Social Psychology and Interaction Commons^™

Identity Maintenance Through Emotional Release And Rejuvenation: A Link Between Hardcore Dancing And The Straightedge Collective Identity, Michael Lance

Wayne State University Theses

For many, the hardcore punk rock show experience can act as a way to ritualize participation (and reinforce meanings) in the identities one associates with the experience. Blumer's expressive crowd offers insight into how such ritualized, yet seemingly chaotic behavior provides to many a cathartic release in a socially-stimulated, approved, and maintained atmosphere. In the process, such a release has consequences for the Straightedge identity tied to the experience, since Straightedge and hardcore punk coexist in the social construction of a larger sub-culture.

In this study, participation as such in the Straightedge (a lifestyle-based, diffuse social movement in which one …