I have had a long-standing, personal interest in youth subcultures. Starting in the mid-1980s I participated in punk and straightedge, and throughout the 1990s in death metal, where I stayed relatively active as a musician until recently. Rather than approach youth subcultures from the perspectives of deviance or delinquency studies, I see youth subcultures as reified networks and social spaces wherein youth find meaningful identities and communities of similar others.

With the explosive growth of information and communication technologies (ICTs) in the 1990s, youth have established computer-mediated social spaces where they experience subcultural lives. Beginning in 2000 I conducted ethnographic fieldwork on the straightedge subculture online. My goal has been to investigate the links between youth subcultures and ICTs and to highlight how ICTs facilitates subcultural change.

Current projects

I have been working on a book on subcultural theory for a long time and it is finally nearing completion. Look for it in 2010 from Polity Press.

Publications

2009. Lewin, Philip, and J. Patrick Williams. “The Ideology and Practice of Authenticity in Punk Subculture.” Pp. 65-83 in Phillip Vannini and J. Patrick Williams (eds.) Authenticity in Self, Culture and Society. Aldershot, UK: Ashgate. [PDF]

2009. Williams, J. Patrick. “The Multidimensionality of Resistance in Youth-Subcultural Studies.” Resistance Studies 2(1):20-33. [PDF]

2008. Williams, J. Patrick. “Teaching and Learning Guide for Youth-Subculture Studies: Sociological Traditions and Core Concepts.” Sociology Compass 2(2):765-774. [HTML] [PDF]

2007. Williams, J. Patrick. “Youth-Subcultural Studies: Sociological Traditions and Core Concepts.” Sociology Compass 1(2):572-593.[HTML] [PDF]

2007. Copes, Hieth, and J. Patrick Williams. “ Techniques of Affirmation: Deviant Behavior, Moral Commitment, and Subcultural Identity. ” International Journal of Deviant Behavior 28(3):247-272. [PDF]

2007. Williams, J. Patrick. "How the Internet is Changing Straightedge." In Arielle Greenburg (ed.) Youth Subcultures: Exploring Underground America. Allyn & Bacon/Longman.

2006. Williams, J. Patrick. "Authentic Identities: Straightedge Subculture, Music, and the Internet. "Journal of Contemporary Ethnography 35(2):173-200 . [PDF]

2005. Williams, J. Patrick, & Heith Copes. "How Edge Are You? Constructing Authentic Identities and Subcultural Boundaries in a Straightedge Internet Forum." Symbolic Interaction 28(1):67-89. [PDF]

2003. Williams, J. Patrick. "Straightedge Subculture on the Internet: A Case Study on Style-Display Online." Media International Australia Incorporating Culture and Policy Journal 107:61-74. [HTML or PDF]