Dick Hebdige’s book Subculture: The Meaning of Style (1979) is one of the most influential works to come out of the Centre for Contemporary Cultural Studies (CCCS) at the University of Birmingham. His research examines the relationship between youth, style, resistance, and wider social structures. Hebdige used insights from semiotics (the study of signs and symbols) and cultural theory to show how subcultures such as punks, mods, and skinheads developed their own styles to challenge mainstream society.
Subcultures as Resistance
Hebdige argued that youth subcultures are not simply about fashion or music preferences but represent forms of resistance to the dominant culture (Hebdige, 1979). For example, working-class youth in post-war Britain faced unemployment, limited opportunities, and cultural marginalisation. Subcultures gave them a way to express dissatisfaction with mainstream values.
- Punks used shocking clothing, safety pins, and aggressive music to symbolise rejection of social norms.
- Mods focused on sharp dress and scooters, highlighting aspirations for style and status within a working-class context.
- Skinheads reflected pride in working-class identity, using clothing and music to signal toughness and solidarity.
In Hebdige’s view, subcultural style was symbolic resistance, a way for youth to create meaning outside of dominant institutions like school, work, and family.
Style and Semiotics
A distinctive part of Hebdige’s work was his use of semiotics, influenced by theorists such as Roland Barthes. He argued that subcultural style works as a language of signs. Clothes, hairstyles, and music are not just aesthetic choices but communicate meanings.
For example:
- The punk use of a safety pin was not only practical but also a deliberate re-appropriation of a household object into a symbol of rebellion.
- The adoption of reggae music by punks linked them to black immigrant culture, expressing solidarity but also sparking debate about cultural appropriation.
By treating subcultural style as a symbolic system, Hebdige shifted sociology toward understanding how meaning is produced and contested through culture.
Incorporation and Commercialisation
A key contribution of Hebdige’s research was the idea that subcultures are eventually incorporated into mainstream culture. What begins as shocking and resistant is often co-opted by the media and the fashion industry.
For instance, punk clothing that once shocked older generations was soon reproduced and sold in mainstream shops. Hebdige argued this process of incorporation reduces the subversive power of subcultures by transforming resistance into consumerism.
This idea remains highly relevant in studying how counter-cultures such as hip-hop, skate culture, or even internet memes are absorbed into mainstream markets.
Methodology
Hebdige’s methodology combined:
- Textual analysis of style: He examined clothing, music, and visual culture as “texts” to be decoded.
- Cultural theory: He drew on Marxism, semiotics, and CCCS traditions of studying ideology.
- Historical context: He placed youth subcultures in the specific economic and political climate of post-war Britain, linking them to class inequality, immigration, and race relations.
Although Hebdige did not conduct ethnographic fieldwork like Paul Willis (Learning to Labour, 1977), his cultural analysis provided new tools for understanding symbolic resistance.
Criticisms
Despite its influence, Hebdige’s work has been critiqued:
- Overemphasis on resistance – Critics argue that not all subcultural behaviour is oppositional; sometimes it is about fun, friendship, or identity (Bennett, 1999).
- Neglect of girls – Like much early CCCS work, Hebdige largely ignored the role of girls in subcultures, a gap later addressed by Angela McRobbie (1991).
- Limited evidence – Some argue his reliance on style and semiotics, without ethnography, makes his conclusions less grounded in lived experience.
Despite this, his ideas remain highly influential in youth and cultural studies.
Legacy
Hebdige’s Subculture: The Meaning of Style continues to shape research on youth, style, and media. His concept of incorporation helps explain how rebellious styles are absorbed by capitalism, while his semiotic analysis encourages sociologists to look closely at how meaning is created through everyday cultural practices.
His work also inspired later research into global youth subcultures, digital culture, and fashion, ensuring his influence extends far beyond the British youth cultures of the 1970s.
References
- Hebdige, D. (1979) Subculture: The Meaning of Style. London: Routledge.
- Bennett, A. (1999) ‘Subcultures or Neo-Tribes? Rethinking the Relationship between Youth, Style and Musical Taste’, Sociology, 33(3): 599–617.
- McRobbie, A. (1991) Feminism and Youth Culture: From Jackie to Just Seventeen. Basingstoke: Macmillan.
- Willis, P. (1977) Learning to Labour: How Working Class Kids Get Working Class Jobs. Farnborough: Saxon House.
Below is a PDF on the work of Hebdige that can be downloaded from the link.