"Collective Identity in the Straight Edge Movement: How Diffuse Movements Foster Commitment, Encourage Individualized Participation, and Promote Cultural Change" by Ross Haenfler
Article 1
The Straight Edge Movement is a loosely structured social movement organization that began in the 1980's in the punk rock subculture of the time. This started because the original members believed it was more individualistic to go against the typical expectations of youth to turn to drugs, sex and alcohol. The focus of this organization was centered on clean living which involved abstaining from drugs, tobacco, alcohol and sex outside of a caring relationship if at all before marriage. However, there is no strict set of rules set for this organization or any set requirement on a member's level of participation. In the U.S., this group's members mainly consist of young, white, middle class males though they are open to any age, gender, race and social class. The members are commonly referred to as sXers in their community of straight edge lifestyle followers.
Haenfler explains, in detail, what the straight edge society consists of and what he finds to be the benefit of a less structured organization as opposed to the commonly strict structure of other social movement organizations. His own personal experience of entering the organization at 15 and continuing research for 12 years through longitudinal participant observation is used in his argument. He argues against the use of structured organizations that focus more so on politics and protesting outright instead of the organizations, such as the straight edge, that focus more on cultural aspects of society. Haenfler does mention that he isn't particularly saying one or the other, political or cultural, is a better focus for an organization and even states his belief that both are important. His main focus was in explaining the functionality in how an organization is set up as either a "continuum of structure" or "devoid of any formal structure". A good point he brings up is that most people claim to be part of an organization yet they rarely actually become involved in it whereas in less structured organizations the members are choosing to participate freely and take the issues to heart and apply them to personal causes. Haenfler supports the argument that most of the life of social movements occurs outside the confinement of the organization and political context. His real emphasis is on the need for individualism and a "collective identity".
The individualistic approach the sXe movement takes on leaves its members feeling that their choices and actions form a collective change on the culture of society. They believe that even their small actions somehow affect society on a level so much bigger than themselves. This boosted the collective identity that came from each member combining what straight edge was to them. The members loosely created a basic structure for a clean way of life that resided in the punk rock scene and evolved into a community with shared values. The collective identity is explained as being a crucial factor in a diffuse movement. The internet, music and printed material are also noted as what really strengthened the networking for the organization and created stronger bonds among members. If the members strayed from the basic ideals held in the organization they weren't automatically shunned by those still involved, but instead referred to as "sell-outs". It was frowned upon to stray from those ideals and left others disappointed, but there was never hate. Haenfler closes his argument in saying, "straight edge's diffuse structure, commitment to identity, and individualized forms of participation combined to create a primarily culturally, rather than politically, oriented challenge." This challenge is what leads him to believe that less structured, culture based organizations are what scholars should really be taking not of.
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