Authenticity is a difficult concept to concisely define and there are varying opinions on what authenticity is and if, in fact it is actually a concept and not largely based on “jargon” which Theodore Adorno extensively discussed in his book The Jargon of Authenticity (1973). For the purpose of this thesis, the understanding of authenticity correlates with Giddens concept of “the reflexive self”, where “the self is ‘made’, rather than inherited or just passively static” (Giddens, 1991, p53). Self-identity is therefore created without being bound by the restrictions of tradition and culture. The thesis is based upon this existentialist philosophy of Giddens that describes the authentic self and their identity as; “…not to be found in behaviour, nor – important though this is – in the reactions of others, but in the capacity to keep a particular narrative going. The individual’s biography, if she is to maintain regular interaction with others in the day-to-day world, cannot be wholly fictive. It must continually integrate events which occur in the external world, and sort them into the ongoing ‘story’ about the self” (Giddens 1991, p54).
Ian Buchanan’s definition in the Oxford Dictionary of Critical Theory (2010, p33) colludes with this line of self identity by stating that authenticity:
“is characterized by high levels of self-awareness, self-direction and self-reflection. That is to say someone, whose life may be considered authentic is always fully aware of both what they are doing and why they are doing it