The Centre for Contemporary Cultural Studies

The research centre was established in 1964 by Richard Hoggart at Birmingham University and focused on the study of media, youth, and subcultures. There was a wide range of researchers that made up the CCCS, each bringing their own interdisciplinary skills to the study of media. Different approaches were taken such as Marxist, post-structuralist, and feminist.

One of the many theories of the CCCS was that the new suburbs and new housing developments after the war allowed youth to take on new identities. These new identities were a way of making their way back to their working class identities. Post-war consumerism gave youth the opportunity to break from their previous class identities, there was suddenly a with range of consumer options made available.

Another milestone was the shift from looking at youth as delinquents to actually studying social effects and how youth acted and reacted. Looking beyond the previous view of youth as problematic to understand how they function. The limits with the CCCS's studies were that they only looked at the mass media and ignored the local environments.

Some criticisms of the CCCS were that the researchers focused on only the working white male subcultures. They romanticized forms of resistance and gave all of their attention to the subcultures that stood out the most in appearance, actions and vocals.

Five Facts

• CCCS stands for the Centre for Contemporary Cultural Studies, founded by Richard Hoggart in 1964 at the University of Birmingham
• Research focus was interdisciplinary but focused on media studies, including youth, subcultures, and popular culture in the post-war period. 
• Took a sociological approach to studying youth and how they function rather than viewing them as delinquents
• Consumerism gave youth options and the ability to go back to their working class identities in the new suburbs and housing developments that were created after WWII. 
• CCCS was criticized for their emphasis on working class, white males, and romanticizing youth resistance. They ignored local environments and focused on the influence of mass media. 

(photo Elliot Brown)