Karen Lumsden - Boy Racer Culture

Boy Racer Culture

On the public roads boy racers are a foreboding presence, viewed with suspicion and derision by the respectable motorist. The problem of the young (male) driver is one which has plagued authorities and governments due to youths supposed propensity for engaging in deviant and dangerous driving behaviours.

Boy Racer Culture sheds light on the boy racer phenomenon through ethnographic research with the notorious Bouley Basher culture in the city of Aberdeen, Scotland, and the moral panic on the part of outside groups, including the local community, police, politicians and media. This book examines the creation of masculine and feminine identities in a traditionally male-dominated subculture through car-related rituals, such as modding, subcultural media and events, and the quest for celebrity status via public performances.

Boy Racer Culture challenges common misconceptions surrounding the boy racer, the problematic young (male) motorist and the car modifier. It will be essential reading for an international audience including sociologists and criminologists, particularly those with an interest in youth culture, subcultures, moral panics, car culture, anti-social behaviour, and the governance and policing of the roads.

Karen Lumsden is a Lecturer in Sociology at Loughborough University, UK and was formerly a Lecturer in Sociology at the University of Abertay Dundee. She has a PhD in Sociology, a Masters in Social Research and a MA (Hons) in Sociology from the University of Aberdeen. Her research interests include youth culture, car culture, crime and deviance, gender, moral panics, policing and qualitative research methods.

Routledge Advances in Ethnography

Edited by Dick Hobbs

University of Essex

and

Geoffrey Pearson

Goldsmiths College, University of London

Ethnography is a celebrated, if contested, research methodology that offers unprecedented access to peoples intimate lives, their often hidden social worlds and the meanings they attach to these. The intensity of ethnographic fieldwork often makes considerable personal and emotional demands on the researcher, while the final product is a vivid human document with personal resonance impossible to recreate by the application of any other social science methodology. This series aims to highlight the best, most innovative ethnographic work available from both new and established scholars.

Boy Racer Culture

Youth, masculinity and deviance

Karen Lumsden

First published 2013

by Routledge

2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN

Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada

by Routledge

711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017

Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business

2013 Karen Lumsden

The right of Karen Lumsden to be identified as author of this work has been asserted by her in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers.

Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe.

British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Lumsden, Karen.

Boy racer culture: youth, masculinity and deviance / Karen Lumsden.

pages cm.(Routledge advances in ethnography ; 2)

I. Teenage automobile driversScotlandAberdeen. 2. Masculinity ScotlandAberdeen. 3. AutomobilesSocial aspectsScotland Aberdeen. I. Title.

HE5620.J8L86 2013

303.4832dc23

2012031253

ISBN: 978-1-84392-985-7 (hbk)

ISBN: 978-0-41581385-3 (pbk)

ISBN: 978-0-203-08331-4 (ebk)

Acknowledgements

I would like to thank all those who helped with the original PhD thesis and drafts of the manuscript. They include my PhD supervisors, John Brewer and John Bone, and other members of staff at the University of Aberdeen, including Chris Wright. Aaron Winter and Heather Morgan were both kind enough to provide feedback on the manuscript. I would also like to thank the series editors, Dick Hobbs and Geoffrey Pearson, and Nicola Hartley at Routledge. My gratitude also extends to the individuals who took part in this research and helped to shed light on the world of so-called boy racers. The drivers at Aberdeens Beach Boulevard were kind enough to grant me entry into their world and share their interest and love for cars. Others who made this research possible include the local residents, police officers, council officials, politicians and journalists who took part in interviews. Last but not least I would also like to thank my parents.

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