'Chav': The emergence of a new Identity by James K. Walker

There has recently been an explosion across the media about a group of people collectively known as Chav's. The language used to critique these supposed 'types' falls within and between an economic and cultural framework. At its most derogatory chav is believed to stand for 'Council Housed And Violent' and is synonymous with ignorance, poverty, violence. Their conditions of existence are presented as self imposed and therefore undeserving of sympathy. They are, as one book cover describes them, 'Britain's peasant underclass over taking 'our' towns' and therefore to be monitored for daring to cross cultural boundaries. At the other end of the spectrum the chav are mocked for their supposed lack of aesthetic and cultural sensibilities through caricatures. By this definition they are the Can't HAVe's. These caricatures emphasise the branded sportswear, excessive jewellery and a general lack of subtlety in appearance (hair scrapped back into an ultra tight bun known as 'the council house facelift') which symbolically identify this group.

When investigating why the chav identity should emerge at this particular historical moment it is perhaps worth stating a rather obvious fact. No chav has actually stepped forward as a representative of their group. There is no chav manifesto. Instead what we see in the media is a series of representations which attempt an essentialist definition of identity with an authentic set of characteristics. Richard Dyer argues in his essay 'Stereotyping' (1977) that the use of 'types' is fundamental to the thinking process as it helps us to make sense of the world by referring people, objects and events in terms of wider categories. So for example we come to 'know' something about an identity by thinking of the roles they perform, which in turn are then further stratified by other forms of typification. It is this combination which may allow an individual to fall into a wider category e.g. gender (male) +age (teenager) + appearance (branded clothing) + personality (loud) = chav. A 'type' then is 'any simple, vivid, memorable, easily grasped and widely recognized characterisation in which a few traits are foregrounded and change or 'development' is kept to a minimum.' (Dyer, 1977: 28)

A type becomes a stereotype when the 'easily grasped' characteristics attempt to fix boundaries and secure discursive or ideological closure. Culture though is a dynamic process in which meaning(s) are under constant (re)negotiation and (re)articulation. As the chav phenomenon becomes more popular, whether for positive or negative reasons, it becomes harder to produce, consume and regulate one fixed identity. Rather than categories reducing they become wider and more permeable which in turn transforms the ways of 'talking' about and understanding chav's. For this reason instead of seeing this identity in its historical context and following a long line of youth cultures which have aroused similar anxieties and moral panics (Cohen 1955, 1972) I will concentrate on the present processes of transformations this identity is subjected to. This is more feasible for this project whilst perhaps enabling us to predict its future evolution or extinction.