Sociology And Social Science: Understanding Values And Symbols In Culture

The Terminology ‘Bogan’

Discuss about the Sociology and Social Science for Values and Symbols.

Culture has been explained in various ways. Culture is the way a group of people led their lives in terms of behaviors, attitudes, beliefs, thoughts, values and symbols. They are transferred through communication to succeeding generations. It is a shared system of ideas, perceptions and knowledge by a large number of people. In the broadest sense, culture is a cultivated behavioral pattern which is learned by people; the experiences gathered and are passed on to generations after generations by the means of social learning process. It is symbolic and involves a group of people with common skills and motives (Csikszentmihalyi 2014). The western culture of Australia originates from Britain preliminarily. The geographical positioning of the continent, diversified population of Aboriginals, Torres Strait islanders and other communities also have adequate influence on the culture of Australia (Biddle and Swee 2012). This assignment deals with the terminologies like ‘bogan’, sociologist’s attitudes, impact on social status and individual’s view on the term.

Bogan is a disparaging terminology used as slang in Australia and New Zealand.  Bogan is used to describe such a person whose clothing, way of speaking, behavioral patterns and attitude are believed to be uncultured and unpolished like the British terminology ‘chav’ (Adams 2013). The illustration of the term ‘bogan’ depends on the backdrop and accordingly it can be considered as self-effacing or abusive.  The term has become ubiquitous and it has been cognized globally. It is often identified as a sub culture and as an instance of bad culture and taste. Other similar terminologies are used locally for describing such groups in the society. The origination of the term ’bogan’ is not yet clear, however, it is believed that the terminology came into being from Melbourne. It is believed that the emergence had occurred from the outer part of western as well as eastern suburb regions of Melbourne, during the end of 1970s and beginning of 1980s. The people from the subculture are regarded as bogans. They live in the outer parts of city areas usually. Their teeth do not have braces, any kinds of orthodontia and other types of dental care mostly because of money and opposing attitude to authoritarianism (Gibson 2013). They believe in jingoism and have tattoos locally made, possess extreme love for rock music and Peter Brock. They have anti-social behaviors, habit of drinking excessive alcohol and such addictive agents. The attitude of such people lack in deception, rather they have a tremendous tendency and belief in honesty. They have a typical style of clothing. It includes shirts made of flannels, monkey style hooded apparels, shots from the Australian brand of Stubbies, their underwear and work wears are generally from Pacific bands of Australia. They wear stereotyped footwear that includes thongs, boots and ugg boots. Their bottom wear includes jeans and black colored leggings (Rossiter 2013). The bogans are not accepted and considered to be belonging to middle-class societies and standards in terms of eating habits, leisure activities, culture, taste, dressing styles and speech. They are considered inferior by certain groups because of their unacknowledged favoritism. These kinds of behaviors make their lives tougher to a greater extent (Pini, McDonald and Mayes 2012).

Sociologists’ Attitudes towards labelling

It was during the 21^st century, when the term ‘bogan’ was held as an indication of pride. Michelle Griffin, in the year 2002 stated that, the term ‘bogan’ was no more a derogatory term rather it is a way of recognizing the ‘Aussie’ culture. Many of the Anglo-Saxon citizens of Australia are proud of the term ‘bogan’ (CHURN 2013). The terminology was considered as a significance of insult, but today it is considered trendy and fashionable to be called as a ‘bogan’. National Bogan day was held and celebrated by the radio station Triple J on 28^th June, 2002. They devoted the day by playing different musical compositions on rock bands like Cold Chisel, Rose Tattoo, and Midnight Oil and AC/DC. The students specializing in languages at the Auckland University conducted a study in the year 2011 regarding the ‘bogans’. It was found that the terminology was considered as a good term by the population below the age group of 30, whereas the population exceeding the stated age group considered it as a bad terminology (Danielson 2014).

Sociologists attitude towards the labelling vary. Mell Campbell stated that one should be aware of labelling people and naming them unless they see themselves in mirrors. The bogans are considered as a sub culture or as a socio economic class, but he stated that bogan is rather a notional terminology that emerged through culture. Moreover, he stated that when the discussions are made on labelling bogans, it implies that one is speaking about the national identity. The labelling is done for making them uncomfortable and creating hypothetical barriers of culture between social classless. His attitude to such terminologies is that  when the terms like ‘bogan’ are used and people belonging to the group are looked down, then one is considered to be disagreeing and arguing on his/her own culture and civilization, this can no way give the Australians any sorts of credit and upliftment in the society as well as globally (Garland, Chakraborti and Hardy 2015). Mark Lanthem stated that Australian seeks prosperity to lead a comfortable life, but their aspirations for materialistic things are never ending. Such things merely provide them with ease and relaxation momentarily. They have a tendency to interfere and pry in others lives. They think that they are the privileged class and hence, being rich is a reward. They sometimes feel nervous and have a fright of going wrong. Hence, to get relieve from their anxiety, they displace it with a sense of superiority and power on others by labelling, pointing and laughing out at them. A French sociologist, Pierre Bourdieu stated that the people from the group can never belong to the higher social standards irrespective of their higher income and economical status. This is so because when they spend or celebrate their lives luxuriously, they are considered wrong hilariously. Bernard Lahire, a French sociologist studied recently that people have mixed tastes in terms of expenses and lifestyles. The wealthy people and the poor ones predominantly have a specific set of consumer practices, the term like bogans and those belonging the group are considered to be existing nowhere (Gale and Parker 2015).

