Rave Culture: Free Party or Protest?

Protests as Events: Politics, Activism and Leisure is an edited collection that explores activism as a leisure activity and protests as events. In this chapter we argue that rave culture can be classified as a form of protest; as a youth-oriented subculture or “tribe” based around social ideas, music and art, raves emerged from the era of Thatcher’s children, whose “cultural heroes came in the form of radical young entrepreneurs, who started up clubs and record labels, rather than the politicians and poets of yesteryear” . Furlong views raves as “a mix of hedonism, consumerism and escapism” , a sanctuary away from education and work, in which participants are free from boundaries and controls, in an environment that involves active protest and consumption of drugs. In examining criteria that might shed light onto this discussion, we explore the narratives of rave organisers, and find elements of shared values, activities and motivations, and common processes as utilized by more conventional events organisers.

https://rowman.com/ISBN/9781783480777/Protests-as-...