A subculture, or a culture within a culture, is a group that lives harmoniously with society but can be notarized differently by its distinctive values, norms, and lifestyle. Living in America, many subcultures exist in our society, One that can be validated quite quickly is college football players. America‘s game, considered by most, is football. Collegiate football in particular is big in the south, and players are looked up to in different way by young children and old avid supporters.
College football players are constantly watchedia wrong move will put you on the headlines of the local sports in a way that is not soothing to the audience; the right move deserves a pat on the back and a congratulatory segment in the local paper. But our public life is separate from the life we live inside the locker room “Locker room talk” are things said that cannot leave the dressing room.
These subjects include racial slurs, what happed at the most recent party, who the next girl is to have sex with, or any issue that would not be accepted in the public realm.
These examples are all practices that are readily accepted and experienced, outside of practice of course. The talks are accepted in our locker room because they are kept exclusively to the players. Word that leaves the locker room is shunned by teammates making the snitch a social outcast in a team that is tightly knit. The norms of our team are unlike the dominant American culture as people readily accept the stories of people smoking, drinking, or having sex with any one they please.
As the media is shaping our American society, drugs, alcohol, and sex are readily seen on TV but never discussed openly in public. The subculture of college football players defies this aspect as norms are different to our culture than the dominant American culture.
When the mainstream media finds out about law defying mores that are practiced by collegiate football players, the audience tends to accept the players as an exception and are allowed to participate in a particular event, Collegiate football players can be considered “two-faced,” putting on a good face when around campus or the community, and having a different personality when around the team. Since Football is so large in our society, the dominant American society will accept “slip-ups” by players. That, as well as the interaction solely within the locker room, allows collegiate football players to exist harmoniously within our society.
Collegiate Football Subculture in the United States. (2022, Oct 20). Retrieved from https://paperap.com/collegiate-football-subculture-in-the-united-states/