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In sociology, anthropology and cultural studies, a subculture is a group of people with a culture (whether distinct or hidden) which differentiates them from the larger culture to which they belong.

Definition[link]

As early as 1950, David Riesman distinguished between a majority, "which passively accepted commercially provided styles and meanings, and a 'subculture' which actively sought a minority style ... and interpreted it in accordance with subversive values".^[1] In his 1979 book Subculture the Meaning of Style, Dick Hebdige argued that a subculture is a subversion to normalcy. He wrote that subcultures can be perceived as negative due to their nature of criticism to the dominant societal standard. Hebdige argued that subcultures bring together like-minded individuals who feel neglected by societal standards and allow them to develop a sense of identity.

In 1995, Sarah Thornton, drawing on Pierre Bourdieu, described "subcultural capital" as the cultural knowledge and commodities acquired by members of a subculture, raising their status and helping differentiate themselves from members of other groups.^[2] In 2007, Ken Gelder proposed to distinguish subcultures from countercultures based on the level of immersion in society.^[3] Gelder further proposed six key ways in which subcultures can be identified:

1. through their often negative relations to work (as 'idle', 'parasitic', at play or at leisure, etc.);
2. through their negative or ambivalent relation to class (since subcultures are not 'class-conscious' and don't conform to traditional class definitions);
3. through their association with territory (the 'street', the 'hood', the club, etc.), rather than property;
4. through their movement out of the home and into non-domestic forms of belonging (i.e. social groups other than the family);
5. through their stylistic ties to excess and exaggeration (with some exceptions);
6. through their refusal of the banalities of ordinary life and massification.^[3]

Identifying subcultures[link]

The study of subcultures often consists of the study of symbolism attached to clothing, music and other visible affectations by members of subcultures, and also the ways in which these same symbols are interpreted by members of the dominant culture. According to Dick Hebdige, members of a subculture often signal their membership through a distinctive and symbolic use of style, which includes fashions, mannerisms, and argot.^[4]

Subcultures can exist at all levels of organizations, highlighting the fact that there are multiple cultures or value combinations usually evident in any one organization that can complement but also compete with the overall organisational culture.^[5] In some cases, subcultures have been legislated against, and their activities regulated or curtailed.^[6]

Subcultures' relationships with mainstream culture[link]

It may be difficult to identify certain subcultures because their style (particularly clothing and music) may be adopted by mass culture for commercial purposes. Businesses often seek to capitalize on the subversive allure of subcultures in search of Cool, which remains valuable in the selling of any product.^[7] This process of cultural appropriation may often result in the death or evolution of the subculture, as its members adopt new styles that appear alien to mainstream society.^[8]

Music-based subcultures are particularly vulnerable to this process, and so what may be considered a subculture at one stage in its history—such as jazz, goth, punk, hip hop and rave cultures—may represent mainstream taste within a short period of time.^[9] Some subcultures reject or modify the importance of style, stressing membership through the adoption of an ideology which may be much more resistant to commercial exploitation.^[10] The punk subculture's distinctive (and initially shocking) style of clothing was adopted by mass-market fashion companies once the subculture became a media interest. Dick Hebdige argues that the punk subculture shares the same "radical aesthetic practices" as Dada and surrealism:

Like Duchamp's 'ready mades' - manufactured objects which qualified as art because he chose to call them such, the most unremarkable and inappropriate items - a pin, a plastic clothes peg, a television component, a razor blade, a tampon - could be brought within the province of punk (un)fashion...Objects borrowed from the most sordid of contexts found a place in punks' ensembles; lavatory chains were draped in graceful arcs across chests in plastic bin liners. Safety pins were taken out of their domestic 'utility' context and worn as gruesome ornaments through the cheek, ear or lip...fragments of school uniform (white bri-nylon shirts, school ties) were symbolically defiled (the shirts covered in graffiti, or fake blood; the ties left undone) and juxtaposed against leather drains or shocking pink mohair tops.^[11]

Urban tribes[link]

In 1985, French sociologist Michel Maffesoli coined the term urban tribe. It gained widespread use after the publication of his Le temps des tribus: le déclin de l'individualisme dans les sociétés postmodernes (1988).^[12] Eight years later, this book was published in the United Kingdom as The Time of the Tribes: The Decline of Individualism in Mass Society.^[13]

According to Maffesoli, urban tribes are microgroups of people who share common interests in urban areas. The members of these relatively small groups tend to have similar worldviews, dress styles and behavioral patterns. Their social interactions are largely informal and emotionally laden, different from late capitalism's corporate-bourgeoisie cultures, based on dispassionate logic. Maffesoli claims that punks are a typical example of an "urban tribe".^[14]

