MA thesis

[heresiarch]

My MA thesis is finally up and available for download as a PDF if any of you wanted to read it:

Beyond the Meaning of Style: Cultural Capital, Social Networks and Youth SubcultureThe cover page is separate, though

Comments

[atalanta]

congratulations on putting "cultural capital" in the title ;)
I'll read it this weekend probably.

[heresiarch]

yay! i'd really love to hear your thoughts. i did a lot of work on cultural capital, actually, and social capital too. this entailed reading way too much Bourdieu, except, i really like Bourdieu and his take on poststructuralism :).

it's a bit long, so at least take a look at the intro and conclusion. i did try to divide it up into smaller sections, which will hopefully make for more productive skimming.

[heresiarch]

hee :). i think i did a whole bunch of academic-talking in my thesis, as i kinda had to. although, i'm not sure i actually used the word "instantiate" after all -- but definitely "interrogate," i really like to interrogate cultural concepts! :D

so you should read my thesis, it's all about cultural & social capital (and subcultural capital!). and if anyone at your job gives you a hard time, just say you're reading a student's paper, 'cause hey, i used to be a student where you work :).

[heresiarch]

Glad you enjoyed it, and thanks for taking the time to read it all! I think part of the problem is that I wasn't able to conduct more extensive ethnography, so I could only rely on my interviews and past experiences. You're totally right about how girl DJs are expected to dress up much more so than boy DJs (and think about how we have special all-girl DJ nights but no equivalent for male DJs, because of course, that's not necessary or unusual).

There is actually a _very_ interesting article on gender dynamics in the goth scene, in which the author studies a certain club in Western Mass that shall go unnamed, but let's just say you've been there a few times :). It looks like you can download it here, but if you can't and you want to read it, let me know and I'll email my copy to you. The article is pretty solid in terms of gender analysis, but a little weak in her knowledge of the goth scene. Given that you know some of the people interviewed, you'll at least be entertained!

[atalanta]

heh - weird. yesterday I read your thesis, and today I ended up by chance in a lunch discussion of Bourdieu, self-identified social class, and cultural capital in academia. not a bit notable in some fields, but I ain't in that branch of psych :)

[heresiarch]

yay for synchronicity :). see, and you were all prepped to summarize bourdieu, right? :D