the presence of supportive others, in fact, often initiates entry into the sub-
culture (Lewin & Williams, 2009; Muggleton, 2000). Because many punks
claim to develop a sense of self-comfort that was not initially present
through subcultural participation, studying punk allows the researcher to
explore the sociological mechanisms through which their comfort and cer-
tainty arises. And fifth, because the subculture revolves around concerts
that seek to overwhelm the senses and activate ecstatic emotion through
“mosh pits,” “slam dancing,” and extreme musical volume (Hancock &
Lorr, 2013), it provides an arena in which the researcher can investigate the
embodied and performative dimensions of identity formation.^6
RESEARCH QUESTIONS AND METHODS
While the punk subculture encourages young people to experiment with
identity by inviting penetrating questions about selfhood in the presence of
supportive others, peer support alone cannot indemnify participants from
the radical reflexivity about whichGiddens (1991)writesnor the social
saturation about which Gergen (1991) repines. Although many punks
describe feeling at home within the subculture, they also express a need to
confirm the validity of their punk identities. Charlie, a 23-year-old musician
and former marine, for instance, described feeling enthusiastic about other
identities in the past, such as being a soldier, but later rejected them.
Charlie’s punk identity, on the other hand, and the punk identities of the
others in this study, remained salient years after my subjects had embraced
them, even though the associated lifestyle often came at the expense of
social opportunities.^7
My experiences with dozens of punks like Charlie precipitated the fol-
lowing research questions: What explains the tenacity of punk identities
amid the pull of alternative choices? Through what process do punks con-
firm their identities? What social-psychological mechanisms elicit the feel-
ings of truth, objectivity, and comfort that individuals come to associate
with being punk? And, at a more general level, how has post-modernization
affected the way in which young people carry out “identity work?”^8 What
roles do embodiment and performativity play in the processes of “identity
work?”
In carrying out this study, I focused on the “idioculture” of a punk scene
located within a large, southeastern city in the United States. While the
pressures of post-modernization affect young people in the postmodern
170 PHILIP LEWIN