School Subcultures Essay

Culture is the language, beliefs, values, and behaviors that are passed from one generation to another. Inside one large culture, there are smaller subcultures and even smaller cliques. A Subculture is a group whose beliefs or interests are not the same as those of the larger culture. Subcultures and cliques are present as young as primary school age. In our culture, subcultures exist and affect us in different stages of life. We know about subcultures in high school like the goth, grunge, and preps. But the idea of subcultures starts earlier than that. At an early age, children start to separate into groups. These cliques are not subcultures, but they are the start of them. Groups of children start a friend group

The most well known and popularized by television and media is “jocks”. The term jock usually does not refer just to people playing sports. Jocks are considered a subgroup or subculture because they have different ideas and different actions then a lot of other high school students. “Those using the term see jocks as abusing their athletic status by being rude, arrogant, stupid, bullies, full of themselves, stuck up, and self-centered. Research findings indicate that jocks as contrasted with other athletes are more closely associated with problem behaviors such as bullying and heavy drinking.” (About Jocks). Those who identify as jocks have significantly more misconduct in school than students not identifying as jocks. The jock image is something that lots of high-school boys strive for. During High School, students are trying to find out who they are. When you first come into high school you are given an opportunity to reinvent and explore what you want to be and find out who your friends are. That 's where the appeal towards different subcultures begins. The cliques and sub culture in primary and High School lead to how people act in their adult lives. After High School some move on to college, where some of the subcultures that are present in high school carry

Many times there are cliques in work environments, and in prison. Prison life is a subculture. They have their own rules and their thinking is not the same as ours. “Descent Into Madness: The New Mexico State Prison Riot” by Mark Colvin showcases this through a study of the New Mexico prison riot. The riot lasted 36 hours, 33 inmates died, 200 were injured, 12 correctional officers were taken hostage and Resulted in 20 million dollars in physical damage. The riot was a result of the many changes in authority. “Turnover In the state 's top Corrections post occurred repeatedly, with 5 different heads of the Corrections Department between 1975 and 1980. ” (Colvin 1997) The study discusses how the prisoners in the riot attacked other prisoners but not the guards. This is because of the social culture of prison and the rules they create. In the prison there are certain rules about snitches, cellblocks, and protective custody. Whether or not an inmate had actually been an informant or not, the label of snitch could have deadly consequences, a fact that was used to intimidate inmates and create friction among prisoners. After inmate solidarity displayed during the June 1976 strike moved the prison Administration to smash inmate organization and Leadership, the inmate Society became more fragmented and violent. ” (Colvin 1997). The prisoners were more worried about