Subcultures- Skaters & Surfers

     Welcome to yet another session with Stereotypical Canadian where we discuss sociological issues, topics, etc, assigned to us every week. This week, subcultures is the topic and more specifically in America. A subculture is a culture within a more wider culture, with norms and values that are different than those of the "mainstream" or the majority in a society. Even though there will be differences between subcultures and the main culture, there will still be some similarities.

     This week we have discussed in class the Gothic subculture, which many people portray an aggressive culture based on the clothing that they wear and the music that is listened to, this screams stereotypes. (Since this blog is called Stereotypical Canadian, I must point out stereotypes in every post I make, my own little challenge). This Gothic culture has been feared by the "mainstream" in greater mass since the Columbine shootings, since the two shooters involved were of the Gothic subculture.

    

     Skaters are a subculture that is immensely into the sport of skateboarding, this subculture is becoming more and more popular as a "mainstream" culture, primarily because celebrity skaters have promoted skateboarding all across the United States. The Skateboarding subculture used to be seen as a wreckless group of kids looking to cause havoc in Urban cities, which is still the case in heavily populated cities. Skateboarders are also taken as those crazy individuals that will to extremes and nearly kill themselves to achieve a goal. This man below, Danny Way, jumps over the Great Wall of China twice finally landing the stunt with a broken ankle from the first attempt. To get this event to work, caused great international caos but ended with a pat on the back.

     The Surfer subculture is that group of people that dress up in boardshorts and wear sandals everywhere and love to surf who would literally marry the sea (<= look at picture). The absolute only thing they talk about is surfing, this is an opinion and also from personal experience of being surrounded by surfing addicts. Some of the stereotypes that are affiliated with surfers is their sense of literacy, since their dialect can be incomprehensible at times, and sounds as if they plugged their noses and stick out their chins as they are talking. Such as "Dude I caught this gnarly lookin wave the other day and I barreled it in right into a wedge and came out clean, it was soooo sick!". They are also known for their over-emphasizing on words, example: DUUUUheUUUUUDE! That was AWWheSOMME! (come see me in class if you want to hear it), with the chin sticking out.

    

     Now enough with the jokes, these are subcultures that are becoming more and more "mainstream" as our nation advances (or gets dumber! ... no more jokes). Both of these can "go with the flow in the 'mainstream' ", (I'm hilarious, just can't get over it), because people are interested in sports and love to go to the beach these subcultures just fit right in with the crowd. There are now competitions around the world that assemble large masses of different cultures just to watch some individuals of amazing talent pull off the craziest stunts imaginable.

     The most rebellious of the two would be the skaters, but why? Sociologists such as Eisenstadt states that, "If conflict exists, it is essentially emotional, and results from young people's sense of marginalisation and powerlessness while developing the values and relationships that allow them to stand on their own two feet. The main point is that youth cultures are funtional to society and in fact help maintain social order" (1956). Does this mean that these rebellious acts are causeed by the need for socialisation of those individuals into a position in society. If so, then this is only a function to society, after all all teenagers go through a rebellious stage in their lives.