Skip to content
1981
Volume 11, Issue 2
  • ISSN: 2052-3998
  • E-ISSN: 2052-4005

Abstract

This study examines the influence of sociodemographic factors and value preferences on membership in the metal subculture through an ex-post-facto cross-sectional survey involving 1251 participants, including 310 metal enthusiasts. Factors such as gender, age and commuting distance from urban areas were analysed across five subcultural aspects: dress style, concert attendance, social media activity, group affiliation and slang usage. Findings reveal that the metal subculture is most prevalent among middle-aged men but maintains shared value foundations across age groups. Gender plays a critical role in value differentiation: while men and women share external subcultural markers like style, their internal value systems diverge significantly. Women act as stabilizing agents, bridging the subculture with mainstream society and mitigating social exclusion. This research highlights the dynamics of subcultural identity, offering insights into its role in shaping personal identity and fostering community cohesion.

© 2025 Intellect Ltd
Loading

Article metrics loading...

/content/journals/10.1386/mms_00171_1
2025-09-15
2026-04-21

Metrics

Loading full text...

Full text loading...

References

  1. Azen, Razia and Walker, Cindy M. (2021), Categorical Data Analysis for the Behavioral and Social Sciences, 2nd ed., New York and London: Routledge.
     [Google Scholar]
  2. Bartas, Pavel (2005), Rock & Metal: encyklopedie hard rocku a heavy metalu, Prague: Volvox Globator.
     [Google Scholar]
  3. Bednařík, Tomáš (1997), Ve spárech rock’n’rollu, Lišany: Martin Rajchl.
     [Google Scholar]
  4. Bednařík, Petr, Jirák, Jan and Köpplová, Barbara (2019), Dějiny českých médií: od počátku do současnosti, 2nd ed., Prague: Grada.
     [Google Scholar]
  5. Berkers, Pauwke and Schaap, Julian (2015), ‘YouTube as a virtual springboard: Circumventing gender dynamics in offline and online metal music careers’, Metal Music Studies, 1:3, pp. 303–18, https://doi.org/10.1386/mms.1.3.303_1.
     [Google Scholar]
  6. Berkers, Pauwke and Schaap, Julian (2018), Gender Inequality in Metal Music Production, Bingley: Emerald Publishing Limited.
     [Google Scholar]
  7. Brown, Julia Prewitt (1997), Cosmopolitan Criticism: Oscar Wilde’s Philosophy of Art, Charlottesville, VA: University of Virginia Press.
     [Google Scholar]
  8. Bukszpan, Daniel, Dio, Ronnie James and Lipčík, Roman (2004), Heavy Metal: Encyklopedie, Prague: BB art.
     [Google Scholar]
  9. Christe, Ian (2005), Ďáblův hlas – heavy metal: kompletní historie pro znalce, Prague: BB art.
     [Google Scholar]
  10. Daniel, Ondřej (2016), Násilím proti ‘novému biedermeieru’: subkultury a většinová společnost pozdního státního socialismu a postsocialismu, Příbram: Pistorius & Olšanská.
     [Google Scholar]
  11. Daniel, Ondřej, Kavka, Tomáš and Machek, Jakub (2013), Populární kultura v českém prostoru, Prague: Karolinum.
     [Google Scholar]
  12. Encyclopaedia Metallum (2024), ‘Message board’, https://www.metal-archives.com/. Accessed 4 December 2024.
  13. Fikarová, Lucie (2022), Plzeň punková a metalová: punková a metalová alternativní hudební scéna v Plzni (1983–1995), Prague: Karolinum.
     [Google Scholar]
  14. Heřmanský, Martin and Novotná, Hedvika (2011), ‘Hudební subkultury’, in P. Janeček (ed.), Folklor atomového věku: kolektivně sdílené prvky expresivní kultury v soudobé české společnosti, Prague: Národní Muzeum, pp. 89–110.
