'Being' Versus 'Doing' Punk: On Achieving Authenticity as a Member

Abstract

In this paper we examine some ways in which members of subcultures make comparisons between and within subcultural groups and one function served by such comparisons. Specifically, we illustrate how social comparisons are used to achieve authenticity for the subcultural group and for the self as a member of that group. Our analysis focuses on the language through which such comparisons are made in people's talk. The data come from a series of informal interviews with punks, gothics and hippies. We analyse three types of comparison: the comparison of one or more groups with an external standard; the comparison of the subculture's past and present character; and the comparison between older and newer members. The implications of our findings for social identity theory are considered. Finally, we discuss an interesting and recurrent device for emphasising authenticity which lay in the construction of the descriptions of members' motivations for joining. This was related to the distinction between 'being' a member, or having the correct grounds for affiliation, and merely 'doing' or performing, aspects of the subculture.

The Social Uses of Advertising: An Ethnographic Study of Adolescent Advertising Audiences

“…(observed conversation, April 3, 1995) Willis (1990, p. 51) notes that "collectively criticizing advertisements affirms the evaluative criteria that young people themselves are developing." Widdicombe and Woofitt (1990) similarly conclude that the explicit, verbal display of evaluative criteria is often the key to achieving authenticity within a particular group of young people. The dismissal of particular advertising executions and the reasons for their rejection can act, as in the case of cool evaluations, as a way of confirming group identity and an individual's membership within that group.…”

Knowledge and Discourse Matters

“…From these perspectives, identity can be seen as a socially and relationally constructed phenomenon (Widdicombe and Wooffitt, 1990;Bucholtz and Hall, 2005;Gulich, 2003: Ainsworth andGergen 2009), although, it can be argued, perhaps not entirely at the whim of context at any given time.…”

“…In the third study, Widdicombe and Wooffitt (1990) use a combination of Conversation Analysis and discourse analysis (Potter and Wetherell's 1987 version) to analyse informal interviews with subculture group members, with a particular interest in how social comparisons are used to accomplish authenticity. According to conventional Social Identity Theory, people innately strive for a positive self-esteem or self-image, and that this is a prime motivator in making social comparisons in intergroup and between group contexts (Hogg and Vaughan, 2005).…”

“…In the first part, Steve scripts a preferred turn (Line 46: Edwards and Potter, 1992), receipting Bob's assessment with a weak agreement, followed by a repair which is hearable as a contrast device ('but'), marking the end of the concessionary materials and the start of a competing assessment. According to Widdicombe and Wooffitt (1990), such devices are typically associated with persuasion talk. The second part to the unfolding disagreement talk occurs in Lines 50 -58 and is initiated by Ade's interruption which talks over Steve's continued account of affairs as being inclusively imperative ('we do need to keep': Line 49).…”

‘A Real Lesbian Wouldn't Touch a Bisexual With a Bargepole'

“…This, of course, relies on the notion that bisexuals are trying to be (accepted as) lesbians and thus produces them as a threat to 'our' borders. Watson and Weinberg (1982) found that interviewees differentiated those who were gay from those who performed gay behaviour (see also Widdicombe & Wooffitt, 1990, on the distinction between 'being' and 'doing' in subcultural identification). JL uses 'us real lesbians' without further definitional work, which suggests that 'our' authenticity is predicated primarily on the absence of contact with men, and further that a recognisable, coherent (in)group is indexed.…”