Surfing in the Third Millennium: Commodifying the Visual Argot
The practice of surfing has often been at odds with the mores of wider society, to the point where surfers have been described in the media as rotten, long-haired, unwashed drug addicts, or as jobless junkies. However, in recent years there has been an increase in the popularity of surfing and an in...
| Main Author: | |
|---|---|
| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Interlibrary Loan: | Interlibrary Loan for the Fachinformationsdienste (Specialized Information Services in Germany) |
| Published: |
2002
|
| In: |
The Australian journal of anthropology
Year: 2002, Volume: 13, Issue: 3, Pages: 283-291 |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) |
| Summary: | The practice of surfing has often been at odds with the mores of wider society, to the point where surfers have been described in the media as rotten, long-haired, unwashed drug addicts, or as jobless junkies. However, in recent years there has been an increase in the popularity of surfing and an increase in the consumption of surfing related commodities. This increase in popularity is largely due to the marketing practices of the business interests that are involved in surfing, which has appropriated its images and sold them to a rapidly expanding and lucrative market. This paper will outline how the commodification of surfing's visual style, and the meanings that are symbolised by this development, have had a three-fold effect on the sport. First, surfing has been shifted away from the beach into quite different contexts; second, surfing as understood by the wider society has been altered and; third, the commodifying practices of business interests have transferred the symbolic ownership of the sport from surfers to surfing capital. |
|---|---|
| ISSN: | 1757-6547 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: The Australian journal of anthropology
|
| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1111/j.1835-9310.2002.tb00210.x |
