Reading: Thornton, Club Cultures

1. According to Thornton, what is "subcultural capital"? How does it rest on taste and distinctions between authentic/phoney, hip/mainstream, underground/the media? How do these distinctions help to make "'meaning in the service of power'" (10)?

2. How does Thornton combine history and ethnography? How does her approach compare to that of other historically-informed ethnographies we have read?

3. What role does gender play in club culture?

4. Why have social theorists denigrated mass or popular culture, and why does Thornton see it as important to study?

5. Raves and other dance venues constitute temporary communities based on "taste cultures." How does the fluidity of these ad hoc communities affect ethnography? What methods does Thornton use to study them?

6. What do you think of Thornton's decision to try Ecstasy? How does it compare to Bourgois's decision with respect to the substances used by the individuals he studied?

 

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