ABSTRACT
Whether we take as our point of departure the Chicago School or the Centre for Contemporary Cultural Studies (CCCS) in Birmingham, difference has been a key element within subcultural studies from its beginning. Subcultures, it has been argued, exist outside of and in opposition to a mainstream culture that threatens to rob the subcultural of its subversive and creative character (Hall and Jefferson 1976; Hebdige 1979). For subcultural researchers, punk has been the prime example of this subcultural resistance against the mainstream through style, politics and actions. However, recent work in subcultural studies has questioned this clear boundary between a normal mainstream and the deviant subcultural, instead pointing to the plurality of subcultural authenticities and mainstreams (Muggleton 2000; Williams 2006). Furthering this idea of subcultural plurality, this chapter aims to investigate how punks enact different interpretations of the binary subcultural/mainstream and to explore the consequences these enactments have for subcultural performances of style and practice.
