Abstract
Snyder introduces professional skateboarding as a phenomenon in the intersection between mainstream entrepreneurial dynamics and subcultural careers. The work of a professional in Los Angeles consists of landing the most difficult tricks, publishing them, gaining subcultural capital and transferring that to real capital through endorsement deals for boards, shoes and apparel. Concurrently, skateboarding is illegal in the state of California and this entails an interesting dynamic that shares traits with other ‘resistant’ (p. 194) public space activities, BMX, parkour, graffiti and bike messengers.
Snyder is Associate Professor of Sociology at Baruch College in New York and has previously published a book titled Graffiti Lives: Beyond the Tag in New York’s Urban Underground. He is well versed in subcultural theory and urban sociology and draws on cultural criminology to inform the analysis. His fascination with the subject shines through the text and he explicitly states that his aim is to describe the ‘skateboarding culture in an effort to change the minds of those who would dismiss it as stupid or misguided’ (p. 29).
The book has four parts and first details the author’s immersion into the lives of professional street skateboarders, the trick basics, and the auxiliary roles of filmers and photographers. The second part provides more theoretical context on subcultural careers and the publication of tricks. The third part explains the contradiction between skater’s use of ‘spots’ as places for landmark achievements and society’s use of defensible designs. The final part introduces skateboarders as political activists that struggle to decriminalize their activities. Each part has descriptions of basic facets of skateboarding, interviews that focus on the personal narratives of participants, and more theory-laden scholarly analysis. This variation makes the book an easy and entertaining read.
Subcultures are notoriously difficult to explain to outsiders but Snyder has gained privileged access through his brother who is a former professional. The resultant sample of interviewees is maybe a little too convenient and some sensitive, but pertinent, questions regarding the financial prospects are left unanswered because ‘skaters don’t like to talk about money’ (p. 119–20).
Snyder estimates the number of professionals to be around 500 based on an extrapolation from 50 board companies with 5–10 pros each and notes that top pros make around $100,000 a year with a few making well over a million while ‘many struggle financially’ (p. 73). Upcoming ‘amateurs’ make only $500–1,000 a month and ‘only the best (filmers) actually make a good living’ (p. 157). The section ‘Pay scales’ (p. 171), however, does not mention any numbers.
There is an amusing illustration of career stages with a parallel to the academy, where ‘flow’ skaters are compared to adjunct professors and ‘amateurs’ to tenure-track assistant professors (p. 114). While this captures the precariousness of both industries, it may be too optimistic on behalf of the skaters. According to Snyder’s own description, status as a professional does not necessarily entail a liveable wage, and financial stability only comes with a shoe sponsor. For the parallel to hold, a professional skateboarder with only a board sponsor would be on a tenure track while the amateurs just got their doctorates. An associate professor would be the pro with a shoe sponsor while the full professor has a signature model for a shoe company.
For readers with no prior knowledge of professional skateboarding, this context is essential. It would have been interesting with a more systematic presentation of the expected earnings at various career stages, for example, by counting the number of pros on shoe teams with or without signature shoe models.
At times, the writing is blunt, when ‘Leticia’s winning trick … would have received a 5 if done by a man, but in this instance she received a 7’ (p. 142). At other times, it is humorous, when a professional skateboarder ‘did not discover the Carlsbad Gap while cruising through the city, critiquing traffic patterns or the use of public space’ (p. 204). There are a few unsightly mistakes. Tricks are explained in Chapter 3 but one of the first pictures is mislabelled (p. 8). A reference to prior research on rap and ‘grind’ in the United Kingdom (p. 19) should have been ‘grime’, and Sheckler’s Plan B part did not actually ‘solidify his reputation’ (p. 171) but rather gained him notoriety for breaching the ‘you cannot lie’ rule (p. 245).
As the first ethnography on professional skateboarding, this book is a great start. Future studies could examine the central themes to provide a richer picture of one of the most vibrant youth subcultures. While technical tricks and personal charisma are certainly important components of a successful skateboarding career, this is also a very general proposition that misses some interesting idiosyncrasies to skateboarding and the subcultural component. There are many examples of pros well beyond their prime that are still highly respected and well paid despite their lack of output. A well-rounded skateboard team not only consists of the best riders at the forefront of trick innovation but also riders that embody other less competitive aspects of the subculture, for example, rebellious attitudes or artistic endeavours. This is not so much a criticism of Snyder’s work as it is an encouragement to probe further into these issues. Looking beyond the LA pro scene would provide a better understanding of the many other facets of the subculture.
Finally, seeing that the book is published in the Alternative Criminology series, it would have been interesting to read more analysis on the intersections between skateboarding and criminal behaviour. There are plenty of examples in the book of how skateboarders serve a crime-preventative function by taking over dilapidated areas and using them. The opposite perspective is that skateboarding involves a lot of unstructured socializing, in the streets, in gender homogenous groups of risk-willing young men. A follow-up study of professional skateboarders could investigate the subterranean values associated with the activity.