Where have all the Subcultures gone?

If you are not familiar with the term, subculture simply refers to a cultural group of people within a culture that differentiates itself from the larger culture to which it belongs.

Subcultures used to be a very compelling and complex piece of the social fabric of popular culture and society. Now… not so much.

Subcultures have always had a limited lifespan. If you think about it, this makes total sense. Once the subculture creates enough friction and wins over everyone or just pisses everyone off, the larger culture will either take action to remove the subculture or it will appropriate that subculture. Moonshiners and bootleggers, a subculture during the great depression that was almost instantly eliminated with the repeal of alcohol prohibition. Punk culture, also a socio-economic and politically rebellious group, turned into a target market and consumer segment. The KKK, on the other hand, is an example of a subculture that had received a different response from the larger culture and did not end up in clothing stores and shopping malls all over the country.

Today, subcultures don’t even get a chance to create friction without immediately being appropriated or eliminated. They never even get off the ground before they are gobbled up consumerism and social media.

There are a few factors that are unique to our time and culture that make the creation of an authentic subculture virtually impossible. Everything and everyone is not only individualized but also encouraged to be many things and wear many hats, and do it well. No one wants to be pigeon-holed into one group. There used to be lines that we didn’t think could be crossed. But now, we don’t really give a shit about those lines, unless it is to take pride in crossing them. We as humans love being complex, complicated and conflicting.

Immediate gratification and the self-centered needs of today’s consumers don’t allow for subcultures to exist. We want what we want and we want it now. Sounds in-line with what a subculture would be preaching, but when the world is at your figure tips and information is so readily available, we don’t to physically need to take part in any one cultural group to feel accepted and feel that we have a voice.

Lastly, self-centered consumerism, which I love by the way, also removes the power that subcultures and brands used to hold over people. We as consumers have finally realized that the power lies within our hands and that we hold more value than any advertisement or app or marketing campaign ever could. Again, sounds like subculture talk but when it’s a perception of the overwhelming majority, it’s just culture. We less susceptible to persuasions by brands and really any group or organization. We are becoming beautiful cynics. We have realized this power and completed disrupted the way we connect with one another. We have created miles of separation between ourselves and the people we see everyday, while at the same time made it so simple to create a meaningful connection with a complete stranger on the other side of the planet.

We are beautiful cynics and subculture or not, you can’t fight against the youth. They will out live, and out innovate. The powers that be probably thought they could contain the rebels, like Steve Jobs for instance, when they accepted the ideas and the culture. They probably didn’t think the subcultures would have such an impact to truly change the world.

Here’s to the rebels.