Consolidating the Project

the history of subculture on Prezi

 By John Massingham

For anyone interested in Sociology and specifically Youth and Subcultural Theory - check out the Prezi John Massingham has made. It is a useful tool that helps in the way that it has laid out or mapped the concept of subculture over the historical course of sociological theory, pin pointing moments and concepts that have driven the trajectory of subcultural theory. A really awesome thing about Prezi is that it allows you to zoom in and out and to embedd, pdf's, video and images at any depth. Heads up, John has hidden some pretty neat videos, tables and academic articles that you may not first see but with a bit of exploration are not to hard to find. To create a flow to a presentation you can also add paths to Prezi, but John has not used paths as it is a mapping exercise and learning tool - it is meant for those with an interest in the subject to explore and prompt further study. check it out, share it and if you can add to it. 

Below is a reading list that goes with this blog, and the history of subcultures, again a helpful list compiled with the intention to help out future students of Subcultural Theory or Youth Studies.

Subcultures/Youth Cultures Reading List

Alim, S, 2009, Translocal Style Communities: Hip Hop Youth as Cultural Theorists of Style, Language, and Globalization, Pragmatics, vol. 19, no. 1, pp. 103-127.

Alim, S, Ibrahim, A & Pennycook, A (eds) 2009, Global Linguistic Flows: Hip Hop Cultures, Youth Identities, and the Politics of Language, Routledge, NY.

Anderson, E 1994, The Code of the Streets, The Atlantic Monthly, vol. 273, no. 5, pp.  80-94.

Barker, C 2008, Cultural Studies theory and practice third edition sage publication, London.

Bennett, A 1999, Subcultures or Neo-Tribes? Rethinking the Relationship between Youth, Style, and Musical Taste, Sociology, vol. 33, no. 3, pp. 599-617.

Blackman, S 2005, Youth Subcultural Theory: A Critical Engagement with the Concept, its Origins and Politics, Journal of Youth Studies, vol. 8, no. 1, pp. 1-20.

Brighenti, A 2010, At the Wall: Graffiti Writers, Urban Territoriality, and the Public Domain, Space and Culture, vol. 13, no. 3, pp. 315 -332.

Bucholtz, M 2002, Youth and Cultural Practice, Annual Review of Anthropology, vol. 31, pp. 525-552.

Bucholtz, M & Skapoulli, E 2009, Youth Language at the Intersection: From Migration to Globalization, Pragmatics, vol. 19, no. 1, pp. 1-16.

Chium, C 2009, Contestation and Conformity: Street and Park Skateboarding in New York City Public Space, Space and Culture, vol. 12, no. 1, pp. 25-42.

Clifford, J & Marcus, G (eds) 1986, Writing Culture: The Poetics and Politics of Ethnography, University of California Press.

Cohen, S 1972, Folk Devils and Moral Panics: The Creation of the Mods and Rockers, Routledge, NY.

Gelder, K 2007, Subcultures: Cultural Histories and Social Practice, Routledge, NY.

Gelder, K & Thornton, S (eds) 1997, The Subcultures Reader, Routledge, UK.

Geertz, C 1973, The Interpretation of Cultures, Basic Books, USA.

Goffman, E 1959, Presentation of self on everyday life, Doubleday, NY.

Goffman, E 1967, The Nature of deference and demeanor, in Interaction Ritual: Essays on Face-to-Face Behaviour, Doubleday, Garden City, NY, pp. 47-95.

Goffman, E, 1971, Performances, in The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life, Hammondsworth, Penguin, pp. 28-82.

Hall, S, & Jefferson, T, 1975, Resistance Through Rituals: Youth Subcultures in post-war Britain, Routledge, UK.

Hall, S 1997, The Work of Representation, in Representation: Cultural Representations and Signifying Practice, Sage, London.

Halsey, M & Young, A 2006, ‘Our desires are ungovernable’Writing graffiti in urban space, Theoretical Criminilogy, vol. 1, no. 3, pp. 275-306.

Hebdige, D 1979, Subculture: The Meaning of Style, Routledge, UK.

Hodkinson, P 2002, Goth: Identity, Style and Subculture, Berg, Oxford international Publishers, UK.

Hodkinson, P 2005, Insider Research in the Study of Youth Cultures, Journal of Youth Studies, vol. 8, no. 2, pp. 131-149.

Holmes, R 2010, Risky Pleasures: Using the Work of Graffiti Writers to Theorize the Act of Ethnography, Qualitative Inquiry, vol. 16, no. 10, pp. 871-882.

Huq, R 2006, Beyond Subculture: Pop, youth and Identity in a postcolonial world, Routledge NY.

Jensen, S 2006, Rethinking Subcultural Capital, Young, vol.14, no. 3, pp. 257-276.

Laurendeau, J 2006, Edgework: The Sociology of Risk Taking, The Canadian Journal of Sociology, vol. 31, no. 3, pp. 386-388.

Lemert, C, & Branaman, A (eds) 1997, The Goffman Reader, Blackwell, UK.

Lyng, D 1990, Edgework: A Social Psychological Analysis of Voluntary Risk Taking, American Journal of Sociology, vol. 95, no. 4, pp. 851-886.

Jenks, C 2005, Subcultures: The Fragmentation of the Social, Sage, UK.

Macdonald, N 2001, The Graffiti Subculture: Youth, Masculinity and Identity in London and New York, Palgrave Macmillan, UK.

Muggleton, D & Weinzierl, R, 2003, The Post-subcultures Reader, Berg, NY.

Muggleton, D 2000, A Neo-Weberian approach to the Study of Subcultural Style, in Inside Subculture: The Postmodern Meaning of Style, Oxford: Berg, UK, pp. 9-32.

