Are youth subcultures still up to date? An explorative research

Research conducted in recent years in the field of consumption has shown that the role of subcultures as defined by Cultural Studies has deeply changed. Indeed, the emergence of consumption tribes sharing a common interest in and a peculiar commitment to a particular product class, brand, or consumption activity, has shifted the attention of scholars from the role of subcultures as negotiators and rejectors of dominant material culture, to the role of neo-tribes carrying out peculiar consumption practices and rituals. The purpose of this paper is to verify if, in a consumption driven society, it is still possible to identify juvenile ‘traditional’ subcultures. To pursue this aim the authors focused on a specific group of youngsters: the Emos. Following a nethnographic approach, the researchers conducted a qualitative content analysis of the visual and verbal texts featuring in a purposive sample of Emo social networks, blogs and forums. The specific aim of the study was to analyze the role of creative re-appropriation of goods, symbols, and other manifestations of the dominant material culture in the Emo identity construction process, providing an interpretative key to the complex system of signs that composes the style of this subculture.