Collective Identity in the Straight Edge Movement: How Diffuse Movements Foster Commitment, Encourage Individualized Participation, and Promote Cultural Change

Abstract

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.

Veganism as a Cultural Movement: A Relational Approach

“…This disconnect between organized and unorganized participants seems detrimental to the vegan movement, since a large number of sympathetic individuals are not participating in movement organizations. However, it could have a positive spin in that, as Haenfler (2004) speculates in relation to Straight Edge participants, more people could be participating in this cultural movement than percentages of affiliated participants suggest.…”

“…In Haenfler's (2004) study of the Straight Edge movement, collective identity adequately explained participants in that diffuse movement because his participants all defined and practiced Straight Edge in a similar way. Collective identity was the bastion that encouraged commitment to the 'essential behaviors' of a Straight Edge lifestyle (Haenfler, 2004, p. 794).…”

More Than Just a Soundtrack

“…Scholars document how people negotiate their identities and everyday life through the performance, consumption, and reception of music (DeNora 2000;Hennion 2001;Hesmondhalgh 2005;Moore 2007Moore , 2010Nehring 1997). Musical practices as an analytical category cover a diverse array of activities such as (1) listening to music; (2) discussions, evaluations, and taste value; (3) attending concerts; (4) communication through bodily expression, dance styles, movement, and action; and (5) expressions of feelings, dispositions, and emotions (Benzecry 2011;Clarke 2005;Drew 2001;Fonarow 1997;Force 2009;Grazian 2003;Haenfler 2004aHaenfler , 2004bHaenfler , 2006Rimmer 2011;Roy 2002Roy , 2010Willis 1990). Musical practices as an analytical category cover a diverse array of activities such as (1) listening to music; (2) discussions, evaluations, and taste value; (3) attending concerts; (4) communication through bodily expression, dance styles, movement, and action; and (5) expressions of feelings, dispositions, and emotions (Benzecry 2011;Clarke 2005;Drew 2001;Fonarow 1997;Force 2009;Grazian 2003;Haenfler 2004aHaenfler , 2004bHaenfler , 2006Rimmer 2011;Roy 2002Roy , 2010Willis 1990).…”

How brand communities emerge: The Beamish conversion experience

“…These demands are attended by sometimes overt but also often implicit coercions to conform to the community's norms, rituals, and objectives (Algesheimer, Dholakia, & Herrmann, 2005). Restrictions in social groups such as the 'Straight Edge Movement' (Haenfler, 2004) are extremely overt and unforgiving. However, brand communities require a hedonistic and liberatory ethos (Muniz & O'Guinn, 2001).…”

“…But when you go into a pub, it is in the back of your mind. (Frank, Interview) The implementation of the Constitution is thus achieved by means of a jovial yet consistent punishment distribution, amounting to a consistently applied form of normative group pressure (Algesheimer et al, 2005), thereby precluding the need for 'nastier' forms of social sanction (Haenfler, 2004) that could undermine the community's ethos of conviviality. Implementation has to be achieved in a frolicsome manner, consistent with the tone of the other sacralisation rituals practiced by the group.…”