Negative chain referral sampling : doing justice to subcultural diversity

• This paper calls for renewed consideration of the way researchsubjects are selected in the study of subcultures. All too often,subcultural researchers limit themselves to the use of one or twoof the orthodox sampling designs, such as ‘conveniencesampling’ (selecting subjects who are readily available) or ‘chainreferral sampling’ (selecting a readily available subject who refersthe researcher to other subjects). While these designs certainlyhave their merits, especially in the early research phase ofnegotiating access and acceptance, they may impede insight intothe diversity that exists within subcultural groups. Based onethnographic fieldwork among punks and graffiti writers, thispaper introduces a supplementary design, that of ‘negative chainreferral sampling’, which consists of using group members’categorisations of subcultural anomalies as an opening to exploresubcultural variation and tensions. This design is one that flipsthe logic of conventional chain referral sampling: if we areencouraged not to speak to certain subjects, for instance, due totheir lack of authenticity or status, this forms the motivation fordoing exactly that. Closer examination of subcultural anomaliesmay deepen our understanding of the boundary work, identitymakingand social exclusion that occurs in all subcultural groups.

Subject headings

SAMHÄLLSVETENSKAP  -- Sociologi -- Sociologi (hsv//swe)

SOCIAL SCIENCES  -- Sociology -- Sociology (hsv//eng)

Keyword

subcultures

ethnography

identity

Publication and Content Type

art (subject category)

ref (subject category)