5. Defining and Visualizing Concepts

Underground hip-hop is a concept I take interest in especially as a form or counter-culture because of its’ hypothetical conflict/difference from what is known as rap music. Also, underground hip-hop can reflect positivity and nurturing whereas rap music is looked at as destructive in many ways. Underground hip-hop as a counter-culture helps expose the possible differences and conflicts of the two genres. Also, the concept of deviance has always been of interest to me. Sociology is riddled with theories that can lead or branch out into other theories. Deviance provides a wide range of ways to take a closer look as to how people interact when the “norm” is challenged. Underground hip-hop is known to be reflective of how hip-hop was, when it was introduced to the world. In literature such as Hip Hop Culture by Emmett G. Price(2006) and Hip-hop America by Nelson George(1998), hip-hop is defined as possessing 4 elements that classify itself as such: breaking(dancing), graffiti, turntablism(DJing), and MCing(rapping). Underground hip-hop nowadays isn’t depicted as such if it doesn’t contain most of the elements. As for social deviance, labeling theory catches my attention and is described as a social group becoming labeled or stereotyped by another or “superior” group; and the former group may reflect the attributes it’s ascribed by the latter. This in turn causes the group to be defined as deviant. From works such as Suicide by sociologist Emile Durkheim(1951) and The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life by sociologist Erving Goffman(1959), examples of labeling can be seen in the concept of suicide; where the more integrated or regulated you are into a group, the less likely you are to commit suicide. And vise versa. Erving Goffman explains how people put on a theatrical act when interacting with one another by presenting themselves as someone they may not be in order to define the interaction. For both concepts, I would prefer presenting them through video due to hip-hop having major influences with music videos/documentaries and deviance being displayed through social media every second. For both concepts, structure visualization works best along with concept and compound visualization. A learning map for underground hip-hop and a cartoon for deviance would help visualize both concepts. Running these concepts through Wordnik, Visuwords, etc., I discovered great tools for concept mapping. Durkheim, Emile. 1951. Suicide. New York, NY:The Free Press. Goffman, Erving. The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life. New York, NY: Anchor. Nelson, George. 1998. Hip hop America. New York, NY: Viking. Price, Emmett G. 2006. Hip Hop Culture. ABC-CLIO.