Real Sensitivities associated with the Terminology ‘Bogan’

The terminologies like bogan can definitely have some real sensitivities. It is evident from the latest incidents in the city of Logan. Logan is situated on the Southern part of Brisbane and at this place the label of ‘bogan’ was used with a deprecating attitude (Loughnan et al. 2014). Another incident also witnessed the labelling of the term in a negative way in New South Whales, where two kids were insulted by a lady showing her racist behaviour. The Tusmanian mayor recently called some of his sub ordinates with such labelling. Hence, I think, this labelling is becoming a concern for sensitivity issue worldwide. The social status is associated with races and is being labelled and misnamed. They might become financially strong and seek a comfortable living, yet the high class society and their social values do not accept such groups. They are looked down, called by names, discouraged and retained from progressiveness (Duhamel and Meyerhoff 2015).

In my opinion, the term ‘bogan’ is actually a misnomer used for people who have passion for rock music, wear trendy clothes, footwear, have extreme patriotism, believe in honest behaviours and are not deceptive. Though, they are believed to be antisocial, indulged into bad habits of drinking and chauvinists, they should not be laughed at or called with names. A continent or a country is made up of all kinds of people from different culture and community. They might have different thoughts, perceptions and philosophies of life, yet they are the part of the society. Thus, I strongly oppose to such labelling. I propose that the terminology ‘bogan’ should be avoided as I believe it is our responsibility to eliminate classicism and social discrimination.  

Conclusion

Culture has different implications by different anthropologists and sociologists. However, in general it is a common practice of skills, beliefs, thoughts, ideas, perceptions and knowledge prevalent among a group of people. It is transferred through social learning to next generation. The terms like bogans are used in Australia and New Zealand for people with stereotyped behaviour, sense of clothing, behavioural pattern and philosophy. They are often thought to be inferior in context to socio-economical status. They are under estimated, segregated from the society, they are not considered anywhere in the consumerism. They are laughed at and comically go amiss when they seek to do better in life and upgrade to the standards of high status. Though the young people have different perception about the terminology than the aged ones, yet the term is becoming a genuine concern for sensitivities around the world with regards to social status. Such labelling must be abandoned and headed towards a secular and liberal society.

References:

Adams, M., 2013. ‘Redneck, Barbaric, Cashed up Bogan? I Don’t Think So’: Hunting and Nature in Australia. Environmental Humanities, 2(1).

Biddle, N. and Swee, H., 2012. The relationship between wellbeing and Indigenous land, language and culture in Australia. Australian Geographer,43(3).

CHURN, N., 2013. Bogan and the Race that stops the nation. Movements in Time: Revolution, Social Justice and Times of Change.

Csikszentmihalyi, M., 2014. Society, culture, and person: A systems view of creativity (pp. 47-61). Springer Netherlands.

Danielson, M.B., 2014. ‘Bogans’ and Boundaries: A perceptual dialectology of Australian English.

Duhamel, M.F. and Meyerhoff, M., 2015. An end of egalitarianism? Social evaluations of language difference in New Zealand. Linguistics Vanguard,1(1).

Gale, T. and Parker, S., 2015. To aspire: A systematic reflection on understanding aspirations in higher education. The Australian Educational Researcher, 42(2).

Garland, J., Chakraborti, N. and Hardy, S.J., 2015. ‘It Felt Like a Little War’: Reflections on Violence against Alternative Subcultures. Sociology.

Gibson, C., 2013. Welcome to Bogan-ville: reframing class and place through humour. Journal of Australian Studies, 37(1).

Loughnan, S., Haslam, N., Sutton, R.M. and Spencer, B., 2014. Dehumanization and social class. Social Psychology.

Pini, B., McDonald, P. and Mayes, R., 2012. Class contestations and Australia’s resource boom: The emergence of the ‘cashed-up bogan’.Sociology.

Rossiter, P., 2013. Bogans: A sticky subject. Continuum, 27(1).