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You Ain’t No Punk, You Punk

Punk is unique in that it is the only subculture in which the absence of signifiers of the style and mindset can be twisted into actually representing the style and mindset: when a person says, “You don’t look punk,” the instant retort is “Well, isn’t that actually punk?” This opens an opportunity to reconsider punk’s semiotics, born from a postmodern sensibility, to see how well its signifiers “float.” The essay examines the phenomenon through the concept of doxa, the ideas and beliefs that become “taken for granted” in a community to then function as a tool of social control. A recent example of this is found in the anger expressed within the punk fan community concerning alt-right Trump supporters eagerly touting themselves as the “new punk.” The issue of deploying a closed definition of punk can then be extended to questioning systems of authenticity and ontology in relation to identity as a whole.