Paper , Order, or Assignment Requirements

Prepare a definition essay establishing the legitimate status of one, specific subculture (to which you do NOT belong). Your final essay should be 1,000 words, typed and formatted according to MLA guidelines. You may only use three sources (“What is Culture” and two personal interviews). In your definition essay, you will argue that the specific subculture you have chosen has all the criteria for culture as defined by Richard Pearce in our reading. Your subculture will have its own specific institutions and conventions that are perpetuated through its own means of socialization and coercion. To begin, you’ll need to select a subculture to which you do NOT belong, but which you can access via interview. You’ll need to find three people you can interview, but you’ll only need to cite two of the interviews in your essay. Subcultures are based around a common ground that can either be classically cultural (an ethnic group), spiritual (less common religious groups like Wiccans), occupational (skydive instructors or computer hackers), or interest based (nudists, gamers, and renaissance fairgoers). Wikipedia will give you an (all too) exhaustive list of subcultures: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_subcultures. This is a nice list of “interest” type subcultures: http://subcultureslist.com/. And here’s a fun news story about them (although I can’t imagine you’ll find them around town).