While the contentious politics (CP) model has come to dominate the field of social movements, scholars note the paradigm's shortcomings, especially its narrow focus on movement organizations, public protest, and political action. The conceptual wall between lifestyles and social movements has created a theoretical blind spot at the intersection of private action and movement participation, personal and social change, and personal and collective identity. We suggest that lifestyle movements (LMs) consciously and actively promote a lifestyle, or way of life, as a primary means to foster social change. Drawing upon our observations of a variety of LMs, we discuss three defining aspects of LMs: lifestyle choices as tactics of social change, the central role of personal identity work, and the diffuse structure of LMs. We also explore the links between LMs and social movements, CP, and conventional politics. Finally, we demonstrate that LM, as a new conceptual category, is applicable across a range of movement activities.

Although social movement scholars generally study movement organizations, a great deal of significant collective action occurs in diffuse, noninstitutional contexts. This article uses the straight edge movement to explore the less structured aspects of movement activity and discuss the roles collective identity plays in diffuse movements. The straight edge collective identity promotes individual action within the context of a commitment to a strong identity. This paper shows how a strong collective identity is the foundation of diffuse movements, providing "structure," a basis for commitment, and guidelines for individualized participation. Finally, the article demonstrates that organizational conceptualizations of social movements fail to capture important avenues of cultural protest.

No abstract

Only recently have researchers begun thoroughly examining the role of youth music cultures and subcultures in participants’ ‘adult’ lives, suggesting that participation does not end with an abrupt transition to adulthood. Significantly, how subcultural experience translates into work skills and job opportunities needs further investigation. Based upon interviews and participant observation with older straight edgers – clean-living punks associated with the hardcore music scene – over the course of five years, this article examines subcultural entrepreneurs, in particular straight edgers, who have used DIY experiences to start businesses or advance careers. I first examine how involvement in DIY scenes can influence choice of career; many participants chose work reflective of their DIY values and/or created their own career. Next, I discuss how participants’ DIY dispositions influence their work, including tolerance for risk, confidence, self-reliance, and adaptability. I then demonstrate how participants translate scene experience into useful and marketable skills, including management, organization, marketing, and job-specific proficiencies.

No abstract