Theoretical Implications of Empirical Research of the Punk Scene in Croatia

Abstract

Sociological researches in the field of youth subculture
worldwide have lasted longer than half a century, and in the
last twenty years, part of the researchers have been divided
into "subculturalists" and "postsubculturalists", according to
the interpretation of research notions in the recent social
context. The key theses of both ingroups are related to social
class, the relationships among musical taste, style and
identity, to the boundaries between styles and to the role of
media in the emergence and maintenance of subcultural
styles. Considering the recently completed study of the punk
scene in Croatia, the research notions are brought into
connection with the contemporary framework of the debate.
In the Croatian context, social class is an important
dimension of the emergence of subculture, although none of
the local authors considers it a determining category in terms
of the subcultural theoretical tradition. The connections
among musical taste, style and identity, which
postsubculturalists claim are disappearing, were solidly,
visibly and powerfully present in our research. Also, the
postsubculturalists' thesis of permeable and fluid forms of
gathering do not find their place in the research findings on
the punk scene in Croatia, because in our case, there are
firm and clear forms of belonging without large fluctuations
in the relation between the core and the expanded circle of
sympathizers. Theoretical implications of our research point
to the need to overcome and to reject the division to
subculturalists and postsubculturalists in this field.