The Subcultural Imagination

Abstract

2010). Consequently, rather than challenging police-media driven discourses that portray contemporary urban youth cultures as inherently violent and criminogenic, gang academics have similarly tended to fixate solely on the negative aspects of the 'Road based' subcultures and lifestyles of marginalised urban youth. This chapter will firstly revisit the concept of 'Road culture' (Gunter, 2008) as a means to understand the role and significance of subculture, in the lives of young people growing up in two East London neighbourhoods. The term 'On Road' is consistently referred to by the young respondents to capture and describe the social and cultural worlds that they both create and inhabit, indicating where (on the streets) and how they spend the majority of their leisure time, it also informs their musical preferences, dress wear/styles and speech patterns (also Gunter 2008, 2010). Drawing on the voices and direct experiences of young people, this chapterin stark contrast to the dominant problem centred perspectives that focus on gangs and violent crimewill demonstrate that contemporary Road based subculture plays a largely positive and creative role in young people's lives. This chapter will attempt to further contextualise the role of Road culture by examining the interconnectedness of 'the personal troubles of the milieu' and 'the public issues of social structure' (Mills, 1959:14); particularly with regard to how structural changes have impacted upon the lives of the young respondents. ROAD CULTURE REVISITED AND BIOGRAPHY The empirical data derives from an ethnographic study of young people's cultures and transitions in two adjoining East London neighbourhoods, comprising in-depth biographical Anthony Gunter, From Bad to Worse? Youth Perspectives, Identities and 'Road Life'(styles), in S.