What caused young people to form "subcultures" in high schools in the 20th century and why is this phenomenon seemingly disappearing?

The subculture still exist but as far as I see, teens today feel less obligated to perform them IRL. So you get a handful of goths in one school... but they hang out with their classmates that they like instead of with their "fellow goths".

Even when I was in high school not that long ago, every lunch crowd, which were roughly as big as the tables themselves, would have one or two goths, or furries, one or two athletes, etc. The idea of all the goths sitting together like in the movies would have weirded me out. People sorted themselves by currently-working-in-the-same-project or in-the-same-class or interested-in-X-subject crowds that were very heterogeneous.

So, I think subculture performance seems to have moved very far online. I think of this as a good thing. The aesthetics and cultural markers remain, but the tribalism is minimized.

/r/AskSocialScience Thread