Five years after the first English translation of Le temps des tribus, writer Ethan Watters claims to have coined the same neologism in a New York Times Magazine article. This was later expanded upon the idea in his book Urban Tribes: A Generation Redefines Friendship, Family, and Commitment. According to Watters, urban tribes are groups of never-marrieds between the ages of 25 and 45 who gather in common-interest groups and enjoy an urban lifestyle, which offers an alternative to traditional family structures.^[15]

Sexual subcultures[link]

The sexual revolution of the 1960s led to a countercultural rejection of the established sexual and gender norms, particularly in the urban areas of Europe, North and South America, Australia, and white South Africa. A more permissive social environment in these areas led to a proliferation of sexual subcultures—cultural expressions of non-normative sexuality. As with other subcultures, sexual subcultures adopted certain styles of fashion and gestures to distinguish them from the mainstream.^[16]

Homosexuals expressed themselves through the gay culture, considered the largest sexual subculture of the 20th century. With the ever increasing acceptance of homosexuality in the early 21st century, including its expressions in fashion, music, and design, the gay culture can no longer be considered a subculture in many parts of the world, although some aspects of gay culture like leathermen, bears, and feeders are considered subcultures within the gay movement itself.^[16] The butch and femme identities or roles among some lesbians also engender their own subculture with stereotypical attire, for instance drag kings.^[17] A late 1980s development, the queer movement can be considered a subculture broadly encompassing those that reject normativity in sexual behavior, and who celebrate visibility and activism. The wider movement coincided with growing academic interests in queer studies and queer theory. Aspects of sexual subcultures can vary along other cultural lines. For instance, in the United States, the term down-low is used to refer to African-American men who do not identify themselves with the gay or queer cultures, but who practice gay cruising, and adopt a specific hip-hop attire during this activity.^[17]

See also[link]

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Subculture

• List of subcultures
• Popular culture
• Underclass
• Urban culture
• Urban sociology
• Youth subculture
• Art world
• Adolescence
• Folk culture
• History of Western subcultures in the 20th century
• Intercultural competence

Footnotes[link]

References[link]

• Cante, Richard C. (March 2009). Gay Men and the Forms of Contemporary US Culture. London: Ashgate Publishing. ISBN 0-7546-7230-1. 

• Gelder, Ken (2007). Subcultures: Cultural Histories and Social Practice (Routledge, March 2007; softcover ISBN 0-415-37952-0)
• Hebdige, Dick (1979). Subculture: The Meaning of Style (Routledge, March 10, 1981; softcover ISBN 0-415-03949-5). Cited in Negus, Keith (1996). Popular Music in Theory: An Introduction. Wesleyan University Press. ISBN 0-8195-6310-2.
• Huq, Rupa (2006) 'Beyond subculture' (Routledge, 2006; softcover ISBN 0-415-27815-5. Hardcover ISBN 0-415-27814-7)
• Maffesoli, Michel (1996). The Time of the Tribes: The Decline of Individualism in Mass Society. (London: Sage Publications. ISBN 0-8039-8474-X)
• McKay, George (1996) Senseless Acts of Beauty: Cultures of Resistance since the Sixties. (London: Verso. ISBN 1-85984-028-0.)
• McKay, George (2005) Circular Breathing: The Cultural Politics of Jazz in Britain. Durham NC: Duke University Press. ISBN 0-8223-3573-5.
• Riesman, David (1950). "Listening to popular music", American Quarterly, 2, p. 359-71. Cited in Middleton, Richard (1990/2002). Studying Popular Music, p. 155. Philadelphia: Open University Press. ISBN 0-335-15275-9.
• Thornton, Sarah (1995). Club Cultures: Music, Media, and Subcultural Capital. Cambridge: Polity Press. Cited in Negus, Keith (1996). Popular Music in Theory: An Introduction. Wesleyan University Press. ISBN 0-8195-6310-2.
• Watters, Ethan (2003). Urban Tribes: A Generation Redefines Friendship, Family, and Commitment. ISBN 1-58234-264-4.
• Hall, Stuart, Tony Jefferson (1993). Resistance Through Rituals: Youth Subcultures in Post-War Britain. Routledge, 1993.
• Blair, M. Elizabeth. "Commercialization of Rap Music Youth Subculture." Journal of Popular Culture 27.3 (1993): 21-33. Print.
• Goldstein-Gidoni, Ofra. "Producers of 'Japan' in Israel: Cultural appropriation in a non-colonial context." Ethnos:Journal of Anthropology 68.3 (2003): 365. Print.
• Lewin, Phillip, J. Patrick Williams. "Reconceptualizing Punk through Ideology and Authenticity". Conference Papers—American Sociological Association. 2007 Conference Papers, 2007.
• Howes, David. Cross-cultural consumption: global markets, local realities. New York: Routledge, 1996. Print.

