Street Skateboarding: Street Skating As A Culture

Street Skating as a Culture

Skateboarding has been around for a long time. Its styles have changed dramatically sense its humble beginnings. Street skating is unique to the subculture in that you can basically do it anywhere. Street skating uses the environment of the streets to perform tricks on your skateboard. All you need is your skateboard, some streets, motivation, and a little creativity. However there tends to be more to this subculture that others on the outside don’t see. There is a distinct style of clothing and attitude that most have within the street skating culture. I will demonstrate the different elements that go into what makes this a unique culture. I take a participant observer standpoint in this culture as I was involved in this culture as a young man and have seen it’s growth and popularity come from very little to the giant it is today. Street

I intend to show how street skating has different beliefs and values, norms and rules, and rituals and traditions that shape this distinct culture. Street skating has had a negative label attached to it for a long time. It has always had an outsider stigma attached to the culture. Most outsiders see them as trouble or rebellious. Most in the culture embrace this sort of outsider image. This shows in the D.I.Y. (Do it yourself) approach that street skaters take. Professional street skater Sean Malto explains in the film The Motivation, “Street skating is all about finding cool spots from all around the world that just aren’t meant for skating” (Lough). This is core to the values and beliefs of street skaters. The street skater is simply not wanted on the public or private property where their environment