31 March 2015, University of Surrey
This symposium has two overlapping points of focus. First, the way in which political organisations and subcultures interact. This, in a contemporary setting, has become evident with the English Defence League, but may also be traced back to attempts by communists and fascists in the interwar period and, later, in the 1960s-80s to construct overtly politicised youth cultures. Second, it will examine the politics of youth cultural identity, to which Sylvia Lancaster (head of the Sophie Lancaster Foundation) will talk on the relationship between subcultures, hate-crime and the law. As this suggests, the symposium will consider the politics of identity and the politics of place, examining the ways in which political meanings are projected onto and taken from youth and subcultural forms.
The Political Subcultures event was held on 31 March 2015 at the University of Surrey. For more details please click here
This event was part of the AHRC Networking Project: Subcultures, Popular Music and Social Change, which examined youth cultural identity and political (dis)engagement via five symposia.