Club Cultures: Music, Media, and Subcultural Capital

by Sarah Thornton

Book Overview

A close look at the music and culture of dance clubs and the "rave" phenomenon..

Focusing on youth cultures that revolve around dance clubs and raves in Great Britain and the U.S., Sarah Thornton highlights the values of authenticity and hipness and explores the complex hierarchies that emerge within the domain of popular culture. She portrays club cultures as "taste cultures" brought together by micro-media like flyers and listings,...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0819562971
• ISBN13: 9780819562975
• Release Date: January 1996
• Publisher: Wesleyan University Press
• Length: 201 Pages
• Weight: 0.72 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 5.8" x 9.3"

Customer Reviews

a classic in the area of subcultural studies

I never write reviews, but I felt compelled because my experience with this book was so different from the other reviewer's. I found this book very easy to read. She explores rave culture in the U.K. through her first-hand research and she extends Bourdieu's theory of cultural capital in a very natural way. This book will surely be in the cannon of important subcultural analyses, and I've seen it referenced many times in scholarly articles. It is at once scholarly and interesting, and I definitely recommend it.