes have taken place in Sri Lanka since the end of the most recent war in 2009. There is, however, a lack of research on minority youth sub-cultures in Sri Lanka. This paper seeks to fill the gap, describing different elements of Tamil youth sub-cultures and identifying factors which can be used to distinguish them. The research aimed to explore emerging youth sub-cultures, considering Somasundaram’s idea of collective trauma and Hall’s concept of resistance: which are combined with other broad theoretical conceptualizations and synthesized as resistance, intersectionality and identity, as a lens to understand the sub-cultures among Jaffna post-war youth. Ethnographic approaches are used to understand Tamil youth phenomena, with interviews and focus group discussions among youths and professionals. Seven youth sub-cultures in which war trauma is a predominant factor are identified. The results suggest that in-depth studies of all youth sub-cultures are needed.

Between Pleasure and Resistance: The Role of Substance Consumption in an Italian Working-Class Subculture

In this article I discuss how illegal substance consumption can act as a tool of resistance and as an identity signifier for young people through a covert ethnographic case study of a working-class subculture in Genoa, North-Western Italy. I develop my argument through a coupled reading of the work of the Centre for Contemporary Cultural Studies (CCCS) and more recent post-structural developments in the fields of youth studies and cultural critical criminology. I discuss how these apparently contrasting lines of inquiry, when jointly used, shed light on different aspects of the cultural practices of specific subcultures contributing to reflect on the study of youth cultures and subcultures in today’s society and overcoming some of the ‘dead ends’ of the opposition between the scholarly categories of subculture and post-subculture. In fact, through an analysis of the sites, socialization processes, and hedonistic ethos of the subculture, I show how within a single subculture there could be a coexistence of: resistance practices and subversive styles of expression as the CCCS research program posits; and signs of fragmentary and partial aesthetic engagements devoid of political contents and instead primarily oriented towards the affirmation of the individual, as argued by the adherents of the post-subcultural position.

Identification of FDA-Approved Drugs with Activity against Stationary Phase Bartonella henselae.

Bartonella henselae can cause various infections in humans, ranging from benign and self-limiting diseases to severe and life-threatening diseases as well as persistent infections that are difficult to treat. To develop more effective treatments for persistent Bartonella infections, in this study, we performed a high-throughput screen of an FDA-approved drug library against stationary phase B. henselae using the SYBR Green I/propidium iodide (PI) viability assay. We identified 110 drug candidates that had better activity against stationary phase B. henselae than ciprofloxacin, and among the top 52 drug candidates tested, 41 drugs were confirmed by microscopy to have higher activity than the current frontline antibiotic erythromycin. The identified top drug candidates include pyrvinium pamoate, daptomycin, methylene blue, azole drugs (clotrimazole, miconazole, sulconazole, econazole, oxiconazole, butoconazole, bifonazole), aminoglycosides (gentamicin and streptomycin, amikacin, kanamycin), amifostine (Ethyol), antiviral Lopinavir/ritonavir, colistin, nitroxoline, nitrofurantoin, verteporfin, pentamidine, berberine, aprepitant, olsalazine, clinafloxacin, and clofoctol. Pyrvinium pamoate, daptomycin, methylene blue, clotrimazole, and gentamicin and streptomycin at their respective maximum drug concentration in serum (Cmax) had the capacity to completely eradicate stationary phase B. henselae after 3-day drug exposure in subculture studies. While the currently used drugs for treating bartonellosis, including rifampin, erythromycin, azithromycin, doxycycline, and ciprofloxacin, had very low minimal inhibitory concentration (MIC) against growing B. henselae, they had relatively poor activity against stationary phase B. henselae, except aminoglycosides. The identified FDA-approved agents with activity against stationary phase B. henselae should facilitate development of more effective treatments for persistent Bartonella infections.

Football, fashion and unpopular culture: David Bowie’s influence on Liverpool Football Club casuals 1976-79

ABSTRACTThis article examines the influence of an outfit worn by David Bowie in The Man Who Fell to Earth and on the cover of Low, upon the earliest football casuals – those of Liverpool FC from 1976–79. The significance of this outfit, a seemingly unremarkable duffle coat, is drawn out in order to demonstrate the nuanced rituals, acts and structures that make fashion a set of practices and social relations as well as a culturally loaded object. This case study demonstrates Bowie’s transmedial flow between film, music, sporting arenas, fiction and television interviews and his related contribution to the transference and creation of fashion cultures in a pre-digital age. It considers the value and shortcomings of subcultural studies when trying to understand a culture that is not one’s own, as well as the marginalization of casuals within analyses of subcultures generally. This article builds a methodological framework that draws upon theories of costume in film, fashion in fiction and existing research on working class dandyism and football culture. Representations of this outfit in the work of author Kevin Sampson – an ‘active participant’ in these new cultures – are analysed to demonstrate the role that clothing and emulation play in the relationship between a performer and their audience.

