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This article contributes to the debate on the relevance of subculture as a theoretical concept for understanding groups in contemporary Western societies. Utilising data from a virtual ethnography of body modifiers, the article challenges the dominance of post-subcultural approaches. The body modification subculture discussed in this article has not only formed along socioeconomic lines, it has developed alternative work opportunities that enable and promote continued involvement in the subculture beyond one's youth. While scenes and (neo-)tribes maintain their relevance for scholars investigating groups with a more temporary nature, the data presented herein show that subcultures did not vanish as society transitioned from post-War to postmodernity.

The purpose of this study was to devise an empirical test of the hypothesis that geographical areas with high parasuicide rates (HRAs) are characterized by a distinctive subculture which is expected to facilitate parasuicidal behavior to a considerable degree. A secondary hypothesis states that cultural differences ("cultural distance") between parasuicides and the general population will be relatively more pronounced in areas with low parasuicide rates (LRAs) than in HRAs. Data were gathered on four separate samples in Edinburgh: two groups of parasuicides, one from an HRA, the other from three LRAs, and two groups of population controls matched pairwise with each parasuicide by sex, age, and area of residence. Four instruments, of which three were specially designed for the study, were used to test middle-order hypotheses relating to specific elements of the cultural system. These instruments are fully described. Empirical evidence undoubtedly supports the prediction of a meaning system in the HRA which is distinctive from that found in the LRA. However, not all differences are in the expected direction. Although there is evidence of greater toleration in the HRA of deviant behavior in general, parasuicide is equally proscribed in the two areas and is given the most extreme rating of 19 conduct norms in the HRA. The HRA subculture is also significantly less understanding of parasuicide, and considers it to be more immoral and sanctionable than the dominant LRA culture. Overall, lifetime contact with suicidal behavior is equally extensive in the two areas, although more intimate experience and personal involvement is reported in the HRA. Detailed analyses of within-area differences relating to all measures and instruments provide little support for the secondary hypothesis; cultural distance is similar in both groups. Possible explanations to account for the unexpected findings are proposed.

'Hebdige's Subculture: The Meaning of Style is so important: complex and remarkably lucid, it's the first book dealing with punk to offer intellectual content. Hebdige [...] is concerned with the UK's postwar, music-centred, white working-class subcultures, from teddy boys to mods and rockers to skinheads and punks.' - Rolling Stone With enviable precision and wit Hebdige has addressed himself to a complex topic - the meanings behind the fashionable exteriors of working-class youth subcultures - approaching them with a sophisticated theoretical apparatus that combines semiotics, the sociology of devience and Marxism and come up with a very stimulating short book - Time Out This book is an attempt to subject the various youth-protest movements of Britain in the last 15 years to the sort of Marxist, structuralist, semiotic analytical techniques propagated by, above all, Roland Barthes. The book is recommended whole-heartedly to anyone who would like fresh ideas about some of the most stimulating music of the rock era - The New York Times.

For many, the word "emo" calls to mind angsty teenagers, shaggy black haircuts, and skinny jeans. A popular music phenomenon in the early 2000s, emo is short for "emotional hardcore," and refers to both a music genre and a youth scene notable for its androgynous style. Judith May Fathallah pushes beyond the stereotypes and social stigma to explore how online fandom has shaped the definition of emo, with significant implications both for millennial constructs of gender and for contemporary fan studies. First laying out the debate over what emo is, Fathallah walks superfans and newcomers through the culture surrounding the genre's major bands, including the emo holy trinity: My Chemical Romance, Fall Out Boy, and Panic! At the Disco. Next she examines fans' main mode of participation in the emo subculture—online communities such as LiveJournal, Tumblr, MySpace, and band websites. Taking a hard look at the gender politics that dominated those spaces, she unearths a subculture that simultaneously defines itself by its sensitivity and resistance to traditional forms of masculinity, yet ruthlessly enforces homophobic and sexist standards. Fathallah demonstrates fandom's key role in defining emo as a concept and genre after 2001, with probing insight into its implications for gender constructions through popular music.