Parsons, T 1951, The Social System, Routledge, UK.

Pascoe, C 2005, ‘Dude You’re a Fag’: Adolescent Masculinity and the Fag Discourse, Sexualities, vol. 8, no. 3, pp. 329-346.

Roberts, B 2006, Symbolic Interactionism 2: Developments, in Micro Social Theory, Palgrave Macmillan, Basingstoke, pp45-61.

Scott, S 2009, Reclothing the Emperor: The Swimming Pool as a Negotiated Order, Symbolic Interaction, vol. 32, no. 2, pp. 123-145.

Thornton, S 1996, Club Cultures: Music, Media and Subcultural Capital, University Press of New England, UK.

Turner, J 1988, A Theory of Social Interaction, Stanford University Press, California.

Van Pelt, R & Hancock, J, 2007, The Youth Worker’s Guide to helping Teenagers in Crisis, Zonderva, MI.

Walford, G 2009, The practice of writing ethnographic fieldnotes, Ethnography and Education, vol. 4, no. 2, pp -117-130.

Warren, C 2000, Writing the Other, Inscribing the Self, Qualitative Sociology, vol. 23, no. 2, pp. 183-200.

Wieder, D 1969, The Convict Code: A study of a Moral Order as a Persuasive Activity, University of California.

Woo, B, 2009, Subculture theory and the Fetishism of Style, Stream: Culture/Politics/Technology, vol, 2, no. 1, pp. 22-32.

Young, J 2009, Moral Panic: Its Origins in Resistance, Ressentiment and the Translation of Fantasy into Reality, British Journal of Criminology, vol. 49, no. 1. pp. 4-16.

Youth culture and social theory

In social theory subcultures (or sub-cultures) have been accounted for since Durkheim, Marx and Weber but the amount of interest in subcultures over the trajectory of social theory has changed significantly. In terms of turning Macro sociology into Micro sociology theorists have argued for the individual to be accounted for within a system or society at large. Marx and Weber whom did accounted for the ‘waste’ product of capitalisms division of labour, the ‘alienation’ was deciphered but not empirically grounded, and they quickly scooped it back up and re-aligned it with the ever so powerful cohesive conceptual machine. More contemporary theorists have tried to analyse the use of the term ‘subculture’ and how this term becomes either useful or just another theoretical trope when trying to explain social reality against a conceptual system. In Birmingham they explored Marx and Gramsci to tell the story about subcultures and Youth - caught in a system of stratifications according to class and resistance to the mainstream they challenged authority through a way of dressing, an attitude, and a style. They turned subcultural displays into ensembles, signs and symbols of resistance, style and semiotics were accounted as having a significance, groups were depicted as having their own sets of rules and eventually young people were seen to hold a form of agency and power. Across the other side of the globe The Chicago School brought a new wave of radical ideas inspired by the city, space and cultural grouping that seemed to be generated by the space. A new form of investigation was born and Symbolic Interactionism was there motif. They sort to show that interaction from its most basic to the organised complexities of systems was where the action is, where power is define, re-produced and altered. Many interesting urban sociologies have been developed by this group which have created an awesome trajectory for further sociologist to inquire into the mechanics of not only symbolic social interaction and the urban environment but how that relates to the bigger picture of society. Goffman is one such theorist who has helped to define interaction in a way similar to a performance to unravel the doing- in which people help each other to sustain and manage not only the communication aspects of interactions but also the emotional management that is shared in interaction – see Dramaturgical method – and Goffman’s terms like ‘face’, ‘cooling out’ and deference and demeanour.

Subculture and youth cultures are somewhat synonymous terms, they find articulation in sociology through a ‘grouping’ mechanism that can be helpful in accounts of research, though at base level they are purely arbitrary. Putting this aside, (as sociologist and culturalists have done so for years) what is interesting is how subcultural theory finds most of its trajectory through the study of Youth and Youth Culture. Is it because Youth have much to say? Are they not yet assimilated into the workings of the normative machine? Do they have the most time to spend in group formations? Does Capitalism give Youth Culture a specific space for its embodiments?

Youth cultures like many sociological enquires can be usefully described and analysed through the articulations of social divisions, such as class, gender, ethnicity, and sexuality, though, what is important in interpreting any culture is the various individuals that make up the group and how they navigate the subculture. How young people manages their lifestyle choices, symbolically, through interaction and as agents.

Subcultures or youth cultural groupings are momentary realignments and re-interpretations of the fragmented self through the power of social divisions. Ideologies form in response to the way that dominant cultures stratify people along existing discourses of social division. Creating further distinctions and articulations of cultural stances. People achieve group solidarity based on a set of criteria’s specific to their group. Symbols and meanings are worked over and rendered useful to group cohesiveness, this happens in direct relation to the contexts enabled and disabled by the dominant culture.

Marcel Duchamp presented a urinal entitled fountain and signed ‘R. Mutt 1917’, into the conceptual and physical space/world of Art in the Society of Independent Artist who were said to have proclaimed, we will exhibit any art submitted. Considering a functional object as a work of art combines that which belongs to the ‘ordinary’ with interpretations, or the conceptual. Hebdige has told us about subcultures such as Punks and Hodkinson (2002) told us about Goths, aligning themselves with certain fashions, styles and objects of affiliation, distorting original or/and creating new meaning, to construct a new stance, an incorporated, collected, ensemble of symbols. The Bricoler – see Hebdige or Derrida. Like Duchamp, subcultures take certain objects and render them symbolic. Meanings are constructed and the objects seem to gain value, usefulness, totemistic. In this process of object/self- rationalization, the physical (object/symbol) and conceptual (meaning) are combined and played out as taste, choice, desire, ideology or resistance.

