Subculture: the Meaning of Style

Dick Hebdige argues in his book, Subculture: the Meaning of Style, that the different subcultures in Britain in the 1950s, '60s, and '70s exemplify the fluidity of cultural objects. Thus, subcultures (such as the Mods, Punks, Skinheads) wishing to differentiate themselves from the parent culture "borrow" objects, styles, and music from ethnically diverse groups (like the African Caribbean or West Indian populations). According to Hebdige, the revolutionary value of a subculture depends on to what extent items, commodities, and/or signs from one culture are radically subverted or changed in another.…