Average Reviews:
(More customer reviews)I just finished reading this and I want to convey how impressed I am with this author. Not only does he talk about straight edge from a personal/biographical viewpoint, he incorporates direct quotes from other individuals in the scene, especially the Denver sXe scene, into his very well organized book. Moreover, he doesn't just leave his findings un-analyzed. Haenfler looks at the inherent contradictions in straight edge in light of gender roles, militant vs. positive straight edgers, and more. He really looks at straight edge in relation to what other ethographers and sociologists have said about subcultures and other non-mainstream movements, including punk, teeny-boppers, and skin heads, to name a few of the comparisons. As I said in the title of this review, this is truly an intelligent and complete ethnography; Haenfler looks at straight edge from so many social and cultural angles, really getting to the core of the movement, while still exploring the implications of the widespread variation amongst straight edgers. I'm really hoping to be able to use this book for a writing seminar I'm in at the moment...how cool would that be?
On a more personal note, this book solidified my pledge to being straight edge and really made me feel proud of that decision. Haenfler mostly discusses straight edgers in the hardcore music scenes in Denver, NY, and Boston, but I've never been a member of any real straight edge "scene." It's got to be easier for straight edge kids who have a support group to keep them on track, but I've never really had that. Reading this book made me realize that I've come to the same sort of progressive conclusions about life, society, and politics that other scene-straight edgers have, but all on my own. So in that sense, this book really connected me to the global straight edge movement.
Haenfler also provides a good historical analysis of straight edge as well by discussing in relative detail the music that was and is so essential to the scene. He gives a well-balanced and well-intermingled look at straight edge hardcore music as well as the other social implications of straight edge. He clearly knows a lot about the music too.
Thanks to Ross Haenfler for writing this book. Seriously, it is so frickin good. And it made me feel so good about the world. Sweet deal.
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Product Description:
"In this, the first major scholarly study of the Straight Edge phenomenon, Ross Haenfler puts forth a richly compelling and very personal narrative, expertly applying his sociological training as he moves effortlessly between insider and outsider perspectives." Michael Kimmel, professor of sociology, SUNY at Stony Brook, and author of Manhood in America: A Cultural History
"Haenfler's well-grounded study of straight edgers uncovers the complexities and contradictions of a fascinating lifestyle movement and renders them understandable to all." Rob Benford, Southern Illinois University Carbondale
Straight edge is a clean living youth movement that emerged from the punk rock subculture in the early 1980s. Its basic tenets promote a drug-free, tobacco-free, and sexually responsible lifestyle tenets that, on the surface, seem counter to those typical of teenage rebellion. For many straight-edge kids, however, being clean and sober was (and still is) the ultimate expression of resistance - resistance to the consumerist and self-indulgent ethos that defines mainstream U.S. culture.
In this first in-depth sociological analysis of the movement, Ross Haenfler follows the lives of dozens of straight-edge youths, showing how for these young men and women, and thousands of others worldwide, the adoption of the straight-edge doctrine as a way to better themselves evolved into a broader mission to improve the world in which they live. Although the original definition of straight edge focused only on the rejection of mind-altering substances and promiscuous sex, modern interpretations include a vegetarian (or vegan) diet and an increasing involvement in environmental and political issues.
The narrative moves seamlessly between the author's personal experiences and theoretical concerns, including how members of subcultures define 'resistance', the role of collective identity in social movements, how young men experience multiple masculinities in their quest to redefine manhood, and how young women establish their roles in subcultures. More than a unique window into one youth movement, this book provides fresh perspectives on the meaning of resistance and identity in any subculture.--This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
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