Youthography

On Saturday I arrived to an open centre (a permanent staff member was picking up forgotten personal belongings) slightly concerned over how the doors were opened and why, but soon enough realized what was going on. Happy to see a good friend of mine whom recently gained employment with the service, I buzzed myself in and proceeded to show him the ropes, after a usual cheery reception. Many young people were gathering out front and waiting patiently for the centre to open – the first weekend of the end of year school holidays and many seemed vague or lost in their present selves. When asked ‘what’s going on? How are you guys? Any holiday plans? Etc. Most were reluctant to say more than a few simple one liners, the type of proscribed response so often heard but not really meant, such as – ‘nothin’ – or, ‘nope ‘- ‘don’t’ care’, ‘hanging about’ or, ‘not much aye’. Yet they were here and they did seem to have hopes on how their time would be spent. Or at least, if not hope, they have desires.

After setting the centre up for a day of drop in and providing quite detailed step-by-step instructions to the new recruit, we opened the doors and in came the waiting few. 3 young people went straight to the computers in the drop-in room and proceeded to get onto Facebook and Youtube – music and social media. It is very common that young people go straight online, straight to Facebook and check- in, so any friends online know they are at the centre. Internet access seems very important to many of the young people who enter the centre, mostly for use through Facebook and Youtube. I have observed many young people sharing favourite music videos, funny clips and gamer films that are hosted on Youtube and posted/playable on the Facebook interface. There are 2 computers in the Drop-In room and most young people visiting the centre want access to the Internet. At first thought one could imagine that this could become a massive problem in a youth centre – 2 computers and many young people all wanting a go at logging on, changing their Facebook status or playing aloud a favourite song via Youtube. One would think this is destined for trouble, arguments or the like, yet the unspoken system seems to work seamlessly; young people seem to self-regulate, making it is a rarity to see anyone not sharing the facilities or considering others that may be quietly waiting to get online.

Thursday the 22^nd December: the Christmas present making workshops started this week with wrapping paper printing and card making. Young people had access to a table packed with coloured cardboards, paper, a selection of Christmas images (not of the religious type, unless young people asked for such) along with scissors, glue, pens, pencils, glitter, stickers, stamps, paints and brushes. Myself and another artist/Youth worker demonstrated and helped the young people to create a card, present and wrapping paper for a friend or family member as a Christmas gift.

Tonight we continued the workshops and in the usual style of Thursday night a gig is hosted in the centre, two young bands played for a crowd of 70 young people. All the young people in the centre tonight were invited to share some pizzas with the staff to celebrate the holidays and the end of another year. There was a different crowd amongst the regulars this evening, many of the young people that I spoke with tonight had mentioned they had never been in the centre before; they came tonight for the first time to see one of the bands and support their friends. These young people were a pleasant, well dressed, well mannered and well groomed.

05/01/12

School holidays were very evident today, with at least 100 young people visiting the centre throughout the day, things felt very hectic, in a good way.

3pm the doors opened and many were waiting poised ready to charge through the door. With a few hellos I greeted the young people and proceeded to retrieve the frozen ice-lollies from the freezer and hand them out, it was a hot day. Most young people wanted one and many had favourite flavours and were not willing to try another. One young person who frequents the centre, while being asked if he would like an ice-lolly, projected his attitude through myself and across the room. With a slight smirk he answers my question, bellowing out his words and snatching for all the ice-lollies. He causes us (him and myself) to engage in a slight tug-of-war for a single moment before breaking free with a few assorted flavours. I proceed to ask him why he needs to be like this and if he can give a few of the lollies back to me to share out to the rest of the group. His voice is loud and he puffs his chest out, though I feel he is calm at heart I understand this as I pick out a playful motive through his body positioning, control, smirk and eye contact. Knowing this young person for sometime now and having a history of shared moments (like this one, but better) allows me to consider, what could have seemed at face value, purely an aggressive, contentious moment is actually a moment in which a young man finds himself a chance to ‘play’ with social interaction, construct his identity, practice manoeuvring in interactions and trying-on attitudes, ways of being, for size. Though his resistance is manageable within this young setting, the signals are not valued in accordance with the centres policies on expectations of use. Young people on one hand are generally encouraged to feel welcome in the centre with a sense of ownership and control, but, breaking loose of these motivations, taking ownership too far and being dominant, territorial or intimidating causes Youth Workers to re-engage with the young person and re-align their subjective social experiences and therefore powers.

Youth Workers can find themselves in a discretionary position allowing for what they consider to be the right strategy for the interaction or they can simply refer to the expectations of use and let the structure determine the outcome. Here the Youth Worker can re-position the interaction to distance the sort of ‘face’ value found in a Goffmanian performance, constructing a distance by the negotiation and implementation of an unquestionable discourse of social order.

(Re-) Producing the social order, through a negotiation of that order.

In the centre there are rules, young people need to manage the way they follow them in order to continue accessing the centre. These rules can be reduced to a thread of underlying motivations. These can be understood in one-way or another to include, support, access and well being in the most general sense and within the confines of the job itself. Essentially all young people 12-24 are welcome in the centre as long as they keep the peace. This includes the way they use the centre, treat each other and staff and what sort of centre they contribute to by the way they act inside it. In this case, for example, the playing of loud, rude or considered inappropriate (e.g. swearing) music is breaking the rules and not an excepted way of using the centre.

The Negotiated Order - Anselm Strauss defined as the social order in which individuals interact through constant negotiations playing and working patterns forming normativity. This next sentence came from a diary entry not too long ago whee I was describing the last day of the year and we all sort of knew it and mucked around. It is interesting because, in one sentence I write about the negotiation of the re-negotiated order.

