CEU Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2025
| Author | Bourdon, Yoline |
|---|---|
| Title | Rap, Cinema, Fashion, or the Street: Youth and the Promises of the Industry of the Street amidst Marseille's Economic Restructuring |
| Summary | This thesis examines the emergence of a creative economy in Marseille since the 1990s, a promise of emancipation for lower-class male youth who are prone to early school dropouts. Their rejection of traditional working-class occupations, coupled with aspirations for success and upward social mobility, is exacerbated by exclusionary and stigmatizing urban and cultural policies. I investigate how, rather than countering stereotypes, my participants strive to mobilize stigma into a profitable enterprise: the “industry of the street.” This term reflects the industry’s dependence on socio-economic ties to “the street,” a physical, symbolic, and social space—one that is both a source of valuation and devaluation. Through this perspective, I analyze branches of the music, cinema, and fashion industries, following a Marxist understanding of value. This approach allows me to illuminate the processes by which stereotypes are fetishized and commodified, as well as how this industry mobilizes (past) colonial hierarchies, forms of dominance, and control in the service of capital. I conclude by suggesting that the reframing of rap, alongside other branches of the creative industry, as “work” is a critical first step towards improving working conditions. |
| Supervisor | Cucu, Alina-Sandra; Rajaram, Prem Kumar |
| Department | Sociology MA |
| Full text | https://www.etd.ceu.edu/2025/bourdon_yoline.pdf |
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