Western Studies

With the rapid economic recovery in the Western world after World War II, the rise of popular culture attracted more and more young people, who became the new focus of subcultural research. Tony Jefferson’s work reminds us of the role of mass media in the formation of subculture: popular culture like Hippie and Punk spread by television or film created a "popular fantasy" for youth to rebel against the middle-class value stressing responsibility and convention. Hebdige employs "style" to depict such a rebellion. He considers the special expression methods like graffiti as "means which express, in code, a form of resistance to the order which guarantees their continued subordination."