Reactive Subcultures

A reactive (or oppositional) subculture is one in which the members of a particular subcultural group develop norms and values that are both a response to and opposition against the prevailing norms and values that exist in a wider, dominant, culture. It is for this reason that this form of subculture is sometimes called oppositional rather than reactive (although both terms refer to the same thing).

The central idea in the above is that a subcultural group forms as a reaction to what someone else (either the culture as a whole or some other subcultural group) is trying to do to them. By reacting to this pressure, the emergent subcultural group effectively tries to oppose (and , in effect, neutralise) the pressures being placed on them.