The Emotional Experience of Class

Interpreting Working-Class Kids’ Street Racing in Helsinki

Bibliographic Data

ID9769954
AuthorsHeli Vaaranen (University of Helsinki, corresponding author)
Year2004
Volume595
Issue1
Pages91-107
Publication date2004-09-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueThe Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0002-7162 • E-ISSN: 1552-3349
PublisherSAGE Publications (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.1177/0002716204267494
OpenAlexW2025047612
LanguageEN
Citations received15
References cited10

Reproduction of social class through culture has puzzled social scientists especially in the Nordic, advanced welfare states where social equality has been the official policy of governments for most of the postwar period. In the following article, I address this issue through the emotional experience of class that culminates in the weekend excesses of youths and even the street-racing scenes of Helsinki. Based on ethnographic fieldwork with eighteen- to twenty-four-year-old male street racers of Helsinki, I argue that stagnant class locations build on stunted ambition and feelings of injustice. The cultural performances and camaraderie of these like-minded racers support these youths’ public, carefree identities and subcultural careers. Instead of resisting exclusion, they conform to it, celebrating “a room of his own” where shared risk, craftsmanship, driving skill, and disregard of education prevail

Class (philosophy · Criminology · Ethnography · Feeling · Injustice · Political science · Politics · Social class · Social injustice · Sociology · Welfare · Working class · Diversity and Impact of Dance · Gender Studies · Gender, Feminism, and Media · Law · Psychology · Social Psychology · Youth Education and Societal Dynamics

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