Abstract

Skateboarding has been a hallmark of adolescent experience in suburban America ever since its beginning in the 1950s. Skateboarding has become an underground subculture, providing the youth population a novel outlet for self-expression and independence. Transworld Skateboarding magazine displays the ideological characteristic of the skateboard movement through their unique populist syntext, distinctive signification system, and extensive textual convergence. However, while expressing adolescent resistance against homogeneity, the magazine also reflects the influence of popular culture on skateboarders. This idiosyncrasy of Transworld Skateboarding magazine reflects popular culture’s constant struggle between the need for hegemonic provision and resistance of mainstream conformity.