Rules were broken, and then re-obeyed. Power was lost, or given up, and allowed to be played with, then, regrouped, directly and indirectly. The centre, the policies, the visual sign we can point at and say ‘look at the expectations of use’, it backs us up and pulls back the rank.

Whether young people mean an attitude or not is not too important, especially if you cannot truly tell to start with or you don’t believe it to be true. Essentially young people need to roll with life at the same time as trying it on for size, practicing the performance at the same time as making it real. Goffman, employing a dramaturgical method, refers to a ‘backstage’ preparation space for the ‘front stage’ of social interaction. Solidifying an understanding of the performance aspect of social interaction in connection with the need of a practice space, like that of an actor and a script. But where does one find access to this script? Who has the most access? Who finds it easiest to interpret, practice and perform?

Maybe the performance aspects are less distinct than the understanding through a dramaturgical lens establishes. Backstage and front stage merged into one big playing field. While you could find yourself, left with the hand you have been dealt. Or one could be an experienced player finding a sense of stability, a space within the structure of the game to move; interaction could become second nature, fluid or autonomous, or on the other hand seem contrived, forced and awkward. We all don’t interpret or act the performance the same, some people are less conscious, some take themselves in reflection and place there own limits on interaction, placing themselves in the centre of interpretations and feel not to comfortable reflexively. Emotions challenge and categorise positions in interactions. Managing ones emotions - self-management is essential in the reproduction of a sense of normativity.

  

Heaps of the interacting I have with young people involves them using comedy to show their acceptance, or happiness, sarcastic acts, read as deference. Sexual innuendos and play fighting, quick witty responses and playful accentuations make up language games. A verbal tug of war develops over the lips sending sounds out into the game of nonsense. Over time jokes are revisited, codes are deciphered and the nonsense evolves into a personalised tone of speak. Name calling, vicious, aggressive and violent phrasing, tones, and body language, set against a backdrop of history, conditioning and interpretation.

Youth stats

Some statistics that are collected by Youth Workers in the centre. Categorised by the way the young person engages with the service, for example, a young women will be counted as 1 if she enters the centre though she may be counted specifically as 1 in a group of many who are there for a structured program. The capacity of how and why young people use or visit the centre is important for many reasons, many to do with providing adequate response to need, and backing up claims for funding, though what these statistics also provide is an understanding of types of young people who the service does not cater for or engage with. Statistics are important if you wish to monitor and coordinate an inclusive service.

Space - Surveillance, Panopticon power

So the yellow bits indicate where the windows or glass walls are and what sort of view this creates from the rooms and office space. It clearly has a surveillance function, the position of the office is much like the position of the guard tower in Jeremy Bentham's Panopticon though not as deceptive in its power game but equally effective in keeping an eye on things.

I would think that the computer space, marked with a c on the map and indicated through two X's could be a spot where Young People could equally watch, for being watched, or keep a look out for approaching workers. As is the same with the space outside under the tree as shown on previous map blog.

Youth and space, the vantage point

Youth Culture

Young people belong to many strands, of cultural groupings; they align themselves with others in fragmented ways, and construct their own identity narrative. I do not see the punks on one side and the hip hoppers on the other, what I see daily are mergers, a fragmentation has occurred on many levels creating distinctions and nuanced accounts of the self in relation to ‘other’ and groups. In the centre, young people who could be at first impression (through articulations of their chosen clothing and attire) could be labelled as ‘sporty’ or ‘metallers’ or ‘shufflers’, ‘gamers’, ‘goth’ etc etc. Though empirically they are neither one nor the same. Hybridized Youth, they take with them what it is about various medias and subcultures, those that they find appealing, and align with themselves, for fashion reasons, sensibilities or political motivations, they find articulation of a sense of self through borrowing, aligning as bricolage - or a bio-chemical process considered as a elective affinity groups.

Recently while looking into Youth Cultures a journal article from Hodkinson (2005) became handy in thinking over ethnography in relation to Youth Cultural research. Hodkinson (p137) quotes Muggleton about authenticity, in research and Youth Culture in general. Those who merely ‘adopt’ an unconventional appearance without possessing the necessary ‘inner’ qualities are regarded . . . as ‘plastic’, ‘not real’ . . . a subcultural ‘Other’ against which the interviewees authenticate themselves. (Muggleton 2000, p. 90)
Hodkinson confirms the importance and relief expressed by some of the young Goth interviewee’s in his study. He states that it was important that members of the Goth subculture felt comfortable in talking with him, and that his insider status enabled a smooth transition of conversation and allowed him to channel appropriate topics of conversation, his own authentic history of involvement within the subculture allowed for exchanges of Goth gossip, antidotes and a two way exchange rather than a direct question and answer style of interviewing

Not too long ago the centre took on a student Youth Worker on their work placement, a requirement set by the college. On this students first shift a group of young men who frequent the centre were observing and making criticisms amongst themselves, how this student placement worker, dressed, their style, fashion, manner, and way the worker was interacting with the young people. Noticing this I approach the boys and asked how they were, what they were up to today and the like. It took less than a minute until one of the boys, (the leader if you will) asked me directly who the new guy was, why he was there and if he had started to work with us, implying a permanence to the position. My answers were brief as I explained he was on his placement and that they should say hello and make him feel welcome. In response the leader of the group referred to the new guy as ‘lame’, ‘dickey’ and ‘in need of some serious advice on his chosen look.’ Alliances were re-forged as the group continued to pick at the ‘try hard’ for his lack of authenticity and differences in direct comparison to myself (who has an established and long lasting rapport with the group). The attack lasted only for a few short sentences in which fun was made at the expense of the ‘new guy’. Another comment from one of the young people brought attention to the choice of style and clothing of the student/worker. ‘Who dresses like that nowadays’, ‘what, does he think we are in America, try hard’.
This interaction is quite insightful into the inner workings of the group. The process of value making or judgement is in direct comparison to themselves and the choices one has in producing their identity in terms of fashions and styles, and how displaying those choices such as through the way they dress. Shirts or shoes become signal of identity and as an essential clue about the essence of the person. Somewhat never truly as one coherent thing but an alignment of symbols and signs of culture, attributed to the politics of the person.
Other things can be said about this scenario such as the age-old trope ‘us and ‘them’ as ‘other’, the group is what it is not or the shock of the new, challenges the normative social climate. Things brought in, how are they valued and placed in the group, how is integration worked on? What becomes an obstacle for the group and what must they align themselves with in order to thoroughly integrate or risk feeling ill at ease with and resist each other. How does one find legitimization within a group? What is a subculture?