     [Google Scholar]
  15. Hill, Rosemary Lucy (2016), Gender, Metal and the Media: Women Fans and the Gendered Experience of Music, London: Palgrave Macmillan UK.
     [Google Scholar]
  16. Hillier, Benjamin (2020), ‘Considering genre in metal music’, Metal Music Studies, 6:1, pp. 5–26, https://doi.org/10.1386/mms_00002_1.
     [Google Scholar]
  17. Howe, Tasha R., Aberson, Christopher L., Friedman, Howard S., Murphy, Sarah E., Alcazar, Esperanza, Vazquez, Edwin J. and Becker, Rebekah (2015), ‘Three decades later: The life experiences and mid-life functioning of 1980s heavy metal groupies, musicians, and fans’, Self and Identity, 14:5, pp. 602–26, https://doi.org/10.1080/15298868.2015.1036918.
     [Google Scholar]
  18. Kahn-Harris, Keith (2006), Extreme Metal: Music and Culture on the Edge, London: Bloomsbury Publishing PLC.
     [Google Scholar]
  19. Kahn-Harris, Keith (2014), ‘Metal beyond metal’, Souciant, 13 May, https://souciant.media/2014/01/metal-beyond-metal/. Accessed 2 December 2024.
  20. Kluckhohn, Clyde (1951), ‘Values and value orientations in the theory of action’, in T. Parsons and E. A. Shils (eds), Toward a General Theory of Action, Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, pp. 388–433.
     [Google Scholar]
  21. Korál, Petr and Špulák, Jaroslav (1993), Ohlasy písní těžkých, Prague: Hakon Euro s.r.o.: Rock & Pop.
     [Google Scholar]
  22. Kupka, Petr, Laryš, Martin and Smolík, Josef (2009), Krajní pravice ve vybraných zemích střední a východní Evropy: Slovensko, Polsko, Ukrajina, Bělorusko, Rusko, Brno: Masarykova univerzita, Mezinárodní politologický ústav, Ediční řada Monografie.
     [Google Scholar]
  23. Lindaur, Vojtěch and Konrád, Ondřej (2010), Rock a metal v Československu: Dějiny a souvislosti, Brno: MusicWorld Press.
     [Google Scholar]
  24. Lyons, Arthur (1995), Satan tě chce: uctívání ďábla a jeho sekty v Americe (trans. L. Mach), Brno: Tomáš Janeček.
     [Google Scholar]
  25. Mareš, Miroslav (2003), Pravicový extremismus a radikalismus v ČR, Brno: Barrister & Principal.
     [Google Scholar]
  26. Mareš, Miroslav (2013), Rozpoznávanie politického extrémizmu na Slovensku: príručka pre identifikáciu extrémistických symbolov, Bratislava: Centrum pre európske a severoatlantické vzťahy (CENAA).
     [Google Scholar]
  27. Moravčík, Ivan and Struhár, Pavol (2019), Rozpoznávanie nenávistných a extrémistických prejavov v prostredí mládeže, Trenčín: Katedra politológie Trenčianskej univerzity Alexandra Dubčeka v Trenčíne.
     [Google Scholar]
  28. O’Boyle, Tom and Scott, Niall (2017), ‘The future of metal is bright and hell bent for genre destruction: A response to Keith Kahn-Harris’, in A. R. Brown, K. Spracklen, K. Kahn-Harris and N. Scott (eds), Global Metal Music and Culture: Current Directions in Metal Studies, New York: Routledge, pp. 333–42.
     [Google Scholar]
  29. Olecká, Ivana and Pospíšil, Jiří (2023), Návykové látky v české populaci: Abúzus v kontextu sociodemografických charakteristik, hodnotových preferencí, volnočasových aktivit a sociální prevence mezi léty 2018–2023, Olomouc: Univerzita Palackého v Olomouci.
     [Google Scholar]
  30. Patterson, Dayal (2021a), Black Metal: Evoluce kultu (trans. M. Smolka), Prague: MetalGate.
     [Google Scholar]