External links[link]

• Disjuncture and Difference in the Global Economy
• Key youth subcultures from Lenin to our day

Frederick John Perry

Country	Great Britain
Born	(1909-05-18)18 May 1909 Stockport, Cheshire, England
Died	2 February 1995(1995-02-02) (aged 85) Melbourne, Australia
Turned pro	1937
Retired	1956
Plays	Right-handed (one-handed backhand)
Int. Tennis HOF	1975 (member page)
Singles
Career record	106–12
Highest ranking	No. 1 (1934)
Grand Slam Singles results
Australian Open	W (1934)
French Open	W (1935)
Wimbledon	W (1934, 1935, 1936)
US Open	W (1933, 1934, 1936)
Doubles
Career record	18-4
Grand Slam Doubles results
Australian Open	W (1934)
French Open	W (1933)
Grand Slam Mixed Doubles results
French Open	W (1932)
Wimbledon	W (1935, 1936)
US Open	W (1932)
Last updated on: 25 September 2010.

Fred Perry
Full name	PERRY Frederick John
Nationality	England
Medal record Men's table tennis Competitor for  England World Championships Gold 1929 Budapest Singles Bronze 1929 Budapest Doubles Bronze 1929 Budapest Team Silver 1928 Stockholm Doubles Bronze 1928 Stockholm Mixed Doubles Bronze 1928 Stockholm Team

Frederick John Perry (18 May 1909 – 2 February 1995) was a championship-winning English tennis and table tennis player who won 10 Majors including eight Grand Slams and two Pro Slams. Perry won three consecutive Wimbledon Championships between 1934 and 1936 and was World No. 1 four years in a row. Perry also became the last British player to win the men's Wimbledon championship in 1936.^[1]

Perry was the first player to win all four Grand Slam singles titles (though not all in the same year) and completed this "Career Grand Slam" at the age of 26.^[2] Although Perry began his tennis career aged 18, he was also a Table Tennis World Champion in 1929.^[3]

In 1933, Perry helped lead the Great Britain team to victory over France in the Davis Cup; the team's first success since 1912, followed by wins over the United States in 1934, 1935, and a fourth consecutive title with victory over Australia in 1936.^[2]

Perry was acclaimed across the tennis world, but was not universally admired in his homeland, and was widely ostracised by the tennis establishment for turning professional after completing a hat-trick of Wimbledon singles triumphs.^[1][4] After becoming disillusioned with the class-conscious nature of the Lawn Tennis Club of Great Britain, the working-class Perry moved to the United States before becoming a naturalised US citizen in 1938. In 1942, he was drafted into the US Air Force during the Second World War.^[5]

Despite his unprecedented contribution to British tennis, Perry was not accorded full recognition by tennis authorities until his twilight years.^[1] In 1984, a statue of Perry was unveiled at Wimbledon, and in the same year Perry became the only tennis player listed in a survey of 2,000 Britons to find the ‘Best of the Best’ British sportsmen of the 20th century.^[4]

It's not well known, but Fred Perry was also the Tennis Table World Champion in 1929^[6], being the only player in history to have won at least one Major tournament in both tennis and ping-pong.

Early life[link]

The house where Fred Perry was born in Stockport, Cheshire.

Perry was born in Stockport, Cheshire in 1909 where his father, Samuel Perry (1877–1954), was a cotton spinner. For the first decade of his life, he also lived in Bolton and Wallasey because his father was involved in local politics. Perry moved to Ealing in London aged nine when his father became the national secretary of the Co-operative Party after World War I. His father became the Co-operative Party Member of Parliament for Kettering in 1929.

Perry first began to play tennis on the public courts near his family's housing estate. He was educated at Ealing Grammar School for Boys.

Amateur status[link]

In 1928-29, Perry won several medals in the single, double, and team events in the World Table Tennis Championships.^[7] He had exceptional speed and played with the Shakehand style, attacking the ball low and on the rise.

Along with the US, French and Australian Open, Perry won the Wimbledon men's title three times in succession between 1934 and 1936. His final triumph was a 6-1, 6-1, 6-0 victory over the German Baron Gottfried von Cramm which lasted less less than 45 minutes. It became the quickest final in the 20th century and the second shortest of all time.

Perry's success attracted the adoration of the crowds at Wimbledon particularly as he contrasted sharply from the privileged background of most patrons and players associated with the All England Club at that time.

