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Club Cultures: Music, Media, and Subcultural Capital
A close look at the music and culture of dance clubs and the "rave" phenomenon..
Focusing on youth cultures that revolve around dance clubs and raves in Great Britain and the U.S., Sarah Thornton highlights the values of authenticity and hipness and explores the complex hierarchies that emerge within the domain of popular culture. She portrays club cultures as "taste cultures" brought together by micro-media like flyers and listings, transformed into self-conscious "subcultures" by such niche media as the music and style press, and sometimes recast as "movements" with the aid of such mass media as tabloid newspaper front pages. She also traces changes in the recording medium from a marginal entertainment in the 50s to the clubs and raves of the 90s.
Drawing on the work of Pierre Bourdieu, Thornton coins the term "subcultural capital" to make sense of distinctions made by "cool" youth, noting particularly their disparagement of the "mainstream" against which they measure their alternative cultural worth. Well supported with case studies, readable, and innovative, Club Cultures will become a key text in cultural and media studies and in the sociology of culture.
Focusing on youth cultures that revolve around dance clubs and raves in Great Britain and the U.S., Sarah Thornton highlights the values of authenticity and hipness and explores the complex hierarchies that emerge within the domain of popular culture. She portrays club cultures as "taste cultures" brought together by micro-media like flyers and listings, transformed into self-conscious "subcultures" by such niche media as the music and style press, and sometimes recast as "movements" with the aid of such mass media as tabloid newspaper front pages. She also traces changes in the recording medium from a marginal entertainment in the 50s to the clubs and raves of the 90s.
Drawing on the work of Pierre Bourdieu, Thornton coins the term "subcultural capital" to make sense of distinctions made by "cool" youth, noting particularly their disparagement of the "mainstream" against which they measure their alternative cultural worth. Well supported with case studies, readable, and innovative, Club Cultures will become a key text in cultural and media studies and in the sociology of culture.
191 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1995
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About the author
Sarah Thornton
19 books268 followersSarah Thornton was the chief writer on contemporary art for The Economist. She holds a BA in art history and a PhD in sociology.
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
November 18, 2024
one of those books that im sad more people won't read because the topic is kinda niche but i think the insights are applicable to anyone interested in community-building, music technology, cultural studies, and prefigurative politics. thornton's writing is so accessible and fun to read!!!!!
some quotes:
“In an age of endless representations and global mediation, the experience of musical authenticity is perceived as a cure both for alienation (because it offers feelings of community) and dissimulation (because it extends a sense of the really ‘real’).”
"in the absence of visually commanding performers, the gaze of the audience has turned back on itself. watching and being seen are key pleasures of discotheques."
“To be ‘hip’ is to be privy to insider knowledges that are threatened by the general distribution and easy access of mass media.”
"Nothing depletes capital more than the sight of someone trying too hard."
"The assertion of subcultural distinction relies, in part, on a fantasy of classlessness."
"This institutional state of affairs is arguably the precondition for that oft-celebrated experience of social harmony, the thrill of belonging afforded by clubs. In other words, although some clubbers complain about the gatekeeping practices which assemble, construct and limit the crowd, these practices are undoubtedly a problematic part of their appeal.”
"The categories ‘black’ and ‘white’ are often used as shorthand for these different sets of cultural values. In practice, however, it is very difficult to map this terrain in these terms because dance music is characterized by a constant borrowing and hybridization."
“in a post-industrial world where consumers are incited to individualize themselves and where the operations of power seem to favour classification and segregation, it is hard to regard difference as necessarily progressive.”
“in sum, authenticity is to music what happy endings are to hollywood cinema – the reassuring reward for suspending disbelief.”
some quotes:
“In an age of endless representations and global mediation, the experience of musical authenticity is perceived as a cure both for alienation (because it offers feelings of community) and dissimulation (because it extends a sense of the really ‘real’).”
"in the absence of visually commanding performers, the gaze of the audience has turned back on itself. watching and being seen are key pleasures of discotheques."
“To be ‘hip’ is to be privy to insider knowledges that are threatened by the general distribution and easy access of mass media.”
"Nothing depletes capital more than the sight of someone trying too hard."
"The assertion of subcultural distinction relies, in part, on a fantasy of classlessness."
"This institutional state of affairs is arguably the precondition for that oft-celebrated experience of social harmony, the thrill of belonging afforded by clubs. In other words, although some clubbers complain about the gatekeeping practices which assemble, construct and limit the crowd, these practices are undoubtedly a problematic part of their appeal.”
"The categories ‘black’ and ‘white’ are often used as shorthand for these different sets of cultural values. In practice, however, it is very difficult to map this terrain in these terms because dance music is characterized by a constant borrowing and hybridization."
“in a post-industrial world where consumers are incited to individualize themselves and where the operations of power seem to favour classification and segregation, it is hard to regard difference as necessarily progressive.”
“in sum, authenticity is to music what happy endings are to hollywood cinema – the reassuring reward for suspending disbelief.”
August 18, 2015
I rather enjoyed this book reading it 20 years after it was published. Re-interpreting ones own past experiences. It clarified a lot of ideas that I had been invaded with after reading Bourdieu's 'Distinction' and trying to apply his ideas to my personal situation. I am also reminded of Thomas Frank's writings that similarly question the ideological narrative of "alternative" cultures revealing their ultimately capitalist and 'neo-liberal' motivations.
July 7, 2014
Interesting take on the mainstream vs subculture. Short read.
July 25, 2018
Sí queréis un estudio sobre la cultura rave y clubber que durante finales de los 80 y primeros de los 90 se estableció sobre todo en el Reino Unido, este libro vale mucho la pena. Desmarcándose del típico repaso sociológico, con el autor escribiendo desde fuera del fenómeno, Sarah Thornton hizo un trabajo de campo interesante metiéndose de lleno en la escena. Al ser un libro publicado en los 90 chirría un poco la aproximación que hace al fenómeno mediático como influencia sobre las subculturas, acostumbrados cómo estamos a internet y redes sociales como paradigma del cambio en este siglo. Pese a ello, es interesante porque ofrece una ventana a un momento muy concreto y uno de los grandes vectores subculturales de la época. Recomendable.
November 29, 2022
While I don't completely agree with her critique of the Birmingham School, I still really enjoyed this book and really liked her tracing of club music history. Her framing of the record object as a site of culture is very cool.
September 25, 2025
Thornton innovates in this book. They introduce the term taste cultures that characterise subcultures and their taste in music, fashion, and media. Such taste indicates the accumulation of subcultural capital. The book is well written, enjoyable, well supported and scientifically sound.
November 21, 2022
Made some questionable comments about zines and female representation. Regardless, I liked her definitions of subcultures to frame the research, had enough of Dick Hedige meaning of style.
September 18, 2024
A seminal work for the basis of my masters' thesis. Enjoyed the development of subcultural capital
October 12, 2025
*3.5 stars
left a little to be desired but otherwise very interesting read and topic. interesting to think about this in comparison to how social media changed the landscape even more.
left a little to be desired but otherwise very interesting read and topic. interesting to think about this in comparison to how social media changed the landscape even more.
September 5, 2012
Good one
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews