Abstract

While punk was officially declared ‘dead’ by mainstream media in 1979, it revived with the emergence of the harder and more militant hardcore scene. Initially hardcore punk came about as a reaction to the domestication and commercialisation of punk, which had supposedly lost its ideological edge. This article studies the contemporary Dutch hardcore scene in light of sociological theories about subcultures and their presumed stylistic resistance against hegemonic class structures. It is shown how specific stylistic practices that hardcore punks engage in, like moshing, stage-diving and wearing band shirts, merge individual with collective expression. Not all hardcore punks are in the scene for the same reasons. Some subcultural consumers are in it for ‘the fun’ and do not relate much to a collective (class) ideology, while they do embrace the collective style. Their engagement with hardcore punk is contrasted by the commitment of ultimate insiders who feel a strong connection to the collective ideology, while they reject the collective style as it is worn by non-ideologists. In between these two positions we also find the tolerant insiders who are also very committed to hardcore, but do not consider it to be ‘a way of life’.

How to Cite:

Bevers, M. & van Bohemen, S., (2016) “One with the underdogs? Over subculturele stijl en individuele expressie in de hardcore punk”, Sociologie 12(1), 3–30. doi: https://doi.org/10.5117/SOC2016.1.BEVE