Punk subculture: construction of identity and social practice in Lithuania and the West

The topic discussed is relatively new in Lithuanian academia. More attention to this topic is devoted in Western academic writings. The knowledge obtained during the research is valuable because it allows us to understand the problems of the society which tends to be more and more individualistic, as well as to notice the motives that encourage subcultural youth to quote the entrenched traditions, to declare social and ethical ideas and to create new models of behaviour. Ethnographic and qualitative research methods were applied to obtain empirical data: interviews, questionnaires, analysis of group documents, etc. The respondents were chosen using the "snow ball" sampling method. Research data were collected in 2005–2008. During the research, thirty semi-structured (in-depth) interviews were conducted involving the most active representatives of the subculture in Lithuania. Results. In relation to the cultural context, the deep influence of Western culture on the formation of Lithuanian punk subculture (its ideas, values and identity formation) was traced. At first, Western culture influenced the form and the contents of the subculture. The research results show that subculture members’ approach to their subcultural identity has changed significantly: some of the respondents define themselves as punks, but more interviewees define themselves as a part of the punk subculture. In addition some of them state that "they are close ideologically" to punk ideas; they emphasize that the subculture is rather a "field of various individual initiatives’". Therefore, it could be stated that the identity in punk subculture is individualised. Similar tendencies were traced in the Western punk subculture. The global identity connections are emphasized by the fact that quite many ideas have been adopted from Western European countries; for example, the practices of vegetarianism, veganism, promulgation of animal and human rights (feminism, anti-racism, anti-fascism, etc.), creation and dispersal of stencils, infoshops, discussions and actions. The research revealed that the punk subculture is a global phenomenon in economically well-developed countries. The local representation of global phenomenon in the Lithuanian subculture is a topical issue because it shows fluidity, continuity and adaptation of ideas to the youth culture