Young person Map 1

This Map was drawn up by a young person who visits the centre regularly, he agreed to help me with my project and offered an interpretation of the centre through this Mapping exercise. In contrast to my own Map there are many immediate differences worth outlining. To start with our maps differ in the way they were drawn up, it is more than obvious that my intent was to put as much information on the page as possible, it is my project and I hope to be thorough, in comparison the young person who as I said, agreed to help me out, though with some prompting, quickly put together his Map in his spare few moments when friends were busy doing something else, it was a laborious favour, he did want to help me out but he did not see the worth in doing it. I think this can be attained by looking at his Map, the attention to detail that I gave is apart of my Job as Researcher. Without dwelling on that too much it is also worthwhile pointing out a few other observations in comparing /contrasting the Maps. First, there are things left off my Map and the young persons Map that I did not intend or imagine to happen, such as, the Legal Graffiti Wall and or the Music Room. It really bugs me that I forgot about one of the most important spaces outside of the centre, the Legal Wall, I spend so much time, discussing, observing and photographing the Graffiti on the Legal Wall - I can't believe I forgot to add it to my Map. On the other hand, the young person's Map is missing the Music Room spaces, this I can understand, as I have never seen him use this space, and in direct comparison, the spaces he does use quite frequently (Legal Wall, Skate area and Drop-In Room) are both articulated and labelled the same as on my Map. For instance, the young person spends a lot of his time between the area outside of the front door near to the Basket Ball Hoop (the scribbled patch on the Map is sign of a Tree, they perch themselves on the wall under the tree) and through to the rear of the centre in the Drop -In Room. He and his friends populate this area most days and smoke cigarettes outside under the tree, hence it being an important area for them. What is interesting is how he has drawn the space between the tree and the Drop-In Room - much like my Map he has depicted the Hallway as an important thoroughfare, and he has indicated that the roof of the building hangs over the front wall of the entrance, he has not indicated doors, doorways, windows or anything like furniture. This shelter, at the front entrance is significant as it is one of the only places young people can smoke when it is raining, it is also the site of many interactions with staff and other young people, it is one of the constantly staffed areas when the centre is open, especially in the afternoons and it is the one place where young people can both see into the centre and outside to the larger community. Many young visitors are seen to move passed the front doors in a sweeping manner as to catch a glimpse of what's going on inside and who is there, before spinning around and entering the building or not.

Map 1

Add caption

This is a map of the centre where I work, the Key on the right may help with understanding the shape and function/flow of the building, I hope it is not to tedious. This was drawn up at home away from the space where I was trying to imagine it as best as I could. I specifically chose not to use floor plan/maps that were readily available from my work place (in the form of an evacuation signage, found in most government buildings) and not to be on site while drawing it up, simply as an exercise, to explore conceptualizing, arranging and the displaying of symbols, those that make up a text. Following this map, I will publish a map drawn up by one of the young people who uses the centre quite regularly. Both maps may also be used to add depth to future articulations where necessary. For example, the maps could be used to acknowledge the flow of traffic within the centre (simply with a few directive arrows and a red pen), making quite a helpful conceptual extension of any literary description and forming a suitable ground for further sociological explanations.

Pro-activity- Thought and Management

The role that the centre, through other youth workers and myself, plays, in relation to the way a young person interacts with the space and its inhabitants is crucially built upon and re-build with every visit. Without sounding to general or definitive I stress the fact that even the most confident, comfortable and seasoned of visitors seem to accesses the centre with an element of caution. Maybe because of staffing changes and past moments of ‘fill in’ workers or a casual pool that stretches so far to allow once a month shifts for staff that young people finding troubling, this lack consistency in staffing acknowledging yet another instability in their lives. Or maybe it is the way the space is laid out. It does share similar qualities to that which Jeremy Bentham considers as Panopticon, (this I will come back to) visually and for a functional purpose. These topics connect with the very heart of Youth Workers (specifically the team I work with) motivations. Such considerations drive the functionality of the centre, they appear within the ‘mission statements’ and find articulation through Youth Workers, the team as a unit and it solidifies within the actions of regular visitors. They could also be regarded as part of the social structure, the accepted terms or user agreements; they essentially provide a solid backbone to the way people use the space and how the space is managed. Take for example the position of the office and the staff within the space. As a young person enters the front doors, actually even before the young person enters the doors, three of the four, desk spaces that the youth workers find themselves stationed at, have views out the front door and into the forecourt where the young persons enter from. A good youth worker makes sure to greet young people as they enter whenever possible. Having this sort of practice is one thing but having an office space, building and its furniture, set out with this in mind is another more pro-active way of considering and managing a space for its use. Space is a factor that enables some and disables others. Take for example the way the spaces in an airport are controlled, managed and purpose built, or a courtroom, a line at the post office or a youth centre. People seem to need to be managed in these scenarios for one reason or another and based on those reasons a ‘code’ is written, whether officially in a ‘code of conduct’ or historically and less officially as implied like that of cueing for a bus at the bus stop. Some of these codes we choose to live by, others seem like they just are the way they are, for good or bad reason, to conform or be subject to conformity can be shaped by the spaces we move and how we need to move within them.

