COURSE STRUCTURE
Module 3 Topic A: Discussion Questions
Following the lecture, and having read the assigned readings and watch relevant video clips, you are expected to prepare answers for TWO (those questions in green) of the following discussion questions. Your prepared answers will form the basis of your verbal contributions within discussion sections
These answers should:
1. Be a minimum of 150 words for each answer (not including the question or reference list).
2. Be typed and double-spaced.
3. Have the complete question immediately prior to the answer.
4. Cite appropriately any sources used in your answer (use appropriate Style and Format Guidelines).
5. Include a complete reference list (use appropriate Style and Format Guidelines).
6. Hand in a hard copy of answers during discussion section
The aim of these answers is to get you to engage and extend the information covered within each theme, in order to generate a better understanding of core concepts, knowledge, and issues.
These questions are intended as preparation for both the discussion section and exam related to this topic.
PLEASE NOTE: Within the multiple choice section of the module exam, you can expect to be asked questions on the information related to any of these questions.
However, the ONE thematic essay question for the module exam will be selected from those questions in green.
Following the review session for this module the selected question will be designated in red. This will be one of the questions that may be randomly selected as part of the "Written Thematic Question" section of the module exam.
Theme 1: What is a Subculture?
1. In what way can a subculture be considered a social grouping or collective? Are there any specific spatial dimensions to subcultures? Differently put, do subcultural groupings existent and operate within well defined spaces? Has this changed with the emergence of new media technologies, and new types of social interaction/affiliation, over the last two decades?
2. What type of things can subcultural groupings become formed around? Can you think of any subcultural groupings (sporting or otherwise) which you are a member of? How are the boundaries of subcultural groupings formed, around the expression of and commitment to which factors?
3. Discuss the differences between spectating and participatory based sport subcultures. In terms of the latter, would you consider roller derby or gay ruby subcultures to be counter, resistant, deviant, or incorporated subcultures?
Theme 2: Alternative/”Lifestyle” Sporting Subcultures
1. What is alternative about alternative sporting subcultures? To what are they responding? How does sport function as a disciplinary institution that shapes individuals, and their bodies, within and through sporting involvement?
2. Why did alternative sport forms, and related sport subcultures, emerge as counters to the disciplining, controlling, and repressive elements of mainstream sport? What shifts in American society were, at least partly, responsible for the emergence of these “Californian sports’ (Bourdieu, 1978)? What are the elements of these alternative forms of physical activity?
3. How and why are alternative sport forms closely tied to alternative lifestyles? Within these alternative sport subcultural groupings, what are the main sources of subcultural capital and status through which individuals derive their place within the insider/outsider division? When it comes to challenging traditional power relations, to what degree do alternative sport forms offer an alternative?
Theme 3: Risk Subcultures: Pursuing Excitement and Adventure
1. What is risk society, and what role does risk play in shaping or controlling our everyday lives and experiences? Why is there a clear contradiction within risk society between the fear and yearning for risk? What is the difference between pre-modern, modern, and post0modern societies in terms of the place and function of risk?
2. Consider Elias and Dunning’s (1986) notion of the “quest for excitement” as an explanation for the emergence of risk-based sport subcultures. Are all sport subcultures risk-based, or only some? How does risk factor in determining subcultural insider and outsider status?
3. Outline the positive elements derived from involvement in risk-based activities. Are you involved in any such activities, if so do you derive the same type of positive outcomes? Are risk-based sport subcultures the domain of the upper/middle classes exclusively? If so, why? If not, provide examples of the lower/working classes involvement in sporting risk.
Theme 4: Surfing Subculture: Insiders and Outsiders
1. Describe the elements of the surf subculture through which subcultural capital and status is derived and maintained.
2. What role does territory/space/the environment play in the establishment and maintenance of the North Shore surf subculture? Is this importance of space evidenced within all risk-based sport subcultures or just surfing at Oahu?
3. Critically assess Da Hui’s role in protecting “their surf” from outsiders who do not respect the surf. Do they have a right or obligation to act in this way, or is it an example of unjustified surf-related violence?
Theme 5: Cycle Messengers: Work-Based Subcultures
1. In what ways does the cycle messenger subculture demonstrate the breakdown or transcendence between work-leisure distinctions? Is this typical of the contemporary workforce more generally?
2. What is the performative core of the cycle messenger subculture, and what are the core elements of the subcultural identity/ethos? What are the common experiences which are the collective glue which binds this group together?
3. In what ways does cycle messengering subculture replicate work practices outside of work? Also, what factors play a role in constituting the boundaries between insider and outsider status within this subculture? Does style or personal aesthetics play a role in this process?
Theme 6: The Conquest/Colonization of Subcultural “Cool”
1. Why do some subcultures and subcultural practices become incorporated into the commercial mainstream? Is there anything that can be done to stop this, or are subcultures at the mercy of commercial forces?
2. Why is skateboarding such a good example of the dynamic tension between subcultural autonomy and commercial incorporation? Where would you position skateboarding culture at the present time in terms of its subcultural and/or mainstream status?
3. In what ways has yoga become a fragmented subcultural practice? What are the main divisions which make up this fragmentation. Can yoga be considered in any way subcultural at the present time?
