Discuss the role of tribes and subcultures in youth identity

The term tribes can be defined as a specific group of people who share the same norms and values as each other, subcultures can be seen as a group of people in one culture for example, Goths, who have created a different style of fashion or taste in music or behaviour that can be still drawn back to the Goth style, an example of a subculture could be emos, who have originated from Goths and have grown out to form their own norms and values.

Youth identity is when young people, from young teenagers to 25, identify themselves with a certain tribe or subculture, they do this to make themselves safe and secure as they can relate to people who are like themselves, once this is group has been formed, it grows into a subculture, and is seen as part of the youth identity, tribes which attract the youth identity can be emos, Goths, hipsters, mods, teddy boys, etc.

Cultures used to be very homogenous and there used to be one significant culture, like in the19th century, the style was very much large dresses, three piece suits, tweed and the like. Music would be classical and dancing would be in partners etc, so overall then, the culture was very enclosed and private.

Now due to the rise in globalisation and the proliferation of music genres, there has been a significant rise in cultures and tribes, and from these cultures there has been a rise in subcultures, like from Goths there has the rise in emos. Evidence that the pick ‘n’ mix approach can be seen in what cultures wear, for example, the big boots that emos wear can be seen in the punk fashion. Maffasoli believes in this and suggests that there has been a proliferation of subcultures, which there has, and this can be supported with the idea that mainstream cultures has bricolaged, mainstream culture has broken off into different cultures, which it has.

There are many cultures and subcultures which the youth identify with, Goths for example, wear black, have piercings, large boots, wear black makeup, have unique hair styles and act differently to the rest of society, also Chavs, which are a unique subculture to Britain, often wear sports clothing, act in an anti-social behaviour, smoke and drink.

Before the large rise in subcultures, there were defined cultures, like the Teddy Boys, or the Mods, or the Punks, which wore clothing that associated them to that particular group, also they had meanings behind what they wore or how they behaved, for example, Punks would be very aggressive often and this would be reflected in what they wore, as they would wear very apparent clothing that looked aggressive, like metal studs, or metal spiked bracelets.

Now though, the well defined cultures have proliferated into many smaller, niche cultures, like Goths and emos, and the meanings behind them have been lost, leading to an easy and quick rise in subcultures.

Hebdige argues that the youths can be “read” from what they wear, and to some extent this is true, from what Punks wear, for example, you can see they are aggressive and want to stand out in society. But this also can be untrue, for example, due to the pick ‘n’ mix approach to tribes, meanings behind these tribes have been lost and the only reason the tribe wears what it wears is because it’s had that style of clothing since it started, it’s become a norm for the people within the tribe to wear what signifies their culture. This overall suggests a loss of meaning to the cultures.

Belonging to a tribe reinforces many youths norms and values, giving members a sense of security, as the members are surrounded by other people like themselves, this also shows collective identity. Many people express themselves through what tribe they join, as the individuals have norms and values similar to the tribes, but they’ve yet to discover this tribe, once they’ve discovered it, they join and feel a sense of belonging and identity, they are then shaped into what the tribe sees as the correct norms and values for the tribe.

In conclusion, subcultures and tribes play a massive role in youth identity, its forms the basis of how we interact when we’re in that tribe and also how we act to a member of that tribe. It defines who are , what we believe in, how we act, and most of all our life choices. Subcultures continue to proliferate and grow in size, despite the meanings behind the cultures being lost, it doesn’t deter the increase in subcultures and tribes giving young people an identity, sense of belonging and collective identity.