From criminality to creativity: how studies of surfer subcultures reinvented invention

Abstract

This article explores the shifting context within which surfing subcultures have been surveyed and discussed. Once construed as paradigmatic examples of 'deviant' youth cultures, these subcultures have recently been lauded for their creativity, innovativeness and entrepreneurialism. The text shows how contemporary management theory, which aims to 'reinvent invention', fits into a genre previously established by criminological studies of surfers. This article also argues that the field of sports studies has mediated between these two social scientific disciplines: sports studies scholars have contributed to the reappraisal of surfing subcultures, being early in explicating the enterprising potential of the 'subterranean' values they espouse. Studies of surfing can thus be construed as instrumental in bringing about recent mutations within contemporary capitalism.

Inauthentically Intense: Coveillance and Consumer Culture among Speedsurfers

“…Surfing-related sports perform the "play function", related to recreation and "removal of institutional constraints" (1993: 13). Given these conceptions of surfing, propagated both within popular culture and within social science, it is no wonder that the surfer has become an emblematic figure of creativity and transgression within contemporary capitalism (Žižek 2004: 184;Palmås 2014).…”

Carving in and "Carving Out" Space:

“…However, this does not account for the male and nonbinary participants who started in more private settings or the fact that three of these skaters experienced intimidation when moving to a new skateboarding scene. Regardless of gender, new skateboarders must establish and present their authenticity through skill and cultural knowledge to gain access (Palmas 2013). In turn, this may explain why these three skateboarders described their feelings of intimidation as subsiding once they established themselves within the community.…”

“…'Core' skateboarders, or those perceived by skateboarders as authentic, are regulators of social mobility and producers of specific subcultural knowledge (Dupont 2014). Admission hinges on being perceived as authentic as anyone seeking acceptance must attempt to adopt the socially constructed skateboarding norms and present visible traits and skills or manifestations of cultural knowledge and anti-authoritarian values (Driver 2011;Dupont 2014;Harris and Dacin 2019;Palmas 2013). The 'core' skateboarders socialize, accept, or reject new members based on their discretion of whether an individual is authentic or upholds the culture's values (Dupont 2014;Lombard 2010;Palmas 2013).…”

“…Admission hinges on being perceived as authentic as anyone seeking acceptance must attempt to adopt the socially constructed skateboarding norms and present visible traits and skills or manifestations of cultural knowledge and anti-authoritarian values (Driver 2011;Dupont 2014;Harris and Dacin 2019;Palmas 2013). The 'core' skateboarders socialize, accept, or reject new members based on their discretion of whether an individual is authentic or upholds the culture's values (Dupont 2014;Lombard 2010;Palmas 2013). Individuals constantly search for cues on how to act and belong, adjusting their own 'presentation of self' to avoid scrutiny (Goffman 1959;Newman and O'Brien 2008).…”

Branded fitness: Exercise and promotional culture

“…While there is work within media studies on sports, the emphasis tends toward viewership and audience (Dart, 2014; Horne, 2006; Moor, 2006, 2007). Sports are also studied from various angles within sociology and cultural studies with topics from gender inequality in sports (Schultz, 2014) to gambling (Figone, 2012) to childhood play (Willis, 1991) to subcultures (Palmås, 2014). Fitness, an activity that we distinguish from sports, often gets lost within these texts.…”