Skinhead culture today usually brings up images of violent or racist gangs with shaved heads, however skinhead subculture had more humble beginnings. Skinhead roots began in the mid 60’s in Britain, when two other subcultures mingled to create skinheads: ‘Mods’, who were mostly middle class Britons that took much of their fashion tastes from the states. They were deeply influenced by the music scene and for the most part enjoyed R&B, and blues music; The other half of the emergence of the skinhead subculture was the ‘Jamaica rude boys’, who frequently listened to reggae and were also influenced by fashion, in which they wore nice clothes and suits . Self- image was very important to the skinhead subculture. The namesake of the culture came from the shaved head, in which a theory arose that it was done to avoid hair pulling or hair getting in the way during street fights. The look of short hair, collared shirts, jackets and boots gave uniformity to the culture and identity with each other . The Skinhead’s way of dressing represented both a ‘caricature and re-assertion of solid male, working-class toughness’. This was due to many factors linked to a decline in working-class communities. One example was the large scale immigration into these areas, mainly the East End, by poorer immigrants, who were perceived by the skinheads as destroying their communities and taking their jobs. In order to deal with this, the skinheads were involved in reclaiming territory. Many skinheads started to feel undermined by the middle class and decided to rebel against them in a bid to feel accepted . The skinhead culture was revitalized in the 70’s, and was largely influenced by the punk music phenomenon. This was when branches of the skinheads startin...
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...orking-class communities, partly due to large scale immigration into these working class areas . The skinheads were involved in reclaiming territory as many skinheads started to feel undermined by the middle class and decided to rebel against them in a bid to feel accepted. In the 70’s, the skinhead culture remerged largely influenced by punk music. The subculture started branching off into smaller sections some who were involved in soccer hooliganism, racist ideals and other violence or “neo-Nazi” ideas . Today, these are the images of the skinheads that come to the minds of many when they see a group of people with shaved heads, and although popular culture today has labelled skinheads as racist and violent groups with political impact, their history in embedded in a subculture or working class individuals with a taste for soul music, and a desire for identity.
A few years ago, my mother told me something thought provoking: we had once lived on the same block as the leader of the local Ku Klux Klan chapter. That had been in Charlotte, North Carolina, around 1994. The Ku Klux Klan, according to Blaine Varney in Lynching in the 1890’s, used to “…set out on nightly ‘terror rides’ to harass ‘uppity Negroes’….” They are far more infamous, however, for their “lynching”—nightly “terror rides” that included murder—of African Americans. Varney tells us lynching levels reached their pinnacle in 1892, with 161 recorded murders that year. In modern times, most Americans would agree that the Klan, along with any form of white supremacy, has no place in society—and pointing out its survival is a good way to imply that we, as a people, are still not perfect.
Skinheads in the Antelope Valley William Finnegan's essay "The Unwanted" explains the history and make-up of the Antelope Valley and then explores the lives of some teenage citizens in order to discover reasons that two rival gangs have such a significant role in the community and on its people. Absent parents and lack of education are just two factors facing teens that ultimately led the Los Angeles Suburb into becoming a society where Skinheads and Boneheads are a norm and accepted as a part of everyday life. C. Wright Mills' idea of the sociological perspective, looking past the facades, is useful when analyzing the micro; individual, and macro; broad, causes of teens becoming skinheads. Each day America seems to become more and more diverse. Some people learn to accept the fact that America is made up of many different ethnic groups, while others believe the only ethnic group should be their own.
The Skinheads' neo-Nazi outlook and gang lifestyle give them a sense of power, belonging, and greatness over others, often in troubled environments and at an age when they are trying to find their place in their world.
Today there are many styles and subcultures that are known in society, from punk to hip-hop, and from hipster to gangster. However, there is one that has become widely acknowledged and popularized in the recent years. This is the “Guido” lifestyle. Made popular by the hit MTV television show “Jersey Shore”, the term Guido was not always accepted in the positive tone that the it is given in popular media today. Some consider it an inappropriate slur and racist term (Cohen 1-2). While that may be the case in the past, today “Jersey Shore” and other mass media have most certainly contributed to the mainstream acceptance and popularity of the Guido style and have changed the direction of the term from that of a racial slur to a term representing a subcultures identity. Subcultures being characterized by symbolism and expression ("Fashioning an Italian-American Youth Style" 1-6), the Guido style does much to become a youth subculture through their grooming, cars and music, and furthermore through their attitudes and demeanors("Fashioning an Italian-American Youth Style" 1-6).
Social change always creates a spark of controversy, and new attitudes will always have opposition. The Ku Klux Klan, which had died out in the 1870s, rose again to combat the turmoil that the nation was experiencing during World War I. The group came out resilient and often deadly, and members had influence in the United States that had not been witnessed before. Therefore, the second Ku Klux Klan that emerged during World War I was much more powerful than its former manifestation. The Klan arose because of social changes such as the increasing amount of immigrants, the movie The Birth of a Nation, and the highly-publicized murder of Mary Phagan. The combative nature of World War I triggered a rise in the feeling of nationalism among Americans, creating a gateway for the second generation of the Ku Klux Klan.
The KKK is a movement that has been very controversial since the Civil War. The Klan as they call themselves was created as a result of the occupation of Federal troops in the South. The KKK's purpose at the time was to provide the people of the south with the leadership to bring back the values of Western Civilization that was taken from them. In the 1920's the Klan had its most popular era. At this time the KKK was the most active politically then it has ever been in history. The KKK still exists today as a brotherhood and a new White racial community that lives and functions by the ideals it promotes. Today the Klan is in its 5th era and continues to be America's oldest and most effective White Christian Fraternal organization.
