Social change at bike week

Abstract

This paper presents a photographic analysis of social change in a motorcycling culture using two different techniques of visual sociology. Both approaches investigate and inform about the social change taking place at an annual Bike Week and in the broader culture of the event's participants. First, repeat photographs of the same sites over time provide a systematic longitudinal comparison. Second, a visual essay is used to investigate the perspective of two long‐time participants. The article concludes with a discussion of substantive and methodological issues.