Characteristics of the Active Drifters

The category of the Active Drifters emphasises the differences between individual members and their social groups. The features that were taken into account to form these categories are not the sum of objective similarities or differences but only those which the actors themselves regarded as significant (Barth, 1969). Some features were used by participants as signals of similarities or difference and other features were ignored, played down and denied. It is this fluidity of identities that allows individuals to move in and out of them and this is especially evident in the categories of Active Drifters and Passive Drifters.

Identity boundaries are indefinite and are ongoing emergent products of social interaction, particularly between people having different identities (Barth in Jenkins, 1996). The analytical emphasis of the Active Drifters falls on the social construction of identities at boundaries and across boundaries that they share with other identities and in processes of being accepted within those boundaries.

Using Willis’s (1978, p.190) analytical framework, the Active Drifters are considered as being connected to the cultural form or cultural item which is the music they listen to at a particular point in time. This means that they are connected to the cultural objects as well as the practices of others of the particular social group. There is a conscious choice of the kind of music and the kind of social group they engage with. There is also a conscious relationship and intention on the part of the Active Drifters in the way they engage with the music and the social group. Evaluation of the cultural form, the music and the practices, is done by the Active Drifters and they consciously engage in that cultural form, with a conscious choice of the level of intensity with which they engage in it. Their initial engagement in that cultural form might be accidental at times, but then, evaluation is done and engagement is a conscious choice though objectivity of the choice is evidently questionable, since individuals’ choices are formed by several factors such as opportunity, age, environment and so on.

The initial indexical analysis which was instrumental in shaping the categories in this study revealed that some young women did not have one particular preferred type of music. On the other hand they made a conscious effort to explore different types of music and their associated social groups and practices. Moreover, the level of involvement in the associated social groups of particular types of music was a conscious choice. Thus, this was an informed choice and was not done only by analysing the music itself but by looking

at the social implications of associating oneself with that music. They took into consideration society’s perception of that social group, what the social practices of that social group were and so on. Such participants were grouped into the category of Active Drifters since they were agents and active in their own drifting.

The Active Drifters moved from liking one type of music to another, from sharing social practices of particular social groups to sharing practices of other social groups. This was at times done in consecutive periods of their life, but was also done concurrently. That means that for instance, an Active Drifter could like pop for six months and move on to liking rock for the next six months and so on. It could also be that the Active Drifter, at a point in time, liked types of music which in Maltese society were considered as extremes or even opposites. For instance an Active Drifter might involve herself in both rave music and traditional folk music at the same period in her life.

In homological analysis, the meanings that are developed through interaction between the Active Drifters and music are quite complex, since the Active Drifters move in and out of several social groups quite frequently. It is this frequent visiting of different types of music and their associated social groups that makes this category a very particular one. The interaction of the Active Drifters with the different groups, brings about the perception that they are merely visitors and thus what the music represents for them, its meanings and their attitudes is distinctly different from that of the Fully Committed and the Committed.

Active Drifters, in response to external situations, select from available possibilities identifications with which to identify themselves. Being active in their choice, they do this intentionally, though they might have been influenced by external forces in their choice. For instance, they choose music from what is available to them. In so doing they contribute to the production and reproduction of the collectivities with which they are identifying (Turner, 1984). They thus evoke and construct intra-group similarities and inter-group differences.

The unity of identities is like a mask behind which the diversity and contradictions of the individually embodied point of view over time and across situations can co-exist. This is usually done backstage without having continually to be in the limelight (Jenkins, 1996).

The Active Drifters still consider being up to date in the music they are involved in at that point in time, as important but in-depth knowledge is not a priority for them. Their

involvement in one particular type of music is on a more superficial level than that of the Fully Committed and the Committed whose involvement in their preferred type of music would be much more in-depth. However, due to their fluid tastes, the Active Drifters usually have knowledge about a wider range of music than the Fully Committed and the Committed. Keeping themselves up to date is not done through intensive research but through what is readily available for instance in magazines, internet and MTV.

Integral analysis focuses on the way the social group and the music influence each other (Willis, 1978, p.201). The effect of The Active Drifters’ trend of moving in and out of social groups and changing musical preferences quite frequently or liking different types of music at the same time, affects them in the way they project their image. They make it a point to project an image which reflects a mixture of tastes, combining several characteristics of different images associated with different cultural groups to create their own personalised image. This is a manifestation of their resistance to being stereotyped for instance as rockers or rappers and so on. They control how far the music influences their character and their image. They purposely try not to be identified as part of a particular social group. They prefer not to fit in with most social groups because they want their individuality to dominate. By doing this, they are paradoxically members of a non-group. Through their efforts not to be associated with a particular social group, they still have a shared commonality and they are creating a kind of non-group membership.