There was an emergence of numerous pioneering female punk and rock musicians from the UK, throughout the period of the late 1970 and early-mid 1980’s who ultimately served to influence the ‘Riot Grrrl’ movement (Sabin 1999). Musicians such as ‘The Slits’, ‘Siouxie Sioux’, ‘Poly Styrene and X-Ray-Spex’ ‘Au Pairs’ and ‘The Raincoats’ are all examples of British Musicians who later went on to inspire ‘Riot Grrl’
Many of us know the Ku Klux Klan as a group who used violence and cruelty to daunt former slaves. What people often do not know is that the Ku Klux Klan made its comeback in the early 1920’s. This version of the Ku Klux Klan focused on the moral and ethical wrong doing. Although the terror was still brought on the minorities. Many of the three-million members of the Klan took part in rallies, parades, and they even advocated for republican candidates during elections. Women also played a bigger role in the Klan, considering they began receiving the right to vote. They even went as far as to create the Women’s Ku Klux Klan (WKKK). Their views matched the men of the Klan at most times, but they also sought to fix things in the sphere of education and children. Some parts of the Women’s Ku Klux Klan found homes for youth and raised money for less fortunate families in the Klan. These women mostly took ideas of the men of the Klan and did their own work on that
Cries ring out in the dead of night from the black people of the southern states in Tennessee, as mysterious figures in white robes with hoods ride on their horses. To most they were thought of as the Confederate soldier’s ghosts riding and terrorizing the blacks. People wanted to know who these mysterious riders are and why they are terrorizing the black people of the south. Since they were wearing all white robes they could not tell their identity leading to more confusion. They became known as the Invisible Empire due to the fact that there were hundreds of them but nobody knew who they really were. Later in the Invisible Empires history we find out that these mysterious ghost riders are a part of the Ku Klux Klan. The Ku Klux Klan was an organization meant to preserve the southern way of life. They use forms of intimidation to scare the black people such as riding through the night on horses. It was first started as something for ex-confederate soldiers to do since they were not fighting the war anymore but soon these small threats and intimidation turned into a violent hate group. Through the Ku Klux Klan’s history we see its practices and beliefs evolve from a fun, social organization to a worldwide feared hate group.
The clothing also represents the breakdown of the society. To begin, most of the boys were wearing school uniforms and some were wearing choir robes. This shows they are educated, civilized young men, who are most likely from, or around the city. As time passes, the boys do not remain fully clad. They shed their shoes and shirts. Their hair grows longer, and they are dirtier. This resembles their civilized ways beginning to fade. They also started using face paint for camouflage, and it eventually becomes a ritual.
The Ku Klux Klan is commonly known as the KKK, which was an organization ran by white people who advocated white supremacy, anti-immigration and racial discrimination. The Ku Klux Klan was and still is a very racist group towards all skin colors other than white, but predominately there focus was on African Americans. Klan members were nervous of the uprising of African Americans after slavery had ended in the U.S in 1865. The Klan’s goal was to hate and terrorize African Americans, making them feel as if they do not belong in the United States (U.S). The dominate force the Klan used was terrorism, both physical assault and murder, by burning, shooting, and hanging. Since the first Klan originated in 1865, there have been 2 more to follow since then.
Since the war in Britain the most recurrent types of moral panic has been associated with the emergence of various form of youth (originally almost exclusively working class, but often recently middle class or student based) whose behaviour is deviant or delinquent. To a greater or lesser degree, these cultures have been associated with violence. The Teddy Boys, the Mods and Rockers, the Hells Angels, the skinheads and the hippies have all been phenomena of this kind (Cohen, 2002). Youth appeared as an emergent category in post-war Britain, on one of the most striking and visible manifestations of social changes in the period. Youth...
One type of racist gangs is the Skinheads. Skinheads take their name and style from British working class gangs from the 1970's. A shaved head is a characteristic of this style. Not all skinheads believe in supremacy of the white race. The skinheads who do believe in white supremacy are believed to be apart of the fastest growing hate group in the United States. The numbers of hate groups seem to be declining. The fastest growing hate group consists mostly of young people from the ages 16 to 25. White racism is a social problem. Membership of the 125-year-old Klu Klux Klan is at an all time low. The Klan was formed in the south after the Civil War. Members of the Klan often hanged or burned blacks. Few skinheads have joined the Klan and many have joined a group called WAR....
Surprisingly, little has been written about the historical significance of black gangs in Los Angeles (LA). Literature and firsthand interviews with Los Angeles residents seem to point to three significant periods relevant to the development of the contemporary black gangs. The first period, which followed WWII and significant black migrations from the South, is when the first major black clubs formed. After the Watts rebellion of 1965, the second period gave way to the civil rights period of Los Angeles where blacks, including those who where former club members who became politically active for the remainder of the 1960s. By the early 1970s black street gangs began to reemerge. By 1972, the Crips were firmly established and the Bloods were beginning to organize. This period saw the rise of LA’s newest gangs, which continued to grow during the 1970s, and later formed in several other cities throughout the United States by the 1990s. While black gangs do not make up the largest or most active gang population in Los Angeles today, their influence on street gang culture nationally has been profound.
In actuality, there are no specific guidelines or boundaries for being considered a dreadlock member. One's style, color, or fashion wear does not qualify you even more to be a "member." All there is to it, is having dreadlocks! From the recent study, people from outside The Dreadlock Society views those with dreadlocks as having a need to be different with a unique sense of identity. One questionnaire respondent expressed, "People with dreads are a reflection of Rastafarians who live with an ethnic style or mentality." What does this all mean? According to a cultural rap group Arrested Development, in one of there many hits exemplifying cultural bond, an excerpt from the song titled "Dawn of the Dreads" expresses, "The dreads symbolize the natural growth of not just the hair, but also of the mind. . ."