Rave Culture: Individual And Collective Identity Theories

Within studies of youth culture, rave is a subculture that is almost always guaranteed to form part of the discussion. With a timeline that stretches from the 1960s up until this very day, it is a culture that has dominated many works of literature due to its clashes with the law, deep spiritual meanings and large prevalence of free parties comprised with thousands of adolescents. Rave is a culture of delinquency-meets hedonism, coupled with a transcendence from normative society to a utopia filled with drug-induced spiritual experience. However, the key issue I intend to address is not solely based on this infamous and influential culture, but rather on how individual and collective identity relates to it. The subcultures of post-world-war II Britain, the timeframe this paper is predominantly focused, ranged from the deadly appearance of goths to the pro-pleasure lifestyle of flower power hippies and the myriad styles in-between. The diverse nature of subcultures demonstrates that "every subculture... carries a set of narratives about itself" (Gelder, 2007, p.2) and each narrative is written and expressed from a set of unique values inherent in the manifestation of each subculture. However, the underlying start-point of each narrative stems from individual identity and how the search for the self takes the form of a collective. Although social background and status is an essential part of collective identity formation, it is not the sole factor behind its development. Every person is made-up of unique characteristics and personality traits, which evolve in the participation of a collective when how others perceive us shapes our identity further. Charles Horton Cooley`s looking-glass self exemplifies this process as he proposes the theory that our identity grows through interaction with others, as we base our self-concepts on the responses of others (Isaksen, 2013). This paper will explore the narratives involved in rave culture alongside the accuracy of these narratives and whether the meanings and purposes of rave were perceived differently inside and outside the culture. Those that formed the 1980s free party scene were dubbed by Margaret Thatcher as delinquent scroungers evading the law, but the motives and meanings for those inside the culture was simply a hedonistic lifestyle void of conventional living through the search for a deeper reverence for freedom and spirituality. Chapter one will outline social psychological theories of the self and individual identity formation. This involves discussing the work of academic veteran George Herbert Mead, who produced much work within the fields of philosophy, sociology and psychology in the 1900s, especially about the self. I will contrast various theories and perspectives, from the outdated transcendental self to the pragmatist self. This chapter will establish how the early years of identity formation takes place and how this may contribute to how people become part of a collective or subculture. Chapter two will focus directly on sociological theories, such as subculture and collective identity, which has been discussed by many scholars whose names are heavily associated with youth cultural studies, such as David Muggleton, Dick Hebdige and Sarah Thornton. This chapter will chronicle the schools of thought that have contributed to the development of subcultural theories from the first half of the 20th century up until the impending millennium. It will chronicle the journey that has taken place within subculture and how the postmodern world has impacted previous theories, making some of them devoid of usefulness to modern day society. Concepts such as subcultural resistance to a dominant society will be discussed in detail alongside the postmodern idea of neo-tribes. Chapter three will then apply the theories outlined in chapters one and two to the rave scene. Rave is a youth culture that can be traced back to the 1960s, but the electronic dance scene that is associated with rave today took off in the 80s with the birth of acid house and illegal free parties. Raves were events where often hundreds to thousands of people would co-opt an unauthorised building or space, set-up a large sound system and dance all-night, and sometimes days, to electronic dance music such as techno, trance and acid-house. A history of the movement will be outlined before embarking on the symbolic dissection of the phenomenon through the frameworks, concepts and theories proposed throughout the paper. Due to the many forms and variations of rave, some theories are more applicable to specific parts of the culture than others and further concepts will arise, such as rave as a religion. What is interesting about rave is that the subculture itself has subcultures, due to the many different types of electronic music in rave and the different styles of people that formed it, such as crusties, New Age Travellers (NATs), hippies and ravers. As this makes the application of theories difficult to apply to rave as a whole, I have focused my attention on two movements that I felt exemplified the collective and individual identity theories most clearly. Many factors are discussed within this chapter, such as authenticity, meaning and legislation, referring to the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994, that put an end to the illegal parties undertaken in the UK throughout the 70s, 80s and early 90s.