Seeking to understand youth culture through its visual and musical expression, "In Garageland" presents a pioneering ethnographc study of rock bands and their fans.
The authors explore the functions of rock playing within three socially different peer groups, investigating how their activities relate to the external demands and resources of a postmodern world. Presented in the "dialogic" format--the authorial text juxtaposed on the page with the remarks of those interviewed--the authors analyze the objective, social, symbolic and subjective sources and meanings of rock playing, relating these to theories on modernity, social groups and the production and reception of cultural symbols.
Topics include class as well as sexual conflicts; mainstream and deviant subcultures, and the complex social, psychological and ethical relationships which exist within youth culture. "In Garageland" develops the notion of youth culture research as a way of mirroring our grown-up identities and of staking out the limits of late modern culture in general.