Whaddya rebellin’ against? Youth Rebellion and Domesticity in The Wild One and Rebel Without a Cause

The article focuses on the conflict between youth and domestic values in 1950s America on the example of the movies The Wild One and Rebel Without a Cause. Using elements of subcultural studies, the films are discussed as didactic in purpose, conveying a sense of fear of youth culture, then a new development, and reinforcing the patriarchal structure of mid-20th century US society. This was achieved by depicting troubled young people who manage to overcome various difficulties with the help of a strong masculine father-figure. However, as a result of this, some young people sought for characters who in their opinions embodied a non-conformist stance to a much greater extent than the protagonists. These characters, Chino in The Wild One and Plato in Rebel Without a Cause, became subcultural icons in their own right, and illustrate the impact that such cinematic portrayals may have on the development of a subculture.

Identification of Essential Oils with Strong Activity against Stationary Phase Borrelia burgdorferi.

Lyme disease is the most common vector borne-disease in the United States (US). While the majority of the Lyme disease patients can be cured with 2–4 weeks antibiotic treatment, about 10–20% of patients continue to suffer from persisting symptoms. While the cause of this condition is unclear, persistent infection was proposed as one possibility. It has recently been shown that B. burgdorferi develops dormant persisters in stationary phase cultures that are not killed by the current Lyme antibiotics, and there is interest in identifying novel drug candidates that more effectively kill such forms. We previously identified some highly active essential oils with excellent activity against biofilm and stationary phase B. burgdorferi. Here, we screened another 35 essential oils and found 10 essential oils (Allium sativum L. bulbs, Pimenta officinalis Lindl. berries, Cuminum cyminum L. seeds, Cymbopogon martini var. motia Bruno grass, Commiphora myrrha (T. Nees) Engl. resin, Hedychium spicatum Buch.-Ham. ex Sm. flowers, Amyris balsamifera L. wood, Thymus vulgaris L. leaves, Litsea cubeba (Lour.) Pers. fruits, Eucalyptus citriodora Hook. leaves) and the active component of cinnamon bark cinnamaldehyde (CA) at a low concentration of 0.1% have strong activity against stationary phase B. burgdorferi. At a lower concentration of 0.05%, essential oils of Allium sativum L. bulbs, Pimenta officinalis Lindl. berries, Cymbopogon martini var. motia Bruno grass and CA still exhibited strong activity against the stationary phase B. burgdorferi. CA also showed strong activity against replicating B. burgdorferi, with a MIC of 0.02% (or 0.2 μg/mL). In subculture studies, the top five essential oil hits Allium sativum L. bulbs, Pimenta officinalis Lindl. berries, Commiphora myrrha (T. Nees) Engl. resin, Hedychium spicatum Buch.-Ham. ex Sm. flowers, and Litsea cubeba (Lour.) Pers. fruits completely eradicated all B. burgdorferi stationary phase cells at 0.1%, while Cymbopogon martini var. motia Bruno grass, Eucalyptus citriodora Hook. leaves, Amyris balsamifera L. wood, Cuminum cyminum L. seeds, and Thymus vulgaris L. leaves failed to do so as shown by visible spirochetal growth after 21-day subculture. At concentration of 0.05%, only Allium sativum L. bulbs essential oil and CA sterilized the B. burgdorferi stationary phase culture, as shown by no regrowth during subculture, while Pimenta officinalis Lindl. berries, Commiphora myrrha (T. Nees) Engl. resin, Hedychium spicatum Buch.-Ham. ex Sm. flowers and Litsea cubeba (Lour.) Pers. fruits essential oils all had visible growth during subculture. Future studies are needed to determine if these highly active essential oils could eradicate persistent B. burgdorferi infection in vivo.

‘Put on your boots and Harrington!’: The ordinariness of 1970s UK punk dress

Abstract In 2013, the Metropolitan Museum hosted an exhibition of punk-inspired fashion entitled Punk: Chaos to Couture. The exhibition emphasized the ‘spectacular’ elements of the subculture, reflecting a narrative that dominates accounts of punk dress, whereby it is presented as a site of art school creativity and disjuncture with the past. This is an important aspect of punk dress, but photos of bands and audiences reveal that there was much more to British punk style in the 1970s than what was being sold on London’s King’s Road. Heeding calls to trouble the boundary between the spectacular and the ordinary in subculture studies, this article looks at the ordinariness of 1970s British punk dress, arguing that we should understand punk dress in terms of mass-market commodities, not just customization and designer fashion. Many of these commodities were worn by the skinheads who preceded punk, and this article explores this subcultural continuity by focusing on the role of the Dr. Marten boot and the Harrington jacket in first- and second-wave British punk dress. It does so through discussion of the Cockney Rejects, the 1979 BBC television dramatization of the Sham 69 album That’s Life and the Undertones.

