Abstract
This article is a qualitative examination of the effects of modernity on the lives and identities of a group of surfers in Southern California. The men studied feel that newcomers are changing the nature of the surfing in their area. The surfers attribute the negative changes in surfing to the gentrification of their community and the importation of new values by newcomers. Using the theoretical approach of modernity as discussed by Giddens, the act of surfing is conceptualized as being “disembedded” from the traditional local context established and maintained by the surfers for more than two decades. It is being figuratively transplanted into a more generic context reflecting the competitive, materialistic, and individual-orientated order typifying postindustrial American society.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
