Originally Broadcast: November 23, 2014
How much intellectual power have you put into the terms ‘hipster’ or ‘bogan’ to really consider what defines them, or where these terms come from? Maybe a little bit, maybe not a lot, but maybe not as much as Dr. Steven Threadgold, who is beginning to write on his research into how the terms relate to Australia’s issues with class and identity. Steve is Head of Sociology and Anthropology at the University of Newcastle – and he’s recently written for the Australian Sociological Association’s youth blog on ‘Hipsters, Bogans, and Contemporary Class Anxieties’ – providing a rough taxonomy of either term and what they actually may mean for Australia’s apparently ‘classless’ society.
As Steve discusses, he doesn’t actually feel there are ‘bogans’ or ‘hipsters’ – but that these are fluid terms we may be using to define ourselves, more than pointing out others. An interesting synthesis occurs however in Australian underground music cultures, as Steve considers what is ‘Dolewave’ – a term that has recently come to define a branch of Australian music with bands like Dick Diver, Twerps, The UV Race and Brisbane’s Scrabbled being dolted a largely dismissed term.
The Australian Sociological Association’s Youth Blog: tasayouth.wordpress.com
We also featured a bit of this New Age Bogan video.