this post was submitted on 06 Apr 2026
-11 points (17.6% liked)

Ask UK

1790 readers
1 users here now

Community for asking and answering any question related to the life, the people or anything related to the UK.

founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
 

I remember an assignment we had was reading Chavs by Owen Jones, and based on that book it seems like sociologists agree that chav was never a subculture, it was the upper classes taking ordinary working class young people fashion and turned it into a made up, monstrous delinquent subculture to paint the working class people as bad or something. Owen Jones said it was not a subculture and nobody unironically identified as a chav. It was purely a classist insult.

top 14 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[–] Denjin@feddit.uk 13 points 5 days ago

SHUT UP ABOUT CHAVS, WHAT THE HELL DO YOU KEEP ASKING THIS QUESTION FOR? EVERY WEEK WITH THIS SHIT.

[–] ohulancutash@feddit.uk 5 points 5 days ago

As I told you when your unhealthy obsession presented itself last week, Owen Jones is a political activist and polemical opinion columnist, not a sociologist.

[–] heliotrope@retrofed.com 4 points 5 days ago* (last edited 5 days ago) (1 children)

Please get a life. If you're a chav/ned/roadman, we honestly don't care; nor do we give a fuck if you like them.

I, a member of the working class from the north-east, have both close friends and sworn enemies across this demographic. Do I want to be a part of it myself? Not really. Do I care if other people do/are? Also no. You do you.

Alternatively, if this is a hyperfixation, there are friendlier ways to approach it than accusing the Fediverse of classism.

[–] TinyLittlePuni@lemmy.world 0 points 5 days ago (1 children)

What demographic? As I said, it's not a subculture. It's a caricature to mock the working class.

[–] heliotrope@retrofed.com 1 points 5 days ago (1 children)

If it's a caricature then how have I met so many of them?

[–] TinyLittlePuni@lemmy.world 0 points 5 days ago* (last edited 5 days ago) (1 children)

You mean normal guys in tracksuits/sportswear. That's just the default working class/council estate fashion.

[–] heliotrope@retrofed.com 2 points 5 days ago (1 children)

I do not. What I am talking about is people (women included) who are generally loud, boisterous, admittedly a little threatening (though this stems from my past experiences), and who act with little to no regard for the feelings or wellbeing of anyone other than themselves. These aren't hard and fast rules, of course.

When I see roadmen around the city I now live in, they're never causing any trouble: just hanging around, usually vaping, and that's okay. The idea that everyone matching this description is a violent criminal is bullshit drummed up by the tabloids in order to scare old folk and distance them from young people. However, when I was in middle/high school, any dickhead who decided to be cruel to me or my brother for any reason would match this description every time — with the exceptions of two specific boys, who were posh twats. At the same time, many of my friends then and now either fit this description or have the lifestyle usually attributed to the stereotype.

The clothing is just a correlation.

[–] TinyLittlePuni@lemmy.world 1 points 5 days ago* (last edited 5 days ago) (1 children)

Those just sound like idiots who happen to dress in mainstream working class fashion trends. Not members of a subculture.

[–] heliotrope@retrofed.com 1 points 5 days ago (1 children)

Did I say anything about a subculture?

[–] TinyLittlePuni@lemmy.world 1 points 5 days ago (1 children)

The title of the post is "Do most Brits still think chav was/is an actual subculture?"

[–] heliotrope@retrofed.com 1 points 5 days ago

Ah, but the conversation has moved past your initial question.

[–] Sanctus@anarchist.nexus 3 points 5 days ago
[–] Lumidaub@feddit.org 3 points 5 days ago

Nobody unironically identifies as an idiot - idiots don't exist.

[–] breadsmasher@lemmy.world 3 points 5 days ago* (last edited 5 days ago)

“chavs” are a real thing. not a subculture but just, scum on the streets

not sure why youre so obsessed with them though