Cover: American Subcultures, 2nd Edition by Eric Rawson
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American Subcultures

A Bedford Spotlight ReaderSecond Edition ©2023 Eric Rawson

American Subcultures explores questions about how marginalized communities affect our shared experience: What is life like in a marginalized group? How do subcultures define themselves? By what means does a subculture challenge authority? How do subcultures reproduce the values of mainst...

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ISBN:9781319485665

ISBN:9781319214708

ISBN:9781319527297

Cover: American Subcultures, 2nd Edition by Eric Rawson

A brief and versatile reader about American subcultures at an affordable price

American Subcultures explores questions about how marginalized communities affect our shared experience: What is life like in a marginalized group? How do subcultures define themselves? By what means does a subculture challenge authority? How do subcultures reproduce the values of mainstream culture? And in a timely new chapter—what happens when subcultures form online? Readings by psychologists, journalists, philosophers, sociologists, activists, and others take up these issues and more.

Each Bedford Spotlight Reader offers thoughtfully chosen selections sufficient for an entire writing course at an affordable price. Instructor support at macmillanlearning.com includes sample syllabi and additional teaching resources.

Features

Bedford care and quality in every volume. Each volume in the Bedford Spotlight Series is developed with attention to design, pedagogy, and compelling readings that work in the classroom.


Affordable, and an ideal package option. Combine a Spotlight Reader with a Bedford/St. Martins rhetoric or handbook for a discount.


Multiple perspectives on the role of subcultures in American life. In order to foster student engagement, five chapters, built around central questions on the subject of cultural identities and marginalized groups, offer numerous entry points for inquiry and discussion. A mix of genres as well as accessible and challenging selections allows instructors to tailor their approach to each classroom.


Thoughtful support for writers and instructors. A general introduction, chapter introductions, and headnotes provide context, and prompts and assignments offer suggestions for discussion, informal writing, research; ways to connect selections; and assignments for writing. Alternative tables of contents suggest further ways to teach and make connections among selections. More support for teaching, including sample syllabi and suggestions for books and media to supplement the reading selections, is offered on macmillanlearning.com.

New to This Edition

A new chapter on online subcultures explores what happens when subcultures form virtually—from positive connections to the darker side of the web.


Thirteen new selections cover a diverse array of subcultures and related topics, including roller derby, the import car scene, influencer houses, and gospel rap.

 

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Table of Contents

Chapter 1:  What Is Life Like on the Margins?
Arlene Stein, The Stranger Next Door
Joe Donnelly, The Ghosts of Dogtown
Nina Strochlic, American Gypsies Are a Persecuted Minority That Is Starting to Fight Back
Immy Humes, A Life Apart: A Brief Introduction to Hasidism
Richard Stevick, Growing Up Amish: Building an Amish Identity
Tristan Ahtone, Native American Gangs
Steve Neumann, Welcome to Birdpunk: A Subculture of a Subculture


Chapter 2:  How Do Subcultures Define Themselves?
Sinclair Bolden, The Real Real
Anatole Broyard, A Portrait of the Hipster
Linda Stasi and Elisa Melendez, Cosplay: Two Views
Case, Sue-Ellen, Making Butch: An Historical Memoir of the 1970s
Edward Dolnick, Deafness as Culture
Avery Alexander, Black Nerds Are Necessary to Fandom Culture
Hunter S. Thompson, Hells Angels
William Finnegan, The Unwanted
Brittany Julious, The State of Black Subcultures in 21st Century America


Chapter 3:  How Do Subcultures Challenge Authority?
Bruce Levine, Why Anti-Authoritarians Are Diagnosed as Mentally Ill
Alex Forman, San Francisco Style:  The Diggers and the Love Revolution
Catherine Ramirez, Saying “Nothin’”: Pachucas and the Languages of Resistance
Kristen Schilt, The Appropriation and Packaging of Riot Grrrl Politics
Ariel Climer, Riding to Resist:  L.A. Bicyclists Brave Death to Empower Communities
Dana Goodyear, Raw Deal
George Gurley, Pleasures of the Fur


Chapter 4:  What Values Do Subcultures Share with Mainstream America?
James Dowd and Laura Dowd, The Center Holds
Leslie Heywood, Building Otherwise: Bodybuilding as Immersive Practice
Gabrielle Puglisi, Roller Derby for Everybody: A History and Culture of Inclusivity
Soo Ah Kwon, Autoexoticizing: Asian American Youth and the Import Car Scene
Kim Murphy, The American Redoubt:  Where Survivalists Plan to Survive
Glenden Brown, Femininity and Toughness: What Rodeo Queens Tell Us about America
Mark Stryker, A Street Art Culture Clash as Graffiti Goes Mainstream
Patton Oswalt, Wake Up, Geek Culture.  Time to Die
Dylan Clark, The Death and Life of Punk, The Last Subculture


Chapter 5:  What Happens When Subcultures Form Online?
Ross Haenfler, Virtual Deviance
Brett Scott, The Hacker Hacked
Rebecca Jennings, E-girls and E-boys, Explained
Sabrina Qiao, Sad & Sexualized: The Renaissance of the ABG
Erika Gault, Why Are All the Gospel Rappers Online?
Zack Beauchamp, Our Incel Problem
Barrett Swanson, The Anxiety of Influencers
Kaitlyn Tiffany, My Little Pony Fans Are Ready to Admit They Have a Nazi Problem

 

Headshot of Eric Rawson

Eric Rawson

Eric Rawson teaches writing at the University of Virginia, after a long career at the University of Southern California. In addition to his work in rhetoric, he has published widely in the fields of sound studies, modern poetry, and crime fiction. He holds an M.F.A. from the Iowa Writers’ Workshop and a Ph.D. from USC.