Alternative culture is a type of
culture
Culture ( ) is a concept that encompasses the social behavior, institutions, and Social norm, norms found in human societies, as well as the knowledge, beliefs, arts, laws, Social norm, customs, capabilities, Attitude (psychology), attitudes ...
that exists outside or on the fringes of mainstream or
popular culture
Popular culture (also called pop culture or mass culture) is generally recognized by members of a society as a set of cultural practice, practices, beliefs, artistic output (also known as popular art f. pop art
F is the sixth letter of the Latin alphabet.
F may also refer to:
Science and technology Mathematics
* F or f, the number 15 (number), 15 in hexadecimal and higher positional systems
* ''p'F'q'', the hypergeometric function
* F-distributi ...
or mass art, sometimes contraste ...
, usually under the domain of one or more
subculture
A subculture is a group of people within a culture, cultural society that differentiates itself from the values of the conservative, standard or dominant culture to which it belongs, often maintaining some of its founding principles. Subcultures ...
s. These subcultures may have little or nothing in common besides their relative obscurity, but
cultural studies
Cultural studies is an academic field that explores the dynamics of contemporary culture (including the politics of popular culture) and its social and historical foundations. Cultural studies researchers investigate how cultural practices rel ...
uses this common basis of obscurity to classify them as alternative cultures, or, taken as a whole, the alternative culture. Compare with the more politically charged term,
counterculture
A counterculture is a culture whose values and norms of behavior differ substantially from those of mainstream society, sometimes diametrically opposed to mainstream cultural mores.Eric Donald Hirsch. ''The Dictionary of Cultural Literacy''. Ho ...
.
History
Alternative societies have probably always existed, but their peak was during World War II.
In 1960 they experienced a boom, some of which have survived to this day.
Currently, alternative societies are being created for various reasons, for example loneliness.
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See also
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Further reading
*''The Rebel Sell
''The Rebel Sell: Why the Culture Can't be Jammed'' (released in the United States as ''Nation of Rebels: Why Counterculture Became Consumer Culture'') is a non-fiction book written by Canadian authors Joseph Heath and Andrew Potter in 2004. The ...
: Why the Culture Can't be Jammed'', Heath, Joseph & Potter, Andrew, Harper Perennial, 2004,
*''The Conquest of Cool: Business Culture, Counterculture and the Rise of Hip Consumerism'', Frank, Thomas, University of Chicago Press, 1998,
*''Commodify Your Dissent: Salvos from The Baffler'', essay collection, WW Norton & Co, 1997,
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Subcultures