Scenes (Sociology)
Scene are informally considered to be "An area of interest or activity (eg the music scene)" [1]
Sometimes the terms "sub-culture" and "community are used interchangeably with "scene".
Leadership edit
There is no leader of a scene, but rather lust people more influental then others.
Layers edit
Often there are at least three layers to each scene: insiders, fringe dwellers, and outsiders.
Brotherhoods by Arthur Veno, a psychologist who is known to some biker clubs as the "Mad Professor", talks about outlaw biker clubs, which the focus of his studies, in his book Brotherhoods. Veno says that a scene includes more then the one community of interest and that being interested in something does not make a person a part of that scene. He says that "I consider myself a distant outsider to the outlaw club scene." Further, he says:
Some of my best information comes from close insiders. The clubs all use the same strippers, bands, photographers, bike painters and tattooists, who act as conduits between clubs that may not be speaking to each other.[2]
He also says that "I'm also a friend of members of the God Squad and other clubs that hang around the fringes of the outlaw scene." [3]
Growth and change edit
Scenes are not fixed, but are fluid.
Rave culture and Religion, edited by Graham St John, records how the rave scene changes and grew, including how the reporters covering it influenced the perception of it and thus who was interested in joining it. They may not be aware of it except in retrospect. "Those of us filling early dispatched from the temporary autonomous zones latter known as raves really thought we were just observing the scene" [4]
Scenes are not subcultures edit
A Scene may contain different sub-cultures, and different scenes may contain parts of the one scene.
The book Sociology: Themes and perspectives mentions the gay sub-culture. "Jeffrey Weeks (1985) pointed out that the public visability of a gay subculture being confined largely to the bar and disco scenes in in cities such as San Francisco and New York." [5]
References edit
- ^ The Concise English Dictionary, 1996, Geddes & Grosset Ltd.
- ^ Arthur Veno, Brotherhoods, Allen & Unwin, 2002, p. 19
- ^ Arthur Veno, Brotherhoods, Allen & Unwin, 2002, p. 20
- ^ Rave Culture and Religion, edited by Graham St John, page XII
- ^ Haralambos, Van Krieken, Smith and Holborn, Sociology; Themes and perspectives, Australian edition, Longman, 1996, page 502 (Gay Liberation section)