Digital Youth Subcultures: Rave Culture and Skateboarding as Transgressive Identities in Digital Spaces

A little earlier this month we had the pleasure of being joined by Professor Kate Hoskins from Brunel University London and Dr Carlo Genova from the University of Turin for the latest of our ‘Transgressive Identities and Subjectivities’ themed events.

Speaking about the research from their recently published collection Digital Youth Subcultures: Performing Transgressive Identities in Digital Social Spaces (co-edited by Kate, Carlo, and Dr Nic Crowe, also of Brunel University London, who was sadly unable to join us for the event), Kate and Carlo’s presentations spoke to the event theme aptly, with focuses on the digital social spaces of 1990’s ravers and the transgressive use of urban space respectively.

In introducing and providing context for the aims of the book, Kate set out how, over the last decade, youth spaces have moved from the material world to encompass digital social spaces such as Tik Tok, Instagram and Facebook. These spaces offer opportunities for communication and meaning making away from the adult gaze, and allow for alternative and transgressive views in diverse forms.

As well as research on the digital social spaces of ravers and the use of digital media in skateboarding, the book includes chapters covering the methodologies and ethics of researching youth subcultures; the digital social spaces, inhabited by traceurs (parkour runners); YouTube-based subcultures; and young people’s digital sexual cultures. It is clearly a must-read for social and digital researchers.

Kate and Carlo then went on to talk about their own individual research featured in the book. Kate presented a fascinating view on the legacy of 1990s rave culture being lived and performed now through digital social spaces. Emerging as a reaction to Thatcher’s policies favouring individualism and consumerism, rave culture was prevalent the length and breadth of the country. Subcultures emerged which embodied distinct characteristics. Although there has been research to suggest rave culture was one of classlessness and inclusiveness, Kate’s work examining digital social spaces revealed class does act as a signifier. Images of working-class youth, dancing together, elicit statements affirming their authenticity as ravers. This authentic raver identity generates many positive comments. However, class derision and transgressive comments were also noted, pertaining to assumptions of low levels of academic attainment or welfare scroungers, regarding a video of young people dancing on a council housing estate.

Kate’s talk was, for me, particularly interesting in that it evidenced how the transgressive rave culture of the 1990s, which was policed and legislated against until it eventually dissipated and re-emerged in the club culture of the 2000s, still exists and is remembered and reclaimed as a nostalgic, positive, shared cultural experience through digital space.

Carlo’s presentation also talked about shared cultural experience, this time in the urban and digital space. For his research, the concept of transgression is a useful approach in examining theories of subcultures in terms of deviance, resistance, or distinctiveness. These all apply when considering how digital social spaces allow for identity building in youth subcultures. However, he pointed out the sensitivities of researching these spaces – which should be considered carefully by social researchers – especially concerning the real-life identities of the young people concerned and their public, semi-public or private discourse.

Thinking about the theme of the event, Carlo’s presentation made clear an interesting correlation between how youth radicalism and transgressive identities can interpret and remodel cultural spaces in the urban landscape – i.e. skateboarders on London’s Southbank – as much as they do in digital spaces. For example, in his chapter in the Digital Youth Subcultures book, co-authored with Raffaella Ferrero Camoletto and Davide Marcelli, they consider how professional skateboarders exist within mainstream, institutionalised sport while maintaining and displaying transgressive skate culture with its anti-corporate style and self-representational traits. (2022: 35)

Our next event for the Transgressive Identities and Subjectivities research theme will take place on Wednesday 12th April – more details to be announced soon.