Fashion as Protest: 3 Historical Examples of Dress as Dissent

By the 1970s, Britain faced cascading crises that dismantled post-war stability. The American civil rights movement inspired Northern Irish protests that descended into The Troubles, culminating in Bloody Sunday (1972) which killed 14 protesters. South Asian migration overtook Caribbean immigration, further diversifying British society. Britain's special relationship with America deteriorated after Suez and Vietnam. Economic problems intensified: unemployment reached 1 million in 1976, energy shortages imposed a three-day working week, and stagflation defied economic understanding. The Winter of Discontent (1978-79) saw public sector strikes that generated public outrage, marking the definitive breakdown of post-war political consensus between Britain's two main parties.

The 1970s in Britain witnessed profound social, economic, and cultural transformations. In April 1971, unemployment reached 815,000—the highest since 1939—representing the highest rate for 30 years. While not as severe as the 1930s, it carried significant psychological weight on people raised to believe working was most important. Simultaneously, the Welsh Language Association promoted Welsh nationalism, focusing on defending and extending the Welsh language, which had been declining under English pressure. This movement continued through Conservative government and eventually led to the 1967 and 1993 Welsh Language Acts. In popular music, the Reading Festival in June 1971 marked punk rock's inclusion, while progressive rock emerged with longer pieces, classical influences, and philosophical themes. The BBC's 'Old Grey Whistle Test' began taking popular music seriously as art. Spaghetti Junction opened in 1971 as an engineering marvel, reflecting attitudes where motorways were seen as proof of progress rather than unfortunate necessities. In publishing, 'The Little Red School Book' was released in 1971, offering advice on organizing against authority and frank sex education, which was banned under the Obscene Publications Act. In education, the comprehensive school system merged grammar schools and secondary modern schools, ending the traditional division based on intelligence at age 11. This enabled university access regardless of school type. In 1972, 43% of young people left school with no qualifications, but by 2016 this dropped to 1%. Radical movements emerged: the Vietnam War campaign crystallized rejection of imperialism, and the nuclear disarmament movement organized marches from London to Aldermaston, combining popular music with radical politics. John Peel presented progressive rock bands and radical poets like Adrian Mitchell. The police force underwent reform under Robert Mark in 1972, who arrested corrupt officers and famously stated a good police force arrests more crooks than its employees. In 1971, only 53% of women between 16 and 64 were employed compared to 92% of men, showing substantial gender inequality that would advance slowly. The women's liberation movement was hugely varied, but Spare Rib was the first mass market publication, getting into high street newspaper sellers and continuing for 20+ years. It spawned reading groups for consciousness raising—the idea that people pushed down by oppression need to work on how they see themselves. In October 1972, three Cambridge colleges finally had to admit women. In media, Emmerdale Farm began in 1972 and continues today, representing soap operas about ordinary people with loyal followings. Coronation Street has aired since 1960, and Eastenders since 1985. These shows gradually introduced social questions, including the first black family, first trans character, and first gay man, watched by 10 million people—cultural events unlike documentaries watched by small minorities.

The mid-20th century civil rights movement evolved through key phases: the Montgomery Bus Boycott (1955-1956), sparked by Rosa Parks' arrest and Emmett Till's lynching, which established nonviolent resistance as a powerful strategy and led to a Supreme Court ruling against segregated seating; followed by the lunch counter sit-ins (1960), where students like the Greensboro Four challenged segregation at Woolworth's, spreading to 126 cities and over 50,000 protesters; and the Freedom Rides (1961), which challenged interstate segregation and forced federal intervention, demonstrating how peaceful protest combined with strategic economic pressure could overcome segregationist resistance.

In 1950, Baltimore's population topped out at 950,000 people, of whom 24 percent were black. Then the white movement to the suburbs began in earnest, and the population inside city limits steadily declined and became proportionately more black. School integration initially went smoothly as city elites suppressed working-class white complaints, with white families migrating to suburban school systems. By the 1970s, formerly white schools had become mostly black schools, though whites still made up most of the faculty and administration. Worse, the school system became dependent on federal funding. In 1974, these circumstances led to two dramatic incidents: a teachers' strike highlighted the city's unwillingness to raise teachers' salaries because property tax hikes would alienate white residents; a second crisis revolved around a federally mandated desegregation plan that also threatened to alienate remaining white residents. The local chapter of the NAACP, black churches, and the Afro-American weekly newspaper organized demonstrations. Read's Drug Store in Baltimore was the site of one of the nation's earliest sit-ins in January 1955.

After World War II, Britain experienced a period of economic prosperity where wages continued to rise for about 15 years. This economic boom created a positive outlook in society. The post-war period saw capitalism accepting that it needed to give things to workers, leading to improved living standards. The 1970s was a period of great social strife in Britain, including the miners' strike of 1973 and the oil price spike that led to the three-day week. This period also saw economic resentment against British Asians who were starting to arrive. The 1980s continued this pattern of social unrest, with the BNP having to pack up their bags because people were feeling economically okay. During the Blair years, the NHS provided reliable healthcare where ambulances would arrive in 10 minutes, patients would be seen at A&E pretty much straight away, and those needing beds would receive them or be sent out with full community support including easy access to GPs.

