Hebdige (1979) "Style as Homology and Signifying Practice"

Hebdige (1979) argues that a concept of polysemic, postmodern semiotics should be integrated into subcultural studies. Punk swastikas, for example, do not necessary refer to Nazism; rather, the symbol is borrowed simply for its ability to shock and revolt a culture from which punks aim to be differentiated. If we understand the signifying elements of style as poached from a broader cultural context, Hebdige (1979) argues, then the function of style is revealed as a way of distancing subcultural members from the mass society: “although the punks referred continually to the realities of school, work, family, and class, these references. . . were passed through the fractured circuitry of punk style and re-presented as ‘noise,’ disturbance, entropy” (p. 61).

By borrowing from the broader culture, subcultures demonstrate both a distance from the masses and a communal identity.