Rave Culture: Individual And Collective Identity Theories

Drawing on these post-subcultural ideas, Sarah Thornton analysed the nature and pattern of subterranean club cultures. Heavily influenced by the work of French sociologist Pierre Bourdieu, Sarah Thornton's Club Cultures has investigated the 'hierarchies within popular culture' (Thornton, 1995), as oppose to the social hierarchies of working and middle-class that were once believed to be responsible for the emergence of subculture. Thornton draws on Bourdieu's distinctions of 'cultural' and 'economic' capital, the former referring to status that stems from the position on the cultural hierarchy and the latter being the position on the economic hierarchy. In the modernist era, these two concepts were thought to coincide with one another, but in the postmodern world they can conflict. For example, the number one in the charts will be high in economic capital, as the artist will be rich and commercial, but they lack authenticity and individuality, which robs them of cultural capital. Influenced by these concepts, Thornton devised the term 'subcultural capital', which "is valuable by virtue of its exclusivity" (Muggleton and Weinzierl, 2004). The clubbing culture prevents new, underground sounds from escaping through the doors of make-believe warehouses and into the arms of the mainstream, in order to maintain their 'subcultural capital' and remain 'hip'. Once a certain sound or type of music becomes listened to by every age, gender and class it loses its authentic value, and being the same as everybody else does not qualify you as 'cool' or rate you high on the subcultural capital scale. Linking back to what I said about society pushing people to be individuals, it seems that Thornton`s theory finds the middle ground between this and Maffesoli`s neo-tribes. As individuals we want to be different, but we find this difference collectively via a shared interest of music, lifestyle and consumption. Subcultural capital is something members of the club culture thrive for, but this happens as a collective, a neo-tribe. It exemplifies collective individualism.

After looking at both subcultural and post-subcultural theory we have seen that both are very influential theories. Although subculture has been heavily criticised by post-subcultural theorists it has proposed some very insightful ideas on how subcultures operated in this era and its emphasis on class-based subculture is not entirely problematic, because class was extremely important during this time. Post-subcultural theory`s aversion to the class-based ideas of subculture has caused them to apoliticise youth culture to such an extent that it has put flaws in their arguments. Although it has been shown that politics and social status are not the only determining factors underlying subculture, it also cannot be neglected or veiled underneath an opaque carpet of music taste and style either. The many theories within the subject of collective identity have become increasingly complex since the move into the digital age and the postmodern era and the fading of cultural boundaries and accelerated speed of globalisation has left identity "swirling about where sustainability once resided" (Holstein and Gubrium, 2000, p.9). It seems that both theories have flaws but:

"while the modernist paradigm of the CCCS cannot explain the economic, cultural and political dynamics of contemporary subcultural movement, neither can an uncritical, reconstituted post-modernism" (Muggleton and Weinzierl, 2004, p.18).

We will now put both of these theories into action through its application to the infamous rave culture, where we will gain a detailed perspective on just how applicable these theories are. As we have seen, there are limitations in both and here we will learn which fit rave culture best.