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Recently a conversation has been floating around the office that goes something like this: it is hard to comprehend that only nine months ago a few of the young people that frequent the centre were unapproachable, they reacted badly to assistance or concern, they provoked an authority in staff and had no care for the centre (in which they received most of their support) no sense of ownership (which is a big Youth Work issue) and a general lack of care for themselves. Retrospectively, this conversation acts as a form of positive reinforcement, simply because, at present these few young people concerned have fostered a massive shift in attitude to the centre, to themselves and to the staff.

The conversation brings up a positive outcome ascertained through pro-active Youth Work based around a few key movements. Active involvement, engagement, and support, show genuine interest in the young persons well being and considering creatively how best to address the past, present and future issues that are coming to the surface. The notions brought up in this conversation refer to staff and practices of staff, in so far as the approaches undertaking by Youth Workers in dealing with young people and their actions within the centre. They are to be acknowledged as Cause and Effect of positive change, in reflection of staff, team, and client, social dynamics. In past times there have been Youth workers that engage with young people more negatively than positively. It is not the purpose of these writings to go in to such a thing but for the context of this reflection, it is in direct opposition to this negativity that change has occurred in the centre and made for a safe, honest and trusting environment that fosters rapport. Reflecting upon the positive atmosphere and change, staff contributing to this conversation agree, it is in our approach to working with young people that change was fostered and initiated. It is directly related to being on the floor, available for interaction and honest in your approach – for one thing is certain, young people sense authenticity and more so those that lack authenticity. Worker’s, who sit in the office and disengage themselves from possible interactions, alienate themselves from clients. And those who only interact by ‘laying down the law’ struggle to gain respect.

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Ethnography is a form of learning through engaging with culture, getting to the essence of what constructs a certain grouping, what makes them ‘tick’ or put another way, what conditions and alignments are valued and re-produced. Using my place of employment and the client base that frequent the centre as my focus, I need to be critical in my approach as to let go of what I think I know about the space and its inhabitant. Easy errors in researching ‘what you think you know’ can emerge simply because of the lack of distance between yourself and the research subjects. Rather than falling back on ‘what I think I know’, a few directional and motivational questions surround my thoughts. Questions such as, what holds this situation together? How are they reproduced, valued or categorised? How is social mobility recognized, altered or enabled through change? What is happening? (Zeitgeist) How was it dealt with? What things, materials or social actions were drawn upon in order to deal with this moment?

Distancing yourself from subjects for the purpose of research may reveal quite different nuanced account of events that may not have been so easily recognisable, valued or seen to be of any significance. On the other hand, having an insiders edge, may contribute to the unveiling of otherwise unavailable knowledge productions, accounts that are so specifically refined to a group that it requires the positioning of an insider and their perspective to voice and deconstruct the interpretation.

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During my undergrad years I witnessed many younger students struggle with sociological theory, the words can at times be hard, the concepts strenuous and applying it to ‘real’ life is at times more difficult than it should be. Being a mature age student in my years of university meant that I could reflect of my years in the world, my working life and social experiences helped to make ‘real’ what sociologist had to offer me. I do not mean to say that I understand all sociology has to offer just because I have lived a little longer than some other students, for some peers of my age choose not to think about anything, especially sociologically speaking. Though my direction as a person, as a man, as a youth worker, as a historical, present and evolutionary process, as somebody who generally cares about the workings of the world, the structures that shape and guide our actions and essentially divide us in terms of, access to power, social validation and finding a sense of worth, then and here, sociology theory and practice has helped me to develop and understand the world as if enabled to manage and change it from within.

Youth Worker Ethnography

Saturday 12 - 4

Band practice day for one group who were waiting at the door for the centre to open- these guys are uni age, just finished school and they have a nice manner about them; a good demeanour. They bring all their own gear for their practice and get on with it slightly more systematically than other younger bands or performers that come to the centre. These guys have just started to play some gigs outside of the area and in the city; they show a mature sophistication in their approach and dedication to their music practice. I am not charging this young group for their practice session because of the interest and maturity that they show, this is the one way I can show my appreciation for their efforts. I also have been trying to support this band with gaining more performance time and encouraging them to play to as many crowds as possible. 

One of the main tasks I have taken on lately within the centre has been to manage and promote the weekly performance night with young bands and performers. This night usually consists of 2 youth bands performing between 6pm and 730pm; bands are welcome to invite any family or friends of any age. The night has been developed with specific intent on supporting young musicians and performers alike by supplying a regular space and professional equipment, including a sound technician, at no cost.

I have recently begun thinking about how I might contribute to the culture found in the centre at its various stages and what effect this could have. As a researcher you find yourself considering the how’s and why’s of your own position against or in reference to the subject and how this shapes the interpretations you then take up and offer. As youth worker the position is guided by a set of terms such as, ‘professional boundaries’, ‘duty of care’, ‘mandatory reporting’ and ‘ethics’ and then it filters down into your own judgements, discretion and common practices. Trying to distance myself, as researcher at the same time as being Youth Worker is a task not for the faint hearted or easily swayed. I find youth subjects of immense interest; though at times (while being youth worker/researcher) I have to shut down, police, and intervene – staff, in the name of a harmonious centre, policing this room-to-move young people find, to some degree. Anyway to be clear, I observe (as researcher) and intervene, as my job requires me to do. This conflict of interest I face at the moment cannot be whinged about too much, for how many out there get to work in an environment they enjoy, with subjects of academic interest and get support from other members of staff to pursuit interests and get paid for the effort. My point here is, there can be difficulties found, felt and possibly overcome when working in the place of research. An insider status can be valuable on one hand and burdensome on the other.

So my role as Youth Worker enables an insider status to some degree – but this must be understood in relation to the job and the young people. For as much as I can say I have more trust and rapport with these young people than some parents, peers and authorities of any description, I am still at a distance from what the ‘essence’ of group solidarity implies. Simply by the position I hold and the job I must do. Yet I contribute to the way in which the group can respond to the centre, their culture and the wider world. In this respect Youth Workers can gain a lot from the practice of ethnography and the chronicle of theory driven investigations that has developed through the discipline of sociology. With the application or consideration of theory and the working of an alignment towards practice, a Youth Worker can activity seek out information to help manage the client, they will find key informants, aligning themselves with the group in a way similar to an ethnographer as to try and gain ‘insider’ knowledge, to better manage and interpret the group. Essentially, having a genuine care or interest in the group poses a political perspective that seeks to reveal the very appreciation one has for a subject, similarly the ethnographer must have some questions, concepts or interest worth pondering over in order to get on with the research. And in both cases (ethnographer and youth worker) having a body of knowledge, interpretations and sets of guidelines to work with, establishes a worthwhile and valuable social trajectory. Something I recently read sums this point up perfectly, it is from Clifford Geertz 1973 publication, The Interpretation of Cultures, it specifically considers the theoretical positioning of an anthropologist while articulating the disciplinary mechanics involved in knowledge making, and the importance of the interpreter and what is interpreted, in the various processes of (re-) interpretation.

Studies do build on other studies, not in the sense that they take up where the others leave off, but in the sense that better informed and better conceptualized; they plunge more deeply into the same things. Every serious cultural analysis starts from a sheer beginning and ends where it manages to get before exhausting its intellectual impulse. Previously discovered facts are mobilized, previously developed concepts used, previously formulated hypotheses tried out; but the movement is not from already proven theorems to newly proven ones, it is from an awkward fumbling for the most elementary understanding to a supported claim that one has achieved that and surpassed it. A study is an advance if it is more incisive-whatever that may mean-than those that preceded it; but it less stands on their shoulders than, challenged and challenging, runs by their side. (P.12)

The thing I enjoy most about this paragraph is the open-endedness or that air of freedom to explore it expresses. With control, by the dynamics of appropriation, insight and comparisons, a trajectory is set, theoretical frameworks are to be refer to, built on and surpassed, with some awkward fumbling, a discovery meets supported claim.

somewhere

The place I work is a Youth Service for young people 12-24yrs old, it is funded by the state government and belongs to a division of local government that also looks after other community services including, child care, adult care, disability services, town and regional libraries, local amenities, club houses and community/public arts.

The venue in which the Youth service runs from is located in the centre of town and is accessible by all local transport. It is open Tuesday to Friday after school hours and during the day on Saturday. The building is approx 30m by 40m and consists of 2 study/meeting rooms joining a thoroughfare that links the impressive Auditorium to the Drop -In space and Art room, Music room, and Kitchen. The building also hosts a large (the same space the building takes up) forecourt and has external garage access and side security exit doors and pathways. The centre has existed for 15 yrs and was previously an art gallery.

A brief description of some of the spaces within the space will follow but first I must be clear I do not intend to analyse the space in its totality and how it relates to the body, though it may come up, nor do I want to describe the space in its total meaningfulness and give it complexity, though that also may come to the surface. I choose precisely to compile these ramblings, thoughts and intelligent observations as fragments of a greater ensemble. Some fragments will endorse a youth worker's diary type prose and other posts hope to inflate discussion and add thought to interconnected Youth Sociologies, ethnographies, fieldwork and alignments between social work contexts and practices and sociological theory and the practice of writing about culture.

Spaces in the space:

Forecourt - this space is a paved area located at the front of the building. It is surrounded by a curving wall and has access to the street, the park adjacent to the building and the building. From the street directly in front of the centre a set of 12 stairs allows access down into the paved forecourt. 2 skateboard ramps and a purpose built skateboarding fun box are fixed toward the front of the paved forecourt, near to the stairs. In the middle of the forecourt a basketball ring and backboard hangs facing northeast. Directly in front of the stairs across the forecourt, past the basketball ring is the automatic double glass doors that give public access to the centre and are controlled from a switch in the office.

Drop –In Space - has an age restriction 12-18yrs in this room there is table games, 1 table tennis, 1 air hockey, 1 pool table, table soccer, 2 computers with Internet connection, 1 wall mounted and encased flat screen TV and Nintendo Wii console. Also in this room is a large dinning room table some scattered seats and 2 and 3 seater lounge suites. This space is also used as an exhibiting space for young peoples artwork. This space has access to the kitchen, art room, music room, and cleaner’s room and office space.

Auditorium - the right wing of the building this space has a capacity for approx 200 people. There is a stage and a backstage area with access to one of the office/meeting rooms and to the rear of the space there is a bar area used for functions. Generally lighting and sound desks occupy this space, (equipment for performances requiring amplification and lighting) at the back of the room there is access to the garage and kitchen space. The room is equipped with a high quality sound system and amplification accessories, microphones, leads, etc. and stage lighting. The stage stands one metre high and is approx 5m wide and 3m deep, to the left of the stage a platform connects the security access double doors and floor space (2 steps down or sweeping down the ramp toward the back of the space) with the stage area and backstage/green room space.

