01838nas a2200157   4500008004100000245006500041210006400106260000900170300001000179490000700189520133700196653001401533100001901547700002101566856009301587       1995                        eng d00aSubcultures of Consumption: An Ethnography of the New Bikers0 aSubcultures of Consumption An Ethnography of the New Bikers  c1995  a43-610 v223 aThis article introduces the subculture of consumption as an analytic category through which to better understand consumers and the manner in which they organize their lives and identities. Recognizing that consumption activities, product categories, or even brands may serve as the basis for interaction and social cohesion, the concept of the subculture of consumption solves many problems inherent in the use of ascribed social categories as devices for understanding consumer behavior. This article is based on three years of ethnographic fieldwork with Harley-Davidson motorcycle owners. A key feature of the fieldwork was a process of progressive contextualization of the researchers from outsiders to insiders situated within the subculture. Analysis of the social structure, dominant values, and revealing symbolic behaviors of this distinct, consumption-oriented subculture have led to the advancement of a theoretical framework that situates subcultures of consumption in the context of modem consumer culture and discusses, among other implications, a symbiosis between such subcultures and marketing institutions. Transferability of the principal findings of this research to other subcultures of consumption is established through comparisons with ethnographies of other self-selecting, consumption-oriented subcultures.10aMarketing1 aSchouten, John1 aMcAlexander, Jim  u/biblio/subcultures-consumption-ethnography-new-bikers-0