Subculture’s Not Dead! Checking the Pulse of Subculture Studies through a Review of ‘Subcultures, Popular Music and Political Change’ and ‘Youth Cultures and Subcultures: Australian Perspectives’

Empirical studies of youth cultures and subcultures continue to flourish alongside active theoretical progression and debates within and across a variety of intellectual traditions. Annually, a range of published articles, monographs and edited collections improve our collective knowledge about youth (sub)cultural phenomena from nearly every corner of the globe. In this article I review two recent edited volumes that deal explicitly with subculture studies: The Subcultures Network’s Subcultures, Popular Music and Political Change (2014, Cambridge Scholars Publishing) and Baker, Robards and Buttigieg’s Youth Cultures and Subcultures: Australian Perspectives (2015, Ashgate). I provide a brief description and summative evaluation of each volume and then organize the review itself in terms of a set of topics that I find to be most salient across the many chapters: identity and identification, centre and periphery, social media, and history. The review moves back and forth between the two volumes as I bring together chapters that are conceptually or analytically similar. My goal is not only to review the significance of the various published studies, but to highlight the continued relevance of the subculture concept.

From locality to translocality and cosmopolitanism

This article explores the alternative music scene in Debrecen, Hungary’s second largest town, in the first decade after the fall of the Berlin Wall. It describes the conditions of its emergence, highlighting the influence of western music and new wave DIY subculture that served as a catalyst in the identity formation of its participants, both musicians and audiences. It argues that in contrast with the politicized rock of the Budapest underground, the international dimension served as a founding element of scene-formation in Debrecen. The aesthetic cosmopolitanism was achieved through translating the affective packages and anti-mainstream sentiments of new wave music into the local context. This research is based on conversations with prominent members of the scene, and offers several case studies of Debrecen bands. It includes song lyrics to illustrate the cosmopolitan dimension of bands and records arising from the scene. It draws on the studies of subcultures, translocality and cosmopolitanism.

Influence of antecedents of expectations on perceived quality: a study of rural and urban subcultures

Creating and delivering perceived quality requires understanding the antecedents of perceived quality. This study examines the influence that antecedents of consumers' prior expectations have on perceived quality. The variables of rural and urban subcultures and those identified from the review of literature as antecedents of expectations and perceived quality are independent variables. They were examined for establishing an association with perceived quality using ordinal regression. The results showed that rural and urban subcultures, personal needs and perceived alternatives were some of the significant factors that influenced the consumers' assessment of quality. Neither personal needs nor subculture was tested in previous studies as antecedents of expectation. The results suggest that creating and delivering perceived quality needs to consider the extent of competition, personal needs and subculture.

Influence of antecedents of expectations on perceived quality: a study of rural and urban subcultures

Influence of antecedents of expectations on perceived quality: a study of rural and urban subcultures

Strangers of Popular Culture – The Verbal and Pictorial Aesthetics of Mythological Metal Music

Abstract Extreme metal music is held to be a destructive genre of popular culture, treated as a pariah for many. Being a seriously misunderstood genre, I would like to highlight that metal music is a result of conscious work process that cannot only be noticed on the level of the music but on the level of verbal and pictorial expressions too. In my paper, I would like to show the working mechanisms of the so-called “(neo)pagan/mythological metal” movement, focusing on the rhetoric side of its mentioned expressions, searching for the ways these bands rewrite ancient myths and legends. For my research, I will use three main threads: 1) history of religion (looking for the connections of the reception of ancient topics in contemporary society, e.g. New Age Cults and New Religious Movements); 2) reception theory, as the thoughts of Northrop Frye, Wolfgang Iser (1972), and John Fiske (2011) all should help to understand the general processes behind reading and producing texts; 3) subculture studies – e.g. the works of Richard Schusterman and Deena Weinstein (2002) to have a deeper insight to the genres standing on the edge of mass and high culture. After a general introduction, I would like to demonstrate the above mentioned through some case studies. The chosen mythological cultures are going to be the world of the ancient Middle East (Mesopotamia, Egypt, and the Old Testament), the classical Roman world, and the Viking Era, also showing some Hungarian and Romanian examples in the last section. In each section, the following issues should be examined: band and stage names connected to the topic, album titles, lyrics, and album covers. All these together will show us many clear patterns from romantic nostalgia to allegoric concepts, all revolving around the essence of metal music: being a Stranger in a familiar society.