IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsoctx/v9y2019i3p58-d257654.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Between Pleasure and Resistance: The Role of Substance Consumption in an Italian Working-Class Subculture

Author

Listed:
  • Matteo Di Placido

    (Department of Sociology and Social Research, University of Milan—Bicocca, 20126 Milan, Italy)

Abstract

In this article I discuss how illegal substance consumption can act as a tool of resistance and as an identity signifier for young people through a covert ethnographic case study of a working-class subculture in Genoa, North-Western Italy. I develop my argument through a coupled reading of the work of the Centre for Contemporary Cultural Studies (CCCS) and more recent post-structural developments in the fields of youth studies and cultural critical criminology. I discuss how these apparently contrasting lines of inquiry, when jointly used, shed light on different aspects of the cultural practices of specific subcultures contributing to reflect on the study of youth cultures and subcultures in today’s society and overcoming some of the ‘dead ends’ of the opposition between the scholarly categories of subculture and post-subculture. In fact, through an analysis of the sites , socialization processes , and hedonistic ethos of the subculture, I show how within a single subculture there could be a coexistence of: resistance practices and subversive styles of expression as the CCCS research program posits; and signs of fragmentary and partial aesthetic engagements devoid of political contents and instead primarily oriented towards the affirmation of the individual, as argued by the adherents of the post-subcultural position.

Suggested Citation

  • Matteo Di Placido, 2019. "Between Pleasure and Resistance: The Role of Substance Consumption in an Italian Working-Class Subculture," Societies, MDPI, vol. 9(3), pages 1-21, August.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsoctx:v:9:y:2019:i:3:p:58-:d:257654
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2075-4698/9/3/58/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2075-4698/9/3/58/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Daniel Nyberg, 2008. "The Morality of Everyday Activities: Not the Right, But the Good Thing To Do," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 81(3), pages 587-598, September.
    2. Carlo Genova, 2018. "Youth Activism in Political Squats between Centri Sociali and Case Occupate," Societies, MDPI, vol. 8(3), pages 1-25, September.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Ángel Rodríguez-López & Jaime E. Souto, 2020. "Empowering entrepreneurial capacity: training, innovation and business ethics," Eurasian Business Review, Springer;Eurasia Business and Economics Society, vol. 10(1), pages 23-43, March.
    2. Janet Kottke & Kathie Pelletier, 2013. "Measuring and Differentiating Perceptions of Supervisor and Top Leader Ethics," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 113(3), pages 415-428, March.
    3. Carlo Genova, 2020. "Participation with Style. Clothing among Young Activists in Political Groups," Societies, MDPI, vol. 10(3), pages 1-22, July.
    4. Nicos Scordis, 2011. "The Morality of Risk Modeling," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 103(1), pages 7-16, April.
    5. Suzy Jagger & Haytham Siala & Diane Sloan, 2016. "It's All in the Game: A 3D Learning Model for Business Ethics," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 137(2), pages 383-403, August.
    6. Kahina Le Louvier & Perla Innocenti, 2022. "Heritage as an affective and meaningful information literacy practice: An interdisciplinary approach to the integration of asylum seekers and refugees," Journal of the Association for Information Science & Technology, Association for Information Science & Technology, vol. 73(5), pages 687-701, May.
    7. Hank Johnston, 2019. "The Elephant in the Room: Youth, Cognition, and Student Groups in Mass Social Movements," Societies, MDPI, vol. 9(3), pages 1-19, August.
    8. Mikko Vesa & Frank den Hond & J. Tuomas Harviainen, 2019. "On the Possibility of a Paratelic Initiation of Organizational Wrongdoing," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 160(1), pages 1-15, November.
    9. Ozgur Demirtas & Sean T. Hannah & Kubilay Gok & Aykut Arslan & Nejat Capar, 2017. "The Moderated Influence of Ethical Leadership, Via Meaningful Work, on Followers’ Engagement, Organizational Identification, and Envy," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 145(1), pages 183-199, September.
    10. Yang, Zhao & Algesheimer, René & Dholakia, Utpal, 2017. "When Ethical Transgressions of Customers Have Beneficial Long-Term Effects in Retailing: An Empirical Investigation," Journal of Retailing, Elsevier, vol. 93(4), pages 420-439.
    11. Bernard Cova & Gerald Gaglio & Juliette Weber & Philippe Chanial, 2018. "Organizational Sensemaking of Non-ethical Consumer Behavior: Case Study of a French Mutual Insurance Company," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 148(4), pages 783-799, April.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jsoctx:v:9:y:2019:i:3:p:58-:d:257654. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.