Alternative culture is a catch-all phrase used predominately by the media and, to a lesser extent, the marketing industry to refer to a variety of separate sub-cultures – (which are either loosely related or near-totally unrelated) – and are perceived by the general public as being outside or on the fringes of so-called accepted mainstream culture. There is a popular yet mistaken belief that the term refers to a singular "alternative culture". Yet whilst the inappropriate use of the term by the media has made this concept common, the actual differences between the various sub-cultures are such that many of them are incompatible with each other or show no logical connection which would give credibility to the idea that there is a single alternative culture.
A true definition of alternative culture is thus debatable and often a sub-culture is mistaken for being an alternative one when it may not truly be such. The criterea used in defining a sub-culture as being an alternative one vary greatly. For these reasons, this article should be seen to be about established media views and what truths went into them and how these views, the assimilation of the mentioned sub-cultures into the mainstream and the commercialisation of them effected those involved in each sub-culture.
The popular concept of an alternative culture
Although a more modern notion of "alternative culture" only came about in the early 1990s - the phrase was often used as a synonym for Generation X, itself a misappropriated term - youth culture, "counter culture" and various aspects of underground culture are rooted in the creation of the teenage marketing demographic in the 1950s. This, in conjunction with the emergence of the teddy boy and the release of the American film Rebel Without A Cause (1955), saw adolescents in North America and Western Europe collectively express a form of rebellion against the values of their parents and the state authorities. The reasons for this rejection of "normal" social codes and attitudes were usually personal, but at the same time, easier to define when asserted as part of a group.
It was also the start of a large bias in the media, since the concept has usually referred to the lifestyles and activities of caucasian males in occidental countries, usually just the United States and the United Kingdom. The high-profile exceptions to this have been hip-hop culture and the riot grrrl movement. Although it is also worth noting that while the recreational use of time by both non-caucasians and females has been reported upon, it usually was - and sometimes still is – done with disdain.
The development and social dynamics of an "alternative culture"
Sub-cultures which could be seen as "alternative", seem, despite all their differences, to all have similar reasons for their creation, similar stories regarding their development and even several common values.
A sub-culture is usually formed by young working class people in a small region or a single city, in response to a generally felt lack of proper fulfillment by the options available to that particular social group. This is in reference to a wide range of things, from acceptable codes of public behaviour to the likelihood of decent long-term employment. The result being a rapid evolution of an externally displayed attitude and an accompanying visual style (regarding art, dress, et cetera) and soundtrack. The factors that necessitate the creation of a sub-culture, often forge the elements that make it unique and give it some form of cultural legacy when looked upon in retrospect. For example, the hippy movement of the 1960s is remembered, although not exclusively for, its championing of the concept of "free love", which was a fairly successful attempt to break away from the perceived social rigidity of the previous two decades. Hip-hop culture allowed poor Afro-Americans to express themselves creatively when they had minimal access to musical instruments and very little chance of having their work displayed in art galleries. It meant that the turntable, normally only used to play music produced by others, was used as an "instrument" in its own right and that public areas became substitute canvasses for a style of art known as wild style.
During the point that all these sub-cultures enjoyed their "peak", they were simultaneously the subject of much negative "reporting" by the media. This was often due to objections to the sub-cultures’ disregard for the legality of their activities, the physical appearance of their members, their anti-establishment and/or anti-consumerist values and their frequent indulgences in sex and drug use. (Not all these points apply to all sub-cultures, the best example being the fact that members of the "straight-edge" hardcore punk scene were completely teetotal). However, it is this publicity which often drew more young people into each sub-culture, usually, but not always because, they were attracted by its apparent dissident nature.
There is often a period that is considered to be ‘pure’ in terms of what defined each sub-culture in various ways. This is the point between the complete development of its unique characteristics - where it has a philosophy, a style of dress, a new genre of music to call its own, et cetera - and the point where publicity has caused a large influx of new members into the community and various business interests have begun to co-opt its unique aspects. Grunge culture – (although according to its original members, it wasn’t a culture as such, but rather a fan base for alternative rock) - is a particularly interesting case, as its conception was to some extent deliberately self-conscious of the factors that could skew its original intents. Grunge was a regional off-shoot of DIY culture, which focused more on its members being cynical "slackers" – an outlook publicly exemplified best by the band Dinosaur Jr - and, as the popular phrase was at the time, over-educated and under-paid. (A phrase which was, incidentally, lifted from Douglas Coupland’s novel Generation X: Tales For An Accelerated Culture (1991)). Although these were all myths that originated from the media, of which participants in the grunge scene treated with some suspicion. Still, in the wake of the massive success of the album Nevermind (also 1991) by Nirvana, the media and the marketing industry popularised and mass-marketed "grunge" clothes, music and such. Although, to those "in the know", it was possible to determine how "genuine" anything on sale was. However, the nature of the culture meant it resisted glamorisation and it was soon abandoned by the media, leaving the entire culture to wither away as a result.
The current state of "alternative culture"
"Alternative culture", in the sense that it is featured here, has stalled somewhat since the mid 1990s. The major factors behind this can be largely attributed to the prevalence of homogenised "top-down" culture, which is where young people tend to have taken to consumerism as a source of identity and recreational facilities. This runs counter to alternative cultures' tradition of innovation, geographical diversity and communal self-sufficiency. It has been suggested that this is due to members of Generation Y - (people born roughly between the mid 1980s and late 1990s) - having grown up with different values than those before them. Rather than a sub-culture being perceived as something that could be contributed to, it has become accepted by people of this generation that being part of an "alternative culture" is something which requires little beyond personal styling. On the other hand, people of this generation have, in some ways, broader tastes than their elders and thus they incorporate various elements that they like from a range of sub-cultures, whilst never claiming to be a member of any, or if they do, then without the occassional narrow-minded preferences of their original members.
Conclusion
From the above article it would appear that the concept of an alternative culture was nothing more than a collection of cliches that were propagated by the media until they became accepted as the truth. In part this cannot be denied, but it is import to remember that all of those cliches were at least based in some truth. Regardless of whether or not alternative culture is truly "alternative", the sub-cultures that have existed and could be called "alternative" were often created as a response to perceived negative qualities in society. However, all to often, what is associated with each sub-culture are products rather than "culture"; for example, hippies stated a belief in the shedding of material possessions, but the Volkswagen 'Type 2' van is inseparably associated with them.
Notes
- ^ New York City in the United States and Manchester in England are both notable for being the home of several sub-cultures during the second half of the twentieth century. Both are also the two major cities outside the capitals of their respective countries, with areas that were greatly impoverished.
- ^ In other respects grunge was not self-conscious at all. An example being that its style of dress came about through the practical needs and financial considerations of its members, rather than any desire to distinguish themselves.
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