Goth: Identity, Style and Subculture (Dress, Body, Culture)

Given that there is so much about Goth that some people don't appreciate, and a high proportion of that is explained here, you should find the temptation to buy this hard to ignore, so go for it. Although it is an academic work, it isn't the work of a verbal diarrhoea expert, but a sensible Goth who has a weighty task to complete.From the academic perspective Paul Hodkinson attempts to disprove post-modern claims that media and commerce break down substantive cultural groupings. It covers UK Goth from the mid to late 90's, concentrating on the Birmingham, Plymouth and Leeds area, where 72 interviews were conducted, with over a hundred people completing a Whitby questionnaire.Although an insider, he has the ability to stand back, and show an overview. As well as examining what Goth means to participants of the scene, Paul asks how strong the sense of the individual is, how consumerism is demonstrated, and the negative or positive aspects involved. He establishes the sense of belonging, as well as the contradiction of open-mindedness set against the occasional feelings of superiority. He covers many areas including shared identity and the chosen elements to Subcultures (Identity, Commitment, Consistent distinctiveness, Autonomy) and the emergence and development of Style, as well as online community. It isn't warts and all, but there are a few minor skin rashes, as he gets interesting responses/admissions from people in his study.He may often write in a way which anyone hoping for a jolly read will not find easy, but anyone seeking some depth with find their faith amply rewarded. He examines the substance, so if you're interested in more than the surface this will be of great interest.

I've read a good deal of the reviews about this book, and I think that this is one of the best academic books I've read. It does quote the occasional secondary sources I've never heard about, but the quotes are explained in layman's terms.This was probably the best resource for an essay I had to write in my English 101 class. This piece gave me lots of knowledge, lots of subcultural history that I never knew. It elegantly explained concepts about the sense of community within the gothic subculture.Even for a novice like me or for anyone who just wants a good read and maybe a teeny bit of history, this is the book. It's accurate; it's fun to read; and I would suggest it to anyone.Good reading!

Coming out of (post-)punk, Goth combined music with an aesthetic that stretched back to the Romantic era two centuries before. Even if Greil Marcus tried to link John Lydon to Levellers, Ranters to reggae, I remained unconvinced. Theoretical labor expended over punk for its overtly politicized, commodified contradictions. Coming of age along with the music I liked, I read Dick Hebdige's "Subculture: The Meaning of Style" when it came out, bright pink mohawked gal on yellow cover when it came out in '79. I tried to match my own inquiries to its theoretical template, yet I was discouraged by Birmingham School ("of Business School" as Mark E. Smith sang-- not to mention "Mod Mock Goth") jargon.Hebdige argued that a subculture's only viable as long as it appropriates and subverts everyday goods. Think of the cut-up art of the punk era. This 2002 study challenges this widespread theoretical assumption, that for sale means selling out. Hodkinson deftly deflates Hebdige with a reminder of Malcolm McLaren & Vivienne Westwood. Without their "Sex" shop on Kings Road, Chelsea, how would punk have been peddled, and where would John Lydon have been "discovered"? As a participant-turned-observer, sociologist Hodkinson adapts his Ph.D. thesis (at Birmingham) into the first mass-market study (at least that I know of) of this off-shoot of the (post-)punk era.The result dutifully follows the conventions of the genre, and plenty of social scientific references sometimes document what commonsense already proves. The book as true to its origins is meant for a seminar rather than a settee. But, as an insider, Hodkinson enriches this dense, sober, academic treatise with valuable insight into a misunderstood, stereotyped, and feared lifestyle. For, as he finds, the visually prominent identification of Goths makes them hard to hide. They share their communal identity as their primary bond. Politics, beliefs, gender, race, class: these as the author argues mean little compared to the key affiliation. Not an outward style that can be donned and discarded, but a mutual support system forms for Goths. Although I suppose this could be said for any visually apparent faction in our society, as its members find camaraderie and sustenance among those they choose to bond with and mate with and stay with.Ideals form "cultural substance." Hodkinson breaks this down into identity, commitment, consistent distinctiveness, and autonomy as four "indicative criteria" for Goth subculture. (29) In passing, he notes a crucial factor. Hostility by outsiders towards Goths reinforces Goth "holier than thou" reactions towards who's in and who's out, within the subculture according to its arbiters and gatekeepers, as well as in a more black-white fashion (as it were) between the hip and the square."Subcultural capital" accrues. Selflessness in supporting bands, making products, selling records, providing services may add up to dividends not tallied up financially so much as in terms of status within the Goth world. He examines clubs, conventions, shops, mail-order, online discussion lists, and fan sites to explain how contrary to previous critics of subculture, the "capital" is not diminished as it spreads but it is enriched, as fans use the media to enhance participation, widen contacts, and expand the impact locally and globally that Goths, as with any wired subculture, tap into and make their own.He notes sensibly that "the likelihood of an individual without an initial interest subscribing to a mailing list with 'goth' in its title was surely only slightly higher than that of the same person deciding to spend the evening in a goth pub as the result of having coincidentally having walked past it." (179) That being said, in a hipster neighborhood near me, there's now a "Goth pizzeria" that attracts celebrities. Perhaps the past decade (this book's research stops about 2000) has found the term-- as with purveyors of its accoutrements and couture for teens at malls worldwide-- more loosely applied than before?Although relatively underground, Goths rely on the wider world for materials, distribution, technology, and transportation. I would have liked attention paid to how Goths make a living if they cannot do so in the subculture, and how appeals to femininity & gender ambiguity in fashion translate into sexual and personal behavior. Did Goths share any values, any beliefs, any philosophy? The answers are not part of the questions asked for the dissertation, I guess.The music gains attention, if often secondarily to what is after all an installment in a "Dress, Body, Culture" series. Yet this overlap appears often elided in Goth studies, and merits coverage. Similarly, the heritage Goth inherits from aesthetic and literary Romantic, Victorian, and Edwardian periods in Britain deserved much more context alongside fashion trends and social theory.Still, any thesis able to sneak in a passage like this earns my nod: "Slimness of body and face, were, on the whole, also valued for females-- consistent with more dominant fashion-- although the ability to show off an ample chest with the help of a basque or other suitable low-cut top often seemed to more than compensate for those with larger general proportions." (54)P.S. The author's made his career out of his passion, and for that I admire him. He's now at the University of Surrey. I hope he follows this up with a look at the past decade of the Goth scene. A slightly more updated, if textually slighter, but tonally lighter read can be found via "Gothic Charm School" by Jillian Venters. See my review.