Art room – fits approx 40 people along the tables and benches used to make art on. A storage room overflowing with paints, brushes and kits made up of art materials for young people to use sits on the northern end of the long room behind a lockable door. There is a sink and taps to the left of the storage space and cupboards line the eastern wall from the storage room down to the southern end of the room where young people store drying art works and works in progress. The art room is used very regularly by young people in structured programs and for unstructured or drop –in activities. Particularly good use of this space comes specifically from the Youth Artist in Residence program. Yearly a few young people are given the chance to develop and hone their artistic skills by being given special access to the art space and it’s materials plus $1000 to spend on their art making in anyway they choose. This successful program connects the artists with other community arts programs in and outside the centre and allows for a peer-mentoring roll to develop if the artist wishes to collaborate with other young people. Most structured art programs and drop – in art activities involve the Artist in Residence at their will. There is much to say about these programs and initiatives, the role they play, who and what benefits, why it seems successful and who gets to make the decisions, etc. I hope to get back to them in future.

Music room - is a soundproof practice room fully equipped with a drum kit and 2 guitar and 1 bass amplifiers and a vocal PA for young bands to practice with. This room is approx 4m². On entry to the music room a storage space holds games, balls and sports equipment along with an impressive variety of musical instruments (e.g. guitars, drums, turn tables, keyboard and percussion instruments) and music spare parts. (e.g. drum skins, guitar strings, guitar pedals and electrical cords)

The centre has 1 coordinator and 1 administration support worker, along with a team of 2 full time Youth Development Workers, 1 Links to Learning Coordinator and 1 full time tutor and a team of 8 casual Youth Workers. Some of the casual workers also fill temporary or contracted positions in the centre and in other external venues the service supports. The centre is always staffed with at least 2 Youth Workers when open for young people.

Through the front doors and into the centre you first notice the glassed in office space. A few lounges sit in the lobby area along with a table of service paraphernalia, info on the wall, fact sheets, and health and lifestyle resources. There is also a coke machine, a water bubbler and a pay telephone in the lobby area and access to 2 meeting rooms (one to the left and one to the right) the main office door. The path extends through the middle of the building, as it leads around there are 2 access doors to the Auditorium (right) and three notice boards (left), another couch/lounge sits along one corner, and access to the Disabled, Young men’s and Young Women’s restroom/toilets. At the end of the hallway is another access point with double safety exit doors leading into the Drop- In space.

The centre is air-conditioned and the only natural light that shines inside is from the front doors or the skylight just inside the front doors, all the lighting is fluorescent/safety lighting. The building has back external exit doors that have restricted access causing the central hall/pathway to have a central bidirectional flow in and out through the front doors. Young people are not given access through any other doors unless supervised.

Doors opened at 3pm and a few young people wondered in and went about the usual way, on to the computers to check-in to facebook, some played games and others got a can of drink from the machine and waited for others to arrive while having a smoke. Smoking is very popular amongst youth that frequent the centre; many young people support each other’s habits and share their cigarettes when they have some and visa-versa.

Yesterday a few refined a can machine scam. Somehow (the way the coins are put in and buttons are held/pushed in relation to the coins dropping) the group manages to get 2 or even 3 cans of drink out of the coke machine for the cost of one. Shouting and chanting how awesome they were they carry away the cans and basking in their glory. And returning a.s.a.p to try again and share out the takings. This technique becomes a resource, one that takes on a similar motivation as paid labour and lives out as cultural capital, the few who own the scam are ensured to get a free can, simply by practicing the trick for other young people (using the ‘others’ money) and not sharing the specifics to how the trick works with ‘others’. The drink is important, essentially they want one, the trick gives value for money but also becomes a tool to utilize when finances are low, and importantly it becomes another way the group can distinguish themselves from the rest (by keeping their secret) and find a sense of fluidity and agency in their world.

The young people with the coke machine trick are regular users of the centre. Most days when the doors are open they can be found either waiting to come in, to jump online, log in to facebook or not too far away, up in the local shopping area or park adjacent to the centre. These guys do not seem to have much in the way of material possessions or access to much money. The group consists of both boys and girls from differing areas of the surrounding suburbs. At a first glance they seem like a very eclectic, even odd, group. The one thing about them that I have learnt is that they all challenge authority and have little to no respect for Police or any form of ‘justice’ worker, such as prison officers, court officials and juvenile justice or youth offender social workers. These guys hang around the streets most days and sit in the local shopping mall; they are loud, highly visual and young, making them an easy target of aggressive ‘move on’ strategies that condemn loitering. Added to this my observations of this group as distant from the rest of the community, a distance perpetuated into a ‘way of being’. Having been told time and time again to leave the shopping mall outside seating or being forced to manage their selves better, integrate, assimilate, and control their emotions – in a world that gives them little nourishment, support or acceptance.

I find myself at times at odds with my work, especially in a ‘who the cap fits’ mentality of service providing. I believe that all young people are conditioned, hardened and referential to their place in the world, and how that place has been managed in reference to the system as a whole and the micro-workings of the world in which they find themselves. The ones around them essentially fuck up all young people: there is no such thing as the right way, the natural or the lucky. We are all products of our social environments, though we can intervene, those who intervene and interpret our social conditions help us in the construction and comprehension of it’s shape. Because I have this view, all young people become not only a reflection of histories, both personal and shared, the context of their situation and the alignment of their needs with the equation of society as a whole, but a depiction of the mechanics of social order, and how it is produced and reproduced.

Youth worker – Ethnographer – observer, facilitator, interpreter, support worker, advocate, activist. Proactive Youth Work theoretically and in practice conceptually interconnects with the discipline and practices of ethnography. Assessing, connecting, voicing and observing to guide a subject, a thought, or a ‘serious’ whim – one of flexibility in interpretation yet backbone in support and structure. Encouraging automaticity, agency and detailed accounts of the discovered next to the yet to discover.

This project is an explorative effort fostering a link between Youth Work and Ethnography, thought and practice, agency and structure, sociological theory and action.