Bodgies and Widgies: Just Working-Class Kids Doing Working-Class Things (From Youth Subcultures: Theory, History and the Australian Experience, P 87-91, 1993, Rob White, ed. -- See NCJ-162536)

• NCJ Number: 162549
• Author(s): J Stratton
• Date Published: 1993
• Length: 5 pages
• Sale Source: National Clearinghouse for Youth Studies
• Publication Type: Historical Overview
• Language: English
• Country: Australia

Annotation

In the 1950's, the dominant youth culture exemplified in newspapers and magazines described unruly young people, referred to as bodgies and widgies, in derogatory terms.

Abstract

References to bodgies and widgies were stigmatized, and these young people were hounded by the police. The social construction of unruly young people came predominantly from the middle class culture. Bodgies and widges were viewed by the media as a threat to Australian middle class culture. In contrast, the identity of bodgies and widgies came out of a working class tradition and developed in the context of increased access to consumer goods. The social construction of bodgies and widgies involved a process negotiated between certain young people who identified with these labels and the media who appropriated and applied the labels. When working class young people dressed in new styles and behaved in established working class ways, they were described as bodgies and widgies. In some cases, young people who wanted to look stylish but different from the dominant culture wore particular clothes in order to identify themselves as bodgies and widgies. These youth were usually not part of organized criminal gangs; rather, they were just working class kids doing working class things. 9 references