Ideological resistance as a form of subcultural youth participation in Lithuania : the case of punk subculture

Abstract

Ideological resistance is a key form of political activity – all challenges to a ruling class depend on people who are convinced that society could be organised otherwise, that present social arrangements aren’t “necessary” or “natural”. Deviant youth styles are a real threat to the ruling class, then, because they challenge dominant ideas – which is why they provoke “panics”. (Frith, 1984, p. 45). In this paper I focus on subcultural youth who represent an ideologically oriented and socially active part of today’s Lithuanian youth. The subculture I am researching, from 2005 up until 2008, is the punk subculture. Members of this subculture are concerned about social, economic and political issues. Informal punk subculture activists in Lithuania have expressed themselves actively in social life over the last six to seven years. Their activities became more visible when Lithuania was about to join a military organisation and the European Union (EU). In 2003, punks started their protests (sometimes direct, sometimes only ideological) and demonstrations against international alliances and the capitalistic system in general. Latter-day punk subculture members declare values of equality, liberty and critical thinking; they are consciously involved in an informal struggle for equal 1 human rights and for animal rights [...]