Subcultures have exerted a continuous fascination throughout the decades. Their styles have been admired; their coolness commodified. Their lifeworlds provided escape from ordinary life. Some members went even further and sought full-time employment as musicians, artists, stylists, DJs and so on. The 1990s saw the rise of the creative industries, especially in London. More recently, we see the emergence of the contemporary creator who seeks to live off of YouTube, TikTok, and other outlets for creative work. But are these legitimate careers? Have subcultures ever offered more than imaginary solutions to real-world problems?

Professor McRobbie and I track through the recent history of popular culture trying to answer these questions. We take the role of style, music, art, etc. seriously as sources of "doing well and feeling fine". But we are also critical of what these worlds - and industries - can and cannot provide for its members...

Sources: We cite the work of Pierre Bourdieu "Distinction", Stuart Hall and Tony Jefferson's "Resistance through Rituals", as well as Dick Hebdige's "Subculture and the Meaning of Style": three classical works of cultural sociology.