Evolution of Goth Culture

Karl Spracklen is Professor of Music, Leisure and Culture at Leeds Beckett University, UK. He is the editor of the journal Metal Music Studies, as well as International Journal of the Sociology of Leisure. He is interested in leisure and identity, and has published over a hundred papers, books, textbooks and book chapters in that broad area. His most recent work has been focused on music, alternativity, hegemony and transgression. Beverley Spracklen is an independent scholar with an interest in goths and gothic sub-culture. She has researched and co-authored three publications with Karl Spracklen on goths and other alternative subcultures. Until recently she was a professional gothic bellydance teacher and performer, regularly appearing on the stage at Gothla.

• 1. An Introduction 2. Academics and Popular Writers on Goths  3. Constructing a New Theory of Alternativity 4. The Origin of the Goths 5. The Early Deeds of the Goths 6. The Sisters of Mercy: A Case Study 7. The Goths and the Globalisation of Popular Culture 8. Goths as Harbingers of Doom, and Moral Panics about Them 9. Goth as Virtual Identity and Virtual Culture On-line 10. Whitby Goth Weekend: A Case Study 11. Goth as Fashion Choice 12. The End of Goth? 13. Conclusion

The Germanic people who interacted with the Roman Empire are not the Spracklens' topic, but a sub-genre label for a number of bands in the post-punk movement in Britain at the beginning of the 1980s. They trace how it has evolved and expanded to become a globalized cultural practice associated with being alternative and transgressive. Their topics include constructing a new theory of alternativity, The Sisters of Mercy: a case study, Goth as harbingers of doom and moral panics about them, and Goth as fashion choice.