- ‘lads’ and ‘lager louts’
- The terms ‘lads’ and ‘lager louts’ describe two different cultural phenomena. The lager lout first appeared as a conservative media target in the mid-1980s, the label encapsulating the leisure habits of nouveau riche working-class males who worked in City financial institutions, and their propensity for drinking imported bottled lager to excess and indulging in acts of violence. The ‘lad’ emerged in the early 1990s and was another media contrivance, set up in direct opposition to the politically correct male imagery that appeared at this time. The lad is seen as a beer-swilling, football-loving, girl-chasing caricature. Society was quick to acknowledge the lad: television shows, magazines, books and music all appeared to cater for the unreconstructed man.SAM JOHNSTONE
Encyclopedia of contemporary British culture . Peter Childs and Mike Storry). 2014.
