Or is it? We discussed the concept of subcultures and countercultures this week. Subcultures being those that are defined as those groups that set themselves apart from mainstream society due to their age, ethnicity, class, location or gender (thanks, Wikipedia). They may wear clothes to set themselves apart from the mainstream crowd, which sometimes backfires when their type of clothing becomes popular and everybody is wearing it. If you look to your left and right in the classroom, you will see subcultures all over the place. If you're on a sports team, that's a subculture. If you're part of a particular ethnic group, that's a subculture. You all are young, and I am old, which causes us to dress differently, especially as I would look totally ridiculous in Hollister clothing. My 87 year old grandma would look EXTRA ridiculous wearing a pair of Aeropostale sweatpants. We are part of different subcultures. If you look at COUNTERcultures, they reject the social norms and values of mainstream society that your garden variety subcultures ascribe to. Think hippies: they rejected the norms of 1950s post-war America and created their own society within America's borders that embraced sex, drugs, and rock and roll....all things that were seen as destructive to our country. Now fast forward to the freegans we talked about in class. What kind of culture are they....sub or counter?
They definately reject the mainstream American values of consumerism and consumption, however when they are dumpster diving for their groceries, or looking on the curb for a new couch or a great new pair of pants, they are looking for things that are part of mainstream America. Think back to the woman we saw in the video clip. She followed a freegan lifestyle, yet took her money that she saved and went traveling around the world. I love to save money as much as the next person, but I just can't bring myself to camp outside of an Einstein's Bagels to grab my breakfast. Thoughts?
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