Back to Search Start Over

'Rude Boys': The Homosexual Eroticization of Class

'Rude Boys': The Homosexual Eroticization of Class

Authors :
Paul Johnson
Source :
Sociology. 42:65-82
Publication Year :
2008
Publisher :
SAGE Publications, 2008.

Abstract

Since 2002, the`chav' has become a ubiquitous symbol of class difference in Britain. Simultaneously, a heterogeneous industry has appropriated `chav culture' in order to market a range of products and services orientated to gay men. In this article I explore some of the representations employed by this industry to argue that they function within a symbolic economy in which the chav is positioned as a subject lacking any intrinsic worth. However, while representations continually impute a lack of value to such subjects, it is precisely this lack which is converted into symbolic capital to be bought and sold.The effect of such representation is performative since it both constructs and inscribes subject positions in social space. In conclusion, I argue that a form of symbolic violence is created by such representation through the legitimacy it lends to normative conceptions about, what become imagined as,`real' people.

Details

ISSN :
14698684 and 00380385
Volume :
42
Database :
OpenAIRE
Journal :
Sociology
Accession number :
edsair.doi...........9c8122b5703f746348bc4a81c7c8e252
Full Text :
https://doi.org/10.1177/0038038507084825