In the Davis Cup, Perry led the Great Britain team to four consecutive victories between 1933-1936, with wins over France in 1933, the United States in 1934 and 1935, and Australia in 1936. Perry competed in a total of 20 Davis Cup matches, winning 34 of his 38 rubbers in singles, and 11 out of 14 in doubles.^[2]

Professional career[link]

After three years as the world No. 1 tennis amateur player, Perry turned professional in 1937. This led to him being virtually ostracised by the British tennis establishment. For the next two years he played lengthy tours against the powerful American player Elly Vines. In 1937 they played 61 matches in the United States, with Vines winning 32 and Perry 29. They then sailed to England, where they played a brief tour. Perry won six matches out of nine, so they finished the year tied at 35 victories each. Most observers at the time considered Perry to be the world No. 1 for the fourth year in a row, sharing the title, however, with both Vines and the amateur Don Budge. The following year, 1938, the tour was even longer, and this time Vines beat Perry 49 matches to 35. Budge, winner of the amateur Grand Slam, was clearly the World No. 1 player. In 1939 Budge turned professional and played a series of matches against both Vines and Perry, beating Vines 22 times to 17 and Perry by 28 victories to 8.^[8][9][10]

Personal life[link]

Perry opened the Riddlesdown Lawn Tennis Club in 1935 with an exhibition match.

Perry was one of the leading bachelors of the 1930s and his off-court romances were sensationalised in the world press. Perry had a romantic relationship with the actress Marlene Dietrich and in 1934 he announced his engagement to the British actress Mary Lawson, but the relationship fell apart after Perry relocated to America. In 1935 he married an American film star Helen Vinson, but their marriage ended in divorce in 1940. In the meanwhile, Perry had abandoned his British nationality and become an American citizen. In 1941 he was briefly married to a model, Sandra Breaux, but then, in 1945, he married Lorraine Walsh, but the marriage ended quickly. Perry's final marriage to Barbara Riese in 1952 lasted forty years, until his death.^[11] They had two children Penny and David. The sister of Barbara (Bobby) Riese was the actress Patricia Roc.

Perry had one sister, Sylvia, and has a great-nephew and great-niece, Daniel and Laura Nightingale.^[12] Perry died in hospital in Melbourne, Australia after breaking ribs following a fall in a hotel bathroom.

Sporting legacy[link]

Perry is considered by some to have been one of the greatest male players to have ever played the game. In his 1979 autobiography Jack Kramer, the long-time tennis promoter and great player himself, called Perry one of the six greatest players of all time.^[13]

Kings of the Court, a video-tape documentary made in 1997 in conjunction with the International Tennis Hall of Fame, named Perry one of the ten greatest players of all time. But this documentary only considered those players who played before the Open era of tennis that began in 1968, with the exception of Rod Laver, who spanned both eras, so that all of the more recent great players are missing.

Kramer, however, had several caveats about Perry. He says that Bill Tilden once called Perry "the world's worst good player". Kramer says that Perry was "extremely fast; he had a hard body with sharp reflexes, and he could hit a forehand with a snap, slamming it on the rise—and even on the fastest grass. That shot was nearly as good as Segura's two-handed forehand." His only real weakness, says Kramer, "was his backhand. Perry hit underslice off that wing about 90 percent of the time, and eventually at the very top levels—against Vines and Budge—that was what did him in. Whenever an opponent would make an especially good shot, Perry would cry out 'Very clevah.' I never played Fred competitively, but I heard enough from other guys that 'Very clevah' drove a lot of opponents crazy."

Kramer also says that in spite of his many victories, both as an amateur and as a professional, Perry was an "opportunist, a selfish and egotistical person, and he never gave a damn about professional tennis. He was through as a player the instant he turned pro. He was a great champion, and he could have helped tennis, but it wasn't in his interest so he didn't bother." Kramer then recounts several instances in which it was clear to him that Perry was losing matches in which he had given up because he "wanted to make sure that the crowd understood that this was all beneath him."

Perry, however, recalled his days on the professional tour differently. He maintained that "there was never any easing up in his tour matches with Ellsworth Vines and Bill Tilden since there was the title of World Pro Champion at stake." He said "I must have played Vines in something like 350 matches, yet there was never any fixing as most people thought. There were always people willing to believe that our pro matches weren't strictly on the level, that they were just exhibitions. But as far as we were concerned, we always gave everything we had."^[14]

A final comment from Kramer is that Perry unwittingly "screwed up men's tennis in England, although this wasn't his fault. The way he could hit a forehand—snap it off like a ping-pong shot—Perry was a physical freak. Nobody else could be taught to hit a shot that way. But the kids over there copied Perry's style, and it ruined them. Even after Perry faded out of the picture, the coaches there must have kept using him as a model."

