This research-led activity is designed for Cambridge OCR A Level Sociology and focuses on subcultures in relation to ethnicity. OCR’s specification places ethnicity and hybridity directly within the Youth subcultures topic, and the delivery guide says students should use illustrative examples of subcultures to explore how and why youth culture and subcultures are formed.
The activity below draws on research examples and lines of argument that OCR materials and mark schemes treat as relevant to this area, including studies and examples linked to Sewell, Mac an Ghaill, Connolly, Nightingale, Archer and Yamashita, and hybrid or mixed subcultural forms such as Brasian, Jafaicans, and Mercer’s discussion of dreadlocks. It is designed to help students move beyond simple definition work by classifying research evidence and then building a short sociological judgement about ethnicity, identity, racism, locality and hybridity in youth subcultures.
Ethnicity and Youth Subcultures: Research Evidence Builder
Sort each piece of sociological research into the theme it supports best, then build a short judgement about how ethnicity shapes youth subcultures.
How it works: read each research summary, choose the strongest theme, then check your answers. After that, use the second stage to build an evaluative paragraph.
The four themes: schooling and ethnic identity, street culture and local defence, hybridity and cultural mixing, and racism, representation and resistance.
Step 2: Build a judgement
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