American Punk and the Rhetoric of "Political Correctness".

In the Trump era, conservative and alt-right commentators have framed punk rock subculture as a right-wing phenomenon, emphasizing punk's individualism and "politically incorrect" rebellion as its defining characteristics. Taking a cultural studies approach, this article examines the rhetoric of so-...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Popular Music & Society Vol. 46; no. 2; pp. 172 - 191
Main Author: Begnal, Michael S.
Format: Article
Published: Taylor & Francis Ltd May2023
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Online Access:View this record in EBSCOhost
Description
Summary:In the Trump era, conservative and alt-right commentators have framed punk rock subculture as a right-wing phenomenon, emphasizing punk's individualism and "politically incorrect" rebellion as its defining characteristics. Taking a cultural studies approach, this article examines the rhetoric of so-called "political correctness" in contemporary American discourses surrounding the intersection of punk and politics. Its primary argument is that asserting an anti-PC stance disguises an underlying conservative agenda or reinscribes dominant narratives and that punk's lack of a stable or inherent meaning (the "floating" nature of its signification, as Dick Hebdige described it) leaves it open to such rhetorical uses.