Clothing label[link]

A statue of Fred Perry at the All England Lawn Tennis Club in Wimbledon.

In the late 1940s, Perry was approached by Tibby Wegner, an Austrian footballer who had invented an anti-perspirant device worn around the wrist. Perry made a few changes to create the first sweatband.

Wegner's next idea was to produce a sports shirt, which was to be made from white knitted cotton pique with short sleeves and a buttoned placket like René Lacoste's shirts. Launched at Wimbledon in 1952, the Fred Perry tennis shirt was an immediate success.

The white polo shirt was only supplemented in the late 50s when mods began demanding more varied colour palettes. The Fred Perry shirt became the garment-of-choice for diverse groups of teenagers throughout the 1960s and 70s, ranging from the skinheads to the Northern soul scene.

The brand's logo is a laurel wreath. It was based on the original symbol for Wimbledon. The logo, which appears on the left breast of a garment, is stitched into the fabric of the shirt.^[15]

The brand is now owned by a Japanese corporation,^[16] The brand was previously the clothing sponsor of British tennis player Andy Murray.

Memorials[link]

Wimbledon[link]

A bronze statue of Fred Perry was erected at the All England Lawn Tennis Club in Wimbledon, London in 1984 to mark the 50th anniversary of his first singles championship. It is located at the Church Road gate.

Fred Perry Way[link]

The Fred Perry Way is a designated walking route through the Metropolitan Borough of Stockport which opened in September 2002. The 14 miles (23 km) route from Woodford in the south to Reddish in the north, combines rural footpaths, quiet lanes and river valleys with urban landscapes and parklands. Features along the route include Houldsworth Mill and Square, the start of the River Mersey at the confluence of the River Tame and River Goyt, Stockport Town Centre, Vernon and Woodbank Parks and the Happy Valley. The route also passes through Woodbank Park where Perry played some exhibition tennis matches.

Fred Perry House[link]

A Blue Plaque at the house where Fred Perry was born in Stockport, Cheshire.

The Fred Perry House in Stockport was opened by Prince Edward, Earl of Wessex and John Perry, Fred Perry's grandson in November 2010. The building, which is the borough's new civic headquarters, will be used by various local government agencies.^[17]

World[link]

Perry was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame in Newport, Rhode Island in 1975. Perry also has a street named after him in El Paso, Texas.

World Table Tennis Championships[link]

Gold:1; Silver 1; Bronze 4

• 1928 Stockholm: Silver Doubles; Bronze Mixed Doubles; Bronze Team.
• 1929 Budapest: Gold Singles; Bronze Doubles; Bronze Team.

Tennis Grand Slams[link]

Singles[link]

Finals:8 titles

Year	Championship	Opponent in Final	Score in Final
1933	U.S. Championships	Jack Crawford	6–3, 11–13, 4–6, 6–0, 6–1
1934	Australian Championships	Jack Crawford	6–3, 7–5, 6–1
1934	Wimbledon Championships	Jack Crawford	6–3, 6–0, 7–5
1934	U.S. Championships (2)	Wilmer Allison	6–4, 6–3, 3–6, 1–6, 8–6
1935	French Championships	Gottfried von Cramm	6–3, 3–6, 6–1, 6–3
1935	Wimbledon Championships (2)	Gottfried von Cramm	6–2, 6–4, 6–4
1936	Wimbledon Championships (3)	Gottfried von Cramm	6–1, 6–1, 6–0
1936	U.S. Championships (3)	Don Budge	2–6, 6–2, 8–6, 1–6, 10–8

Finals:2 runners up

Year	Championship	Opponent in Final	Score in Final
1935	Australian Championships	Jack Crawford	6–2, 4–6, 4–6, 4–6
1936	French Championships	Gottfried von Cramm	0–6, 6–2, 2–6, 6–2, 0–6

Doubles[link]

• Australian Open (1934)
• French Open (1936)

Mixed doubles[link]

• French Open (1932)
• Wimbledon (1935, 1936)
• US Open (1932)

Pro Slam Singles[link]

• US Pro Championships (1938, 1941)

Performance timeline[link]

Fred Perry joined professional tennis in 1937 and was unable to compete in the Grand Slams tournaments.

See also[link]

• List of male tennis players
• List of World Table Tennis Champions
• Fred Perry Grand Slam record

References[link]

Bibliography[link]

• The History of Professional Tennis (2003), Joe McCauley

External links[link]

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Fred Perry

• International Tennis Hall of Fame
• Official Wimbledon website profile
• Fred Perry Official website
• Fred Perry Way route map
• Fred Perry record