Street Art and Graffiti

Robert WonserSoc 86 – Fall 2011

Sociology of Graffiti

• Street art and graffiti specifically provide an interesting study for the sociology of pop culture

• At work: issues of class, race, gender, identity construction / self, subculture, power, cooptation and commodification

Street Art vs Graffiti

• Street art: icon based, more digestible and acceptable

• Graffiti: name based, writing your name over and over again for the sake of fame– Marketing yourself

Graffiti as Meritocracy

• According to sociologist Gregory Snyder, unlike the dominant society, graffiti is primarily a meritocracy (a system in which those with the most merit obtain rewards based on their merit rather than other characteristics).

• Ascribed statuses (positions in a social group, or society, that are imposed onto individuals) like race, class and gender are of diminished importance. It is how good and well known you are.

Class and Race

• People of all races have been involved in graffiti since its inception

• Sports has the American Dream attached to it; success will lead to a way out of impoverished circumstances. Graffiti offers no promise of money

• White kids practice graffiti because they can afford to something for which the monetary rewards are not immediate.

• Because of their race, their risks are lower…

Graffiti as a Democracy

• The task of writing is to saturate the city with your name and any writer who does this will get fae and respect, regardless of style, race, gender, class, age, nationality or sexuality.

• In its purest form, graffiti is a democratic art form that revels in the American Dream

• - Gregory Snyder, Graffiti Lives

Power

• In many respects graffiti is a result of an imbalance of power

• Who has it and who doesn’t• Conflict approach• Subculture theorists saw

subculture as the symbolic resistance carried out by those lacking real power

• What doe sit mean to write your name on some one else’s wall?

• Illegality matters?

What’s the difference?

Graffiti as Political

• Not always overt… (but it certainly can be)

• According to AME, “Graffiti is trying to say a lot of things. First it says, ‘Who are you to own this?’” … “what about me? I’m somebody too.”

• “Graffiti is a signal that the youth of the city are not being noticed.”

Overtly Political

“No Trespassing”

I Hate Mondays

Graffiti as Pop Culture

• Reflexive

• By people

• Bricolage

Cooptation and Commodification

• Like other subcultures before it (e.g. punk and hip hop) the culture industry has set its sights on graffiti

What does the cooptation os a resistant style do to the subculture?

Graffiti and the Creation of Self

• The self forms through interaction with others

• Many writers keep their real names secret

• The self then forms through evaluation and prestige of one’s work and recognition from ones peers

• Unlike most subcultures based on music, graffiti subculture is based on actions