Are the groups in The Outsiders a subculture or a counterculture?

A good question indeed. One reason this novel has remained so popular with teens is its examination of the elements found in high school society. They don't seem to change very much, if at all. The socs and the greasers in the novel are subcultures in their school society, largely as a result of their economic and social backgrounds. Furthermore, they mirror their parents' roles in the greater society: the advantaged vs. the disadvantaged, the powerful vs. the powerless.

Both groups do demonstrate some counterculture traits, but in different ways. The greasers reject the social and academic standards of their school, but perhaps they do so only because they have been rejected first. ("If you don't want us, we don't want you either.") Their poverty and family backgrounds have forced them out of the mainstream. In embracing the values of a social subculture, they feel valued--at least by each other.

The socs form a subculture within high school society, the "stars," but they can be seen as a limited type of counterculture, also. They drink, break the law, and cause destruction, rebelling against adult authority and community standards. As a counterculture, though, theirs seems to be one of youth in general in relation to adult society at large. Because they are children of privilege and the stars of their school, they escape the kind of punishment that is reserved for the greasers.