Anyone Can Do It: Traditions of Punk and the Politics of Empowerment

Abstract

When the word punk is invoked, a majority of people – in the UK, at least – will think of the Sex Pistols, safety pins through the nose and other such bands and signifiers from the late 1970s. The purpose of this research, in large part, is to show that punk has in fact been a persistent and consistent tradition in the decades since. Power and tradition are the two concepts, above all others, which the thesis will assess in the light of the punk case. Four notable micro-scenes from this tradition are explored in case-studies. In each of these micro-scenes, elements of novelty have been apparent and seem to have empowered the participants in the scene precisely by giving them a sense of being subjects with clear differences from the larger tradition. Since this notion of subjectivity is based on a faith in novel difference as qualifier of identity, the thesis will employ philosophical work on difference, novelty and subjectivity in order to critically engage this aspiration. Does bringing something markedly new to the tradition truly empower the punks in their various micro-scenes? Alternatively, could fidelity to tradition perhaps lead to a greater empowerment in which the punk scene could gain greater influence within the macro-scene of popular music as well as, perhaps, encouraging political change in wider macro-social terms?

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