Heavy Metal as a subculture

Absztrakt (kivonat)

This thesis tries to give an overview of the Heavy Metal subculture which emerged in the early 1980s. The subculture attracts countless members throughout the world. The aim of the thesis is to understand the way of thinking, the mentality of the members and tries to find if there is any evidence for socially problematic ideas like homophobia, sexism or racism. In order to gain data the thesis is based on an evaluation of the main sociological concepts of subculture. The sociological theories counter culture, cool pose, elitism, magical resistance, labeling theory and moral panics will be defined and a general history of Heavy Metal and its sociological attributes will be introduced. Further the thesis is backed by four recorded semi structured interviews with Heavy Metal members from Germany and a field research on a Heavy Metal festival ibid. The field research gave insight in the activities of the attenders and their behavior which was mainly listening to the concert, talking about music and drinking alcohol in a peaceful manner. The results of the research are that Heavy Metal is split mainly into many different subgenres that are then further split between underground and mainstream directions. This makes generalization of the subculture impossible but it was brought in knowledge that the reactionary tendencies can be found mainly in the traditionalist underground directions of the subculture whereas modern subgenres that take on influences from other musical genres tend to be more open and tolerant. However there could be an indicator for such ideas. Further it was learned that Heavy Metal member’s motivation to join the subculture are passion for music, need for a community and escapism. Devotion and dedication are seen as vital components of the subculture and finally there is a big tendency towards elitism, respectively isolation from mainstream society or other subcultures.