Hard-core members’ of consumption-oriented subcultures enactment of identity: the sacred consumption of two subcultures

Abstract

This study investigates how hard-core members of two non-brand focused consumption-oriented subcultures enact their identities. The authors analyzed data collected from prolonged investigations of the North American organized distance running subculture and the Australian Hip Hop culture. Results suggest hard-core members enact their subcultural identities through reverence to sacred objects, times, people, and places. In addition, drawing upon the properties of sacredness outlined by Belk et al (1989), hard-core members experience a sacred-like lifestyle through objectification, commitment, sacrifice, mystery, and ecstasy and flow. These findings imply that sacred subcultural experiences can be enacted in domains traditionally conceptualized as profane.