Email Response from Professor Peter Golding!!

Email Correspondence with Professor Peter Golding (Professor of sociology at Northumbria university)

24 November 2010

1. What do you feel self image and style has do with our role in society?

Prof Peter Golding: “The way we dress has an impact on how we are viewed upon or categorized in society. Whether we are at work, school, or simply taking a stroll in the park, we are judged just because of our clothing. We are a society quick to judge because of the "outside" which denies us the opportunity to really know a person at times from the "inside." The fact of the matter is, clothing plays a key role in how we live our lives in many ways and in how we will be portrayed or even 

Email Interview with David Ledman (gay Skinhead)

Email Correspondence with David Ledma (out gay Skinhead)

1 December 2010

1. Do you feel being gay plays a part in you being a skinhead?

David:  “I was a skinhead that just happened to be gay. It had nothing to do with the fetishes you hear about. Being gay isn’t a problem for me; I identify predominately as a Skinhead, then as gay. I became a skinhead in 2010 when I was 13, I’m a genuine skin.”

The Subcultures Reader: Ken Gelder

subcultures are groups of people that are represented - or who represent themselves

as distinct from normative social values or 'mainstream' culture through their particular 

i

nterests and practices, through what they are, what they do and where they do it. 

They come in many different forms, from teds and skinheads to skateboarders, 

clubbers, New Age travellers, graffiti artists and comic book fans.

Anna Freud

The ego and the mechanisms of defence: Identification with the aggressor


this study looks at the idea of taking in the characteristics of the aggressor 
as a way of reducing anxiety 

Skinhead Normalisation

Skinheads, however, can be defined by much more than racial discrimination. They make up a brotherhood of people united under one cause. To gain a better understanding of the practices of Skinheads, we consulted an online forum called the Skinhead Forum. We created a username, ResKins, short for Research Skins, and began to converse with Skinheads about their ideology, their history and their passion. The insight we gained directly from Skinheads provided us with an image that was remarkably different from the image we found in books, on websites and in scholarly journal articles.


www.skinheadz.com/docs/history/2009/042301.html

Gay Skinheads, A Fetish?

To most people, "gay skinheads" seems like a contradiction in terms. But in fact, there is a significant number of people who identify themselves this way. They are, by & large, non-political. That is to say that they are NOT neo-nazis. Their belief system has nothing to do with racism or white supremacy.
They are, however, interested in many things that the gay population at large does not embrace. This includes military and militaristic idealism, and an unusually strong sense of discipline. They often engage in dominant/submissive sexual behavior, and generally have an affinity for leather, rubber, bondage, water sports, and other "hard core" sexual activities. One thing they definitely all seem to have in common is an overwhelming love of 


boots.www.actwin.com/toaph/life/primitive/skin/skin.html

IDEOLOGY OF GAY RACIALIST SKINHEADS

Gay racialists have received scant attention by academic researchers. While many dismiss gay skinheads as a contradiction in terms, these individuals provide an opportunity to explore sociologically the strategies used to both challenge the homophobia of white power groups and manage the stigma of homosexuality. An analysis of a gay racialist website reveals 7 rhetorical strategies including: minimizing the stigma, appealing to master status, appealing to higher loyalties, attacking the stigmatizers, blaming the victimizers, denying the oppressor, and rejecting the stigmatizer. Content on gay racialist message boards suggests that sexual networking and not racial politics is the primary function of these sites. Yet, we note the potential for these boards to function as a transformative-prefigurative space or a place for gay racialists to connect with one another and potentially the larger White Power movement


http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa3719/is_200607/ai_n16855775/

1960-today: Skinhead Culture

"Most people’s reaction to the word ‘skinhead’ is not a good one. As a cultural group, skinheads have been seen as stupid, violent, racists. No one here is going to deny that a lot of skins have been involved in far-right groups or held racist views, but the origins of skinhead culture were much more linked to multi-racial working class unity than any kind of white pride bollocks."

Lower Class Culture as a Generating Milieu of Gang Delinquency

Walter Miller
Miller (1958, 1959) agreed with Cohen that there was a delinquency subculture, but argued that it arose entirely from the lower class way of life. There was a clear distinction in values between the two social classes. Whereas the middle class is achievement and social goal oriented, Miller thought that lower class parents were more concerned with ensuring that their children stayed out of trouble, e.g. sons avoiding fights and daughters avoiding pregnancy. Boys were expected to be tough and street-smart which gave them an incentive to join a gang. Given that their ordinary lives were boring, the excitement of crime was a welcome relief, bringing a sense of autonomy by denying the social controls imposed by the state. For the middle class, the most important institutions are family, work, and (for the child) school. For the lower class another institution plays a crucial role – the same sex peer group or gang is more important than family, work or school because it offers a sense of belonging, and a way to achieve status that they cannot easily achieve in mainstream society. Thus, delinquency was not a reaction against middle class values but rather a means of living up to their own cultural expectations for toughness and smartness. Indeed, the gang only recruited the most “able” members, so membership of a gang confirmed high status. Most delinquency is non violent and while thefts are more common than any kind of assault, they are, relatively rare. violence when it does occur is a response to apparent insults or rejection by specific people, not a random outpouring of senseless aggression

Aggression and Violence

Peter Marsh & Anna Campbell


Aggression and Violence offers a multitude of perspectives on violent and aggressive behavior. The editors have included contributions from areas as diverse as child development, communications, social administration and anthropology, some areas assess recent and current research, while others examine wider theoretical problems. Juxtaposed with them are the views of people whose direct contact with violence lends their work particular conviction and authority.