Jock Young and the Spirit of 1968: The Roots of Subcultural Theory

• In Event: Jock Young Memorial Panel on Cultural Criminology

Abstract

In what was to be his last published work, an Introduction to the 40th Anniversary edition of The New Criminology in 2013, Jock wrote that the classic book “was written at a particular time and place; it was a product of 1968 and its aftermath: a world turned upside down.” In many ways, Jock Young carried the spirit of 1968 throughout his life. It was obvious in The Drug Takers, the New Deviancy project, the psychodynamics of resentment behind moral panic theory, his brief flirtation with Left Realism and his excitement about cultural criminology at the end. The old saw about being a Beatles or a Rolling Stones fan was irrelevant for Jock: He was more crossfire hurricane than a day in the life. For over four decades, Jock lectured, wrote, and even dressed like it was 1968. Jock’s testimonial on the life and times of his great friend, Stan Cohen, began with a celebration of the Who. This paper argues that the roots of subcultural theory can be traced to Jock’s bohemian enclave in London, circa 1968, hanging out with Marxists, hippies, junkies, radical ethnographers, and as Jock happily recalled, “Jimi Hendrix living up the road!”

Author

• Mark Hamm, Indiana State University