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Concept
Greaser (subculture)
Summary
Greasers are a youth subculture that emerged in the 1950s and early 1960s from predominantly working class and lower-class teenagers and young adults in the United States and Canada. The subculture remained prominent into the mid-1960s and was particularly embraced by certain ethnic groups in urban areas, particularly Italian Americans and Hispanic Americans.
The etymology for the term greaser is unknown. It is speculated that the word originated in the late 19th century in the United States as a derogatory label for poor laborers, specifically those of Italian, Greek or Mexican descent. The similar term "greaseball" is a slur for individuals of Italian or Greek descent, though to a lesser extent it has also been used more generally to refer to all Mediterranean, Latino, or Hispanic people. By the time of the Civil War, the words "greaser" and "greaseball" were understood to carry racist and segregationist meanings.
"Greaser" was later used to reference automotive mechanics. It was not used in writing to refer to the American subculture of the mid-20th century until the mid-1960s, though in this sense it still evoked a pejorative ethnic connotation and a relation to machine work. The name was applied to members of the subculture partly because of their characteristic greased-back hair.
Within Greater Baltimore during the 1950s and early 1960s, greasers were colloquially referred to as drapes and drapettes.
The greaser subculture may have emerged in the post–World War II era among the motorcycle clubs and street gangs of the late 1940s in the United States, though it was certainly established by the 1950s, when it was increasingly adopted by ethnic urban youth. The original greasers (often coming from “ethnic” backgrounds) were aligned by a feeling of working class and lower class disillusionment with American popular culture either through a lack of economic opportunity in spite of the post-war boom or a marginalization enacted by the general domestic shift towards homogeneity in the 1950s.
Official source
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