  31. Patterson, Dayal (2021b), Black Metal: Předehra ke kultu (trans. M. Smolka), Prague: MetalGate.
     [Google Scholar]
  32. Pospíšil, Jiří (2023), Hodnoty a volný čas: Nové výzvy pro sociální pedagogiku a pedagogiku volného času, Olomouc: Univerzita Palackého v Olomouci.
     [Google Scholar]
  33. Riches, Gabby (2015), ‘Re-conceptualizing women’s marginalization in heavy metal: A feminist post-structuralist perspective’, Metal Music Studies, 1:2, pp. 263–70, https://doi.org/10.1386/mms.1.2.263_1.
     [Google Scholar]
  34. Rokeach, Milton (1973), The Nature of Human Values, New York: Free Press.
     [Google Scholar]
  35. Sackl-Sharif, Susanne (2021), ‘The dark side of blogging: Digital metal communities and metal influencers’, Metal Music Studies, 7:2, pp. 237–55, https://doi.org/10.1386/mms_00047_1.
     [Google Scholar]
  36. Sheskin, David (2011), Handbook of Parametric and Nonparametric Statistical Procedures, 5th ed., Boca Raton, FL: Chapman & Hall/CRC.
     [Google Scholar]
  37. Smolík, Josef (2010), ‘Metalová hudba a krajní pravice’, in L. Grešková (ed.), Náboženské Korene Pravicového Extremismu, Bratislava: Ústav pre vzťahy štátu a cirkví, pp. 85–98.
     [Google Scholar]
  38. Smolík, Josef (2017), Subkultury mládeže: sociologické, psychologické a pedagogické aspekty, Brno: Mendelova univerzita.
     [Google Scholar]
  39. Soukup, Martin (2017), Terénní výzkum v sociální a kulturní antropologii, Prague: Karolinum.
     [Google Scholar]
  40. Spracklen, Karl (2023), Metal as Leisure Space and Tourism Industry Destination, Cambridge and New York: Cambridge University Press.
     [Google Scholar]
  41. Suchánek, Marek (2003), Satanismus a extremismus, Brno: Masarykova Univerzita.
     [Google Scholar]
  42. Vrzal, Miroslav (2015), ‘Okultní aspekty v metalové hudbě: Od hororového stylu k temné spiritualitě’, Sacra, 13:2, https://hdl.handle.net/11222.digilib/137704. Accessed 2 July 2025.
     [Google Scholar]
  43. Vrzal, Miroslav (2017), ‘Pagan terror: The role of pagan ideology in church burnings and the 1990s Norwegian black metal subculture’, Pomegranate: The International Journal of Pagan Studies, 19:2, pp. 173–204, https://doi.org/10.1558/pome.33472.
     [Google Scholar]
  44. Vrzal, Miroslav (2022), ‘Czech metal studies’, Studia de Cultura, 14:3, pp. 6–22, https://doi.org/10.24917/20837275.14.3.1.
     [Google Scholar]
  45. Vrzal, Miroslav (2023), ‘Satanic elements in Czech black metal: Subcultural style and identity’, Národopisná Revue (Journal of Ethnology), 33:3, https://revue.nulk.cz/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/r3-2023.pdf#page=25. Accessed 2 July 2025.
     [Google Scholar]
/content/journals/10.1386/mms_00171_1
Loading
Forging a subcultural identity in the context of gender inequalities, generational bridges and symbolic security in Czech metal
Metal Music Studies 11, 257 (2025); https://doi.org/10.1386/mms_00171_1
/content/journals/10.1386/mms_00171_1
/content/journals/10.1386/mms_00171_1
Loading

Data & Media loading...

  • Article Type: Article
Keyword(s): cultural values; Czech music scene; gender disparities; intergenerational relations; metal genres; social cohesion; symbolic boundaries

Most Cited Most Cited RSS feed

This is a required field
Please enter a valid email address
Approval was a success
Invalid data
An error occurred
Approval was partially successful, following selected items could not be processed due to error
Please enter a valid_number test