Subculture and Role Conflict:
A subculture is a culture that, on a basic level, peacefully exists within a dominant culture. Role conflict happens when two roles from different statuses are in conflict with each other. It would seem obvious that at times, belonging to a subculture may produce role strain.
Harry Potter, as a member of the wizard subculture in the United Kingdom, faces role conflict almost every summer holiday when he goes home to his Muggle (non-magical) Aunt and Uncle’s house. One of the conflicts he faces is doing his homework, as his uncle and aunt lock his spell books up every summer. Harry experiences conflict between the roles of a student at Hogwarts (the wizard school he attends) and his role as a dutiful nephew to the Dursleys. This is especially apparent in book three, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban.
“Harry Potter was a highly unusual boy in many ways. For one thing, he hated the summer holidays more than any other time of year. For another, he really wanted to do his homework, but was forced to do it in secret, in the dead of night. And he also happened to be a wizard.” (Rowling 7)
“For years, Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon had hoped that if they kept Harry as downtrodden as possible, they would be able to squash the magic out of him. To their fury, they had been unsuccessful and now lived in terror of anyone finding out that Harry had spent most of the last two years at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. The most the Dursleys could do these days was to lock away Harry’s spellbooks, wand, cauldron and broomstick at the start of the summer holidays, and forbid him to talk to the neighbours.
“This separation from his spellbooks had been a real problem for Harry, because the teachers at Hogwarts had given him a lot of holiday work.” (Rowling 8)
Harry’s involvement in the wizard subculture produces a lot of role conflict every summer he spends in London, as shown from the text included.
Stigma and Retrospective Labelling:
A stigma is an extremely powerful negative label that, once applied to a person, often acts as a master status. Retrospective labelling is looking into the past life of an individual in light of a new status they have gained. These two concepts go hand in hand much of the time; once someone is stigmatized people will look back on their life and see everything in light of the new stigmatized master status. A very good example of this can be found in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. When Frank, the Riddle’s gardener, is accused of murder the whole town of Little Hangleton engaged in retrospective labelling at The Hanged Man (the village pub).
“They were rewarded for leaving their firesides when the Riddles’ cook arrived dramatically in their midst, and announced to the suddenly silent pub that a man called Frank Bryce had just been arrested.
“‘Frank!’ cried several people. ‘Never!’
“Frank Bryce was the Riddles’ gardener. He lived alone in a run-down cottage in the Riddle House grounds. Frank had come back from the war with a very stiff leg and a great dislike of crowds and loud noises, and had been working for the Riddles ever since.
“There was a rush to buy the cook drinks, and hear more details.
“‘Always thought he was odd,’ she told the eagerly listening villagers, after her fourth sherry. ‘Unfriendly, like. I’m sure if I’ve offered him a cuppa once, I’ve offered it a hundred times. Never wanted to mix, he didn’t.
“‘Ah now,’ said a woman at the bar, ‘he had a hard war, Frank, he likes the quiet life. That’s no reason to…’
“‘Who else had a key to the back door, then?’ barked the cook. ‘There’s been a spare key hanging in the gardener’s cottage far back as I can remember! Nobody forced the door last night! No broken windows! All Frank had to do was creep up to the big house while we was all sleeping…’
“The villagers exchanged dark looks.
“‘I always thought he had a nasty look about him, right enough,’ grunted a man at the bar.
“‘War turned him funny, if you ask me,’ said the landlord.
“‘Told you I wouldn’t like to get on the wrong side of Frank, didn’t I Dot?’ said an excited woman in the corner.
“‘Horrible Temper,’ said Dot, nodding fervently, ‘I remember, when he was a kid…’
“By the following morning, hardly anyone in Little Hangleton doubted that Frank Bryce had killed the Riddles.” (Rowling 8-9)
Murderer is an extremely strong stigma. Frank never looses the stigma; he spends the rest of his life living as the person who murdered the Riddles, even though he got off legally because there was no proof that they had been murdered at all.
Ethnocentrism and Discrimination:
Ethnocentrism is judging other cultures by the standards of your own; this generally leads people to thinking they have a superior culture. Discrimination is when you treat different categories of people differently. Ethnocentrism can sometimes lead to discrimination when we do not understand the other people’s culture. A good example of these concepts can be found in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets.
“‘You all know, of course, that Hogwarts was founded over a thousand years ago – the precise date is uncertain – by the four greatest witches and wizards of the age. The four school houses are named after them: Godric Gryffindor, Helga Hufflepuff, Rowena Ravenclaw and Salazar Slytherin. They built this castle together, far from prying Muggle eyes, for it was an age when magic was feared by common people and witches and wizards suffered much persecution.’
