Subcultures are groups whose values and related behaviors are so distinct that they set their members off from the general culture. Each subculture is a world within the larger world of the dominant culture, and has a distinctive way of looking at life, but remains compatible with the dominant culture.
•
•
U.S. society contains thousands of subcultures, some as broad as the way of life we associate with teenagers, others as narrow as body builders or philosophers.
Ethnic groups often form subcultures with their own language, distinctive food, religious practices and other customs.
Countercultures are groups whose values set their members in opposition to the dominant culture. Countercultures usually challenge the culture's core values.
Many countercultures are seen as negative: some heavy metal adherents, who glorify Satanism, hatred, cruelty, rebellion, sexism, violence, and death, are an example of such a negative counterculture. Other countercultures are not seen as negative: the Mormons would be an example of a counterculture because they challenged the core value of monogamy, and yet they were not seen as negative.
Some Subcultures & Countercultures:
• animal rights( Vegans; PETA, etc)
•
• militia movement feminism
•
•
•
•
Mafia environmentalism racial supremacists, racial separatists (Neo Nazis, Ku Klux Klan, skinheads.)
Mormons or Amish
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
• science fiction (including comics, Star Trek, Star Wars)
Satanism bodybuilders
Aryan Nation
Alcoholics Anonymous
Dead Heads
Goth, Rave, Vampire, etc. cyber-culture, technophiles, Computer Geeks