ABSTRACT
This chapter examines an Australian hardcore music scene by combining concept of distinction with the notion of youth reflexivity. It argues that the binding and bonding of the straight edge oath forges a strong resilience in the subculture, while demanding a heightened reflexivity from those in the hardcore scene who are not straight edge. The chapter explores reactions in the broader hardcore scene to those who identify as straight edge, and highlights a moral economy of classification struggles that engenders processes of reflexivity. Young people in late modernity exercise a high level of reflexive surveillance over themselves and their lives. Torkelson interviewed young Americans who had left straight edge subculture. He found that they had made the decision as a result of existential reflections, disillusioning experiences with more fanatical performances of straightedge, and by simply coming of age'.