“He paused, gazed blearily around the room, and continued, ‘For a few years, the founders worked in harmony together, seeking out youngsters who showed signs of magic and bringing them to the castle to be educated. But then disagreements sprang up between them. A rift began to grow between Slytherin and the others. Slytherin wished to be more selective about the students admitted to Hogwarts. He believed that magical learning should be kept within all-magic families. He disliked taking students of Muggle parentage, believing them to be untrustworthy. After awhile there was a serious argument on the subject between Slytherin and Gryffindor, and Slytherin left the school.’” (Rowling 114)
Both the Muggles and Salazar Slytherin were discriminating in that passage, and the Muggles were being ethnocentric. They didn’t understand magical culture and they were viewing it in terms of their non-magic culture. It made no sense to them and scared them into discrimination.
Total Institution and Mass Hysteria:
A total institution is an organisation that controls every aspect of people’s daily lives. Mass Hysteria is a dispersed panic through a society. It may not be immediately apparent, how these two things could be linked; if you look at prisoners in a prison (which serves as a total institution) and an extremely dangerous one breaks out it can cause mass hysteria. An example of this exact thing happening can be found in Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban when Sirius Black breaks out of Azkaban prison.
“‘…makes no sense not to tell him,’ Mr. Weasly was saying heatedly. ‘Harry’s got as right to know. I’ve tried to tell Fudge, but he insists on treating Harry like a child. He’s thirteen years old and…’
“‘Arthur, the truth would terrify him!’ said Mrs. Weasly shrilly. ‘Do you really want to send Harry back to school with that hanging over him? For heaven’s sake, he’s happy not knowing!’
“‘I don’t want to make him miserable, I want to put him on his guard!’ retorted Mr. Weasly. ‘You know what Harry and Ron are like, wandering off by themselves – they’ve ended up in the Forbidden Forest twice! But Harry mustn’t do that this year! When I think what could have happened to him that night he ran away from home! If the Knight Bus hadn’t picked him up, I’m prepared to bet he would have been dead before the ministry found him.’
“‘But he’s not dead, he’s fine, so what’s the point…’
“‘Molly, they say Sirius Black’s mad, and maybe he is, but he was clever enough to escape from Azkaban, and that’s supposed to be impossible. It’s been three weeks, and no one’s seen hide nor hair of him, and I don’t care what Fudge keeps telling the Daily Prophet, we’re no nearer catching Black than inventing self-spelling wands. The only thing we know for sure is what Black’s after…’
“‘But Harry will be perfectly safe at Hogwarts.’
“‘We thought Azkaban was perfectly safe. If Black can break out of Azkaban, he can break into Hogwarts.’” (Rowling 53)
Not only was the magical world panicking about Black’s escape, but the Ministry of Magic had informed Muggle press. Azkaban is a perfect example of a total institution and Black’s escape is a good example of Mass Hysteria.
Counterculture and Sanctions:
A counterculture is a culture whose values clash with those of the dominant culture. Sanctions are things that happen to individuals who either uphold or break the norms of a society. You can see why people belonging to a subculture, acting on the values of that subculture instead of the values of the dominant culture, could face some negative Sanctions. Dumbledore’s Army is a strong example of a counterculture within Hogwarts’ dominant culture in book five, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. Dumbledore’s actions when confronted with this “army” show how countercultures can mean negative sanctions for those involved.
“‘Yes,’ said Umbridge, pulling herself together, ‘yes… well, Miss Edgecombe tipped me off and I proceeded at once to the seventh floor, accompanied by certain trustworthy students, so as to catch those in the meeting red-handed. It appears that they were forewarned or my arrival, however, because when we reached the seventh floor they were running in every direction. It does not matter, however. I have all their names here, Miss Parkinson ran into the Room of Requirement for me to see if they had left anything behind. We needed evidence and the room provided.’
“And to Harry’s horror, she withdrew from her pocket the list of names that had been pinned upon the Room of Requirement’s wall and handed it to Fudge.
“‘The moment I saw Potter’s name on the list I knew what we were dealing with,’ she said softly.
“‘Excellent,’ said Fudge, a smile spreading across his face, “excellent, Dolores. And… by thunder…’
“He looked up at Dumbledore, who was still standing beside Marietta, his wand held loosely in his hand.
“‘See what they’ve named themselves?’ said Fudge quietly. ‘Dumbledore’s Army.’” (Rowling 544-5)
“‘Yes, shut up, Potter!’ barked Fudge, who was still ogling Dumbledore with a kind of horrified delight. ‘Well, well, well – I came here tonight expecting to expel Potter and instead…’
“‘Instead you get to arrest me,’ said Dumbledore, smiling. ‘It’s like losing a Knut and finding a Galleon, isn’t it?’” (Rowling 546)
A counterculture’s beliefs, if radical enough, can lead to real trouble with sanctions for its members.
