Çaycuma Bisiklet Topluluğu’nun Bir Altkültür Örneği Olarak İncelenmesi

Abstract

In the literature, there are studies on BMX and Downhill extreme sports that predominantly reflect the characteristics of youth subcultures. However, there have been no studies on civil cycling groups. Therefore, in this thesis, I examined whether the Çaycuma Cycling Group, which is a civil cycling group, is a subculture. In doing so, I first examined the subculture theories of the Chicago School and the Birmingham Center for Contemporary Cultural Studies, the postmodern subcultural theories, and the literature of sports subcultures. Since this thesis is an ethnographic study, I gathered the research data through a four-month field study using participant observation and in-depth interviews. In the analysis of the data, I used the Symbolic Interactionism Approach. I analyzed the data obtained from the field study considering the subculture theories in the subsections that enable us to define the group as a subculture (clothing style, rituals, power and hegemony, escape from the city, jargon, lifestyle, gender issue, family and alcohol use). This thesis claims that Çaycuma Cycling Group is a subculture that complies, especially, with the subculture definitions of postmodern subculture theories and the Birmingham Center for Contemporary Cultural Studies, as Çaycuma Cycling Group has different norms and values from the local community such as socialization practices, clothing style, rituals, place and lifestyle; and as Çaycuma Cycling Group exhibits an attitude towards driving automobile in the city, gender norms and clothing codes suppressed by these norms.