I haven't read this book but I know the author and his work. I attended a conference that Paul organized. He's one of the nicest people I've ever met in academia. He is also amazingly Goth. He is tall, thin, pale has long jet black hair and an enormous lip piercing. He wears "respectable" clothing on campus but every bit of it is black or dark grey. Anyway, as dark as he is still a working scholar writing as a working scholar primarily for other working scholars. So reality check people. This is an ACADEMIC BOOK. Don't expect it to be a how to be a Goth book, or a book exponding some particular Gothic style over any other, or a Goth expose. If that's what you want buy another book! I am giving it five stars because I know both his theory and methodology and they are first rate.

Bought this as a gift for my PhD supervisor who had a passing interest in Goths. There are few academic works in this field so he was delighted with the book. Relatively good condition but the detail was more important. Great buy. Great value. Great Scott!!!

Hodkinson's study on Goth culture is great to use as a source for papers. His insider perspective meshes with his academic focus and he offers tons of quantitative data later in the book. It's actually a fun read too.

A well-researched sociological study of the goth subculture as it was in the 1990s. A lot of "Goth experts" on YouTube and similar keep recommending this so I thought it'd be a good idea to take a look. I was in the scene from about 1986 onwards & it tallies with a lot of what I saw - indeed, I keep recognising old friends from the photographs. I would caution folks though against putting too much store by studies of past decades in Goth though. What it shows, and what many ignore, is that over the decades from 1979 or so when it started, Goth has changed and adapted, bringing in different styles of music and dress. What I see now though is that it has largely stagnated since about 2000 - if there's anything "new" in goth, it gets sneered at by 20 & 30-something goths whose view of the culture is largely obtained from books like this. Goth was never a conservative thing when I was a kid. It was a subculture, a rebellion against stultifying forces of conformity. To this end, I and many of the now "elder" goths I knew back in 1980s Birmingham are embracing the nu-goth & witch house scenes. We don't want our goth subculture locked down. Let it continue to be fluid and changing. But yeah, if you're looking for a view of how it was nearly 30 years ago, this is one of the classics.

Hated this book, boring in the extreme