Mods and Rockers - How subcultures have changed

We have recently been researching and analysing two specific youth subcultures of the 1960's known as 'mods and rockers'. These groups are two I have shown a particular interest in due to my love of the film 'Quadrophenia' by Franc Roddam which circulates the lives of youths belonging to these subcultures. As well as this, we have attempted to understand the dramatic change in subcultures through time.

The mod subculture of the 60's was generally centred around fashion and music. Cleancut outfits such as suits were the trademark - this particular stereotype has been inherited from the fashion of Teddy Boys of the 1950's. The music of the group was mainly sole, rhythym and blues, although ska and beat also regularly featured. The youth group were also very often stereotyped to ride scooters.

Rockers on the other hand were much the opposite. Protective clothing such as jet black leather jackets and motorcycle boots were the norm for this subculture. The common rocker hairstyle was known as a pompadour, which originated and was later associated with 1950s rock and roll which, not so coincidentally, was the rockers' main choice of music genre.

Both subcultures saw one another as 'rivals' and would even go to the extreme of riots in order to determine their superiority over one another. 1964 stimulated the beginning of what was know as 'moral panic' due to the riots that took place in seaside resorts of southern areas such as Margate and Brighton. The riots emulated across the world after the media invested in the stories. Front pages of newspapers were took up solely of pictures and headlines surrounding the riots. In 1972, Stanley Cohen wrote a book, 'Folk Devils and Moral Panics', on the topic of the 1964 riots.


The extremes that both 'groups' went to during this time, along with the media attention it received, highlights how important a culture could really be to a person. It was what their life circulated and their entire behaviour would be affected by the group that they were a part of.
Nowadays, things are very different. In the 60's, mods and rockers dominated Britain's cultural world as the only two main 'ways of life' whereas today's society see's so many different subcultures that it would be impossible to name each one by memory. Indie, Rock, Emo, Hipster - just four examples of what we understand today to be 'cultures'. However, when compared to what this meant 50 years ago, it seems as though the meaning has been lost. Every aspect of behaviour in everyday life was determined by which culture you belonged to - it was almost like a religion.