My primary interest regarding musical youth cultures is not the collective, it is the individual. The more we examine cut-up aesthetic, sampling, and remix culture, the more we understand the modern notion of personal identity as being one of multiplicative symbiosis between cultures and codes--a notion that centralizes variety and excludes exclusion. For my project this semester, my plan is to examine recent literature regarding digital downloading, remix culture, mash-ups and electronic sampling, streaming radio, and iPod technologies, and to contrast this with some of the more historical subcultural texts examining specific trends and technologies from past generations. Equally, I will augment my theoretical study with surveys from youth participants in the aforementioned cultures/technologies (qualitative, quantitative, or both: TBD) to illuminate what I predict will be an increasing "interconnectedness" between subcultures currently, more so than in the past. While this trend may be predictable, my intent through fieldwork, interviews and current theoretical study is to trace a substantive link between the subcultural overlap in collective identity with a similar overlap in personal identity. It is my contention that individuals recognize greater social inclusion due to cultural overlaps in the wake of recent trends and technologies. The now-dated inclination for identity per exclusion has been sublimated into numerous personal identities, redefining the self as a converging Venn diagram. While this theory is preliminary, I hope that narrowing the focus to specific technologies and a target group will illustrate a characteristic example of what my theoretical study will expound as a larger social pattern.
Source ideas:
Dick Hebdige, Subculture: the Meaning of Style
DJ Spooky aka That Subliminal Kid, Rhythm Science
Pierre Bourdieu, Distinction: A Social Critique of the Judgment of Taste
[more soon]
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