There are so many subcultural groups everywhere you go. Many are considered different from eachother. In high school I remember how segregated it was between groups of people with different interests. I don’t want to sound cliché, but here is a small list of groups: “emo”, goths, jocks, “nerds”, hipsters, etc. I found it interesting how Asians were a made up of such a large number of groups of their own with no apparent similar interests. Within the group of Asians, I personally saw many subcultures span out more than any other group. There were the smart and nerdy, preppy, "ghetto", ricers, jocks, fob (sorry if offensive) and so much more. But because of the fact that they even share this identity they are able to form a group out of their own difference to the rest of the population. And I’m sure each group of people consider themselves to be “normal”. But the definition of difference in New Keywords states it’s “the quality of being unlike or dissimilar”. And how is being unlike or dissimilar judged? Basing it from being different than “normal” is still so vague and left up to the interpretation of each individual. But the fact is that every subcultural group was formed out of having an uncommon yet common interest that is different to anything else. And you can still see this difference extended into the college atmosphere of clubs and fraternities. They gather and recruit anyone that share a common interest to form a their own society or extend an existing one. And it comes down to whether the word different holds a positive, negative or neutral implication. Having to describe someone as different doesn’t necessarily have a positive sound, since different would mean “abnormal” to many people. Being misunderstood is one of the biggest problems that cause a separation and a possibly negative connotation to the word different. And we still see this separation of ideals that creates misconceptions between each subculture. If it weren’t for diversity there wouldn’t be a difference in the world and everything would just seem monotonous. Nothing would hype your curiosity because you would already know what’s going to happen.
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3 comments:
It is an interesting post about subculture. I think you should proofread your blog before you post it because I noticed some awkward sentences. For example, I think "eachother" should be "each other" and there are several "And" in the beginning of sentences. Overall, it is a great post!
Yes, this is an interesting and thoughtful post on the subject of difference and subcultures. As you can see, it is easy to find oneself talking in a circle about these things: a subculture is abnormal, but must have a normative frame of consistency in order to count as a subculture, and therefore thinks of its members as subculturally-normal, so that to try to fit into a subculture one has to abide by certain standards of the normal; or, if one is deemed abnormal, one has to find another subculture to be a part of, or found a new one altogether. This barrage of differences and similarities is difficult to wrap one's mind around.
This is a very interesting post dealing with different groups of people. I think the word difference is quite interesting when we want to apply that to people. I remember when I was in the dorms, there were different groups of people, although I lived in building which was exclusively for Asians. So whenever I mention where I had lived during my freshmen year, people thought I am a racist, or a fob. However, within the building, there were different groups of people- the geeks, the "fresh fobs", the "not-so-fresh fobs" and the Asian-American. I don't quite remember which group I actually belonged to. Anyhow, people different belong to a subgroup in order to look normal in front of other groups. However, so people just see that group of people as abnormal rather than seeing an individual as a "weirdo". Therefore, in the world where the word difference exists, people definitely categorize people/ groups and we use the word difference to help us express the way we feel about certain groups of people. Difference is not a negative/ positive/ neutral term; it is just a word to express how we think.
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