This section establishes the theoretical framework for understanding subcultures. Dick Hebdige defines subcultures as 'noise' that interferes with societal order, arguing they reassess and create new values rather than simply rejecting parent culture. Stuart Hall and Thomas Jefferson describe subcultures as cohesive collective resistance to dominant orders. The neotribe theory is criticized for ignoring race, gender, social class, and community factors. Hall and Jefferson emphasize that subcultural style is a way of negotiating, adapting, and resisting parent culture, with disdain coming first and style following. This means people don't randomly change their entire ideology overnight; reevaluation often stems from feelings of ostracization or marginalization.

Camat (Smart) is a Chinese subculture of young people who developed distinctive colorful and extreme hairstyles as a form of self-expression and identity formation while facing socioeconomic marginalization, discrimination, and lack of entertainment opportunities; despite being peaceful and non-violent, they were widely misunderstood and stigmatized as a 'most hated subculture' in China, with their numbers declining from approximately 200,000 members (2009-2013) to near extinction due to urban discrimination and negative social labeling.

In 1960s Hungary, youth culture developed as a distinct subculture that was separate from mainstream society. The rock music scene, with its own venues, fashion, and social practices, created a parallel world that young people could inhabit. This subculture was characterized by its own values, practices, and social structures that were distinct from the adult world. The youth subculture provided young people with a sense of identity and belonging that was separate from their families and the broader society.

The Gathering of the Juggalos represents an annual celebration of a distinct subculture that identifies as outsiders who do not fit into mainstream society. Juggalos embrace their marginalization, viewing themselves as fundamentally different from societal norms in both high school and workplace environments. The subculture functions as an extended family where members refer to each other as brothers and sisters, with traditional hugs lasting approximately two hours. Communication occurs through distinctive greetings like 'whoop whoop,' mimicking police siren sounds. Members present themselves as a persecuted minority facing discrimination, claiming to be 'the most hated people in America' alongside other groups. This persecution narrative frames their marginalization as unjust, with members asserting constitutional rights to participate in society despite alleged discrimination including being seated near restrooms and forced to sit in bus backs. The subculture maintains unique humor involving explicit content and pickup lines, while incorporating religious themes suggesting Jesus may have been a Juggalo. This comprehensive framework demonstrates how marginalized communities construct identity, belonging, and meaning through shared experiences of exclusion.

This video demonstrates how youth subcultures develop distinct identity markers through coordinated social practices. The 'bélico' identity is constructed through specific elements: fashion choices (guitars, Gucci bags, Versace watches, specific hairstyles), linguistic patterns (repetitive phrases like 'al millón viejo'), and social behaviors (posting stories on social media). The video shows how these markers create group belonging and status within peer networks. The performance of identity involves both visual presentation and verbal communication, with specific phrases serving as recognition signals. This illustrates how subcultures establish shared symbols that distinguish members from mainstream society and create internal community cohesion.

Hegemony is a concept from Italian Marxist philosopher Antonio Gramsci explaining how society and culture dominate the frameworks through which we understand and see the world. Cultural hegemony gives us ideas we take as fact without questioning them, such as beliefs about who deserves livable wages or assumptions about professional appearance based on hairstyles. These social constructions are subject to change but many people treat them as immutable natural things.

Cultural hegemony refers to the process by which dominant societal powers embed their values into culture through coercion and consent, making these values appear as common sense or natural order. This mechanism serves to preserve existing power structures and maintain the status quo by convincing the majority that current arrangements are necessary and inevitable.

Antonio Gramsci's 'Prison Notebooks' popularized the idea that power in society is fundamentally ideological - the dominant social group is the one whose system of ideas and values prevails. Cultural hegemony occurs when the dominant class propagates its beliefs and practices throughout society through various channels: schools, churches, political parties, scientific institutions, mass media, and workers' organizations. Each social class secretes its own group of organic intellectuals who legitimize class expectations. Gramsci derived a new communist strategy: instead of frontal confrontation (doomed to failure), the working class must gradually subvert minds through its own intellectuals in the public sphere - what he calls 'passive revolution.'

Antonio Gramsci's concept of cultural hegemony explains how ruling classes maintain power not through force but through ideological consent. Hegemony is the process by which the dominant class convinces society that their worldview is the only possible one. This involves selling aspiration rather than redistribution, meritocracy rather than equality of opportunity, and making people believe these ideas are their own. The speaker notes that hegemony is most effective when it succeeds in making people believe the system is natural and just, rather than constructed and serving specific interests. This concept helps explain why people may support policies that harm their economic interests.

Antonio Gramsci, imprisoned by Mussolini's fascists in the 1920s, developed his theory of cultural hegemony to explain why workers don't revolt against capitalism. Cultural hegemony is when the bourgeoisie imposes its worldview—individual success, competition, personal interest, wealth, consumption, and racism—on society. These values are not absolute but constructed. Gramsci identified two types of war: the war of movement (physical struggle like strikes) and the war of position (ideological conquest in institutions like schools, universities, and media). The bourgeoisie maintains dominance by controlling these institutions, as seen in recent billionaire acquisitions of media outlets and journalism schools.