What Does subculture Mean
The term subculture is not part of the dictionary of the Royal Spanish Academy . The notion, however, is very common in sociology and anthropology . The concept is used to name the group of people who share behaviors and beliefs that are different from those of the dominant culture of their community .
It could be said that the subculture is a differentiated group within a culture . Its members can meet for various reasons, such as age, ethnicity, sexual identity, musical tastes or aesthetics, among others.
It is usual for a subculture to define itself in opposition to the dominant culture . There are times, however, when such opposition is not radical.
The members of a subculture usually share a similar appearance that identifies them, such as a certain hairstyle (the crest in the case of punks, for example) or the color of the clothes (black, for goths or emos). Within a subculture it is common to speak a particular dialect or use terms that are not frequent in other groups.
The emergence of a subculture is established by the existence of shared symbols . This differentiates the simple groups of people who meet for common tastes from subcultures, where there is a symbolic interactionism . In the aforementioned case of the Gothic subculture, its members resort to black clothing and white makeup to convey their skepticism and lack of hope regarding the development of humanity.
Finally, the group of people that acts as a subculture within a city is known as an urban tribe .
Prejudices
Like any trend that leads people away from the path established by society , subcultures are a very frequent target of prejudice and discrimination. Given that there are many and very diverse (as well as punks and floggers , who do not seem to have much in common) contempt starts from an infallible basis and widely used by our species in its struggle to divide and exclude: they are not normal .
This rejection common to all subcultures is followed by particular issues, sometimes related to the way of dressing, hairstyles and makeup, or lifestyle; All this, it is worth clarifying, based on assumptions generated in the minds of those who have never really approached individuals who are part of the groups they attack. Why is a person dressed in black and with white makeup irresponsible or disrespectful? Why should you scare your surroundings? There are no sensible answers to these questions.
And this brings us to the beginning: they do not respond to the norm . Human beings fear the unknown and tend to believe that we are part of a large group that makes us feel safe, ignoring the diversity present within each class , those characteristics that make us unique. Perhaps this attitude is natural in living beings, as a defense mechanism that alerts us to the presence of someone or something strange; the problem exists when, after that first meeting, we develop a hatred , a persistent and harmful rejection.
We are all responsible for the judgments we make and the way we relate to other living beings; However, there is a very powerful organization above us, which is in charge of targeting those who attempt against the monotony that we usually call life: studying, marrying, procreating and working until we grow old to support our offspring.
Proof of this is found in the term subculture itself: the prefix «sub-«, according to the Royal Spanish Academy, indicates inferiority, being below something or someone, being secondary. Therefore, how can it be expected that the people perceive subcultures in a positive way if their name indicates that those who are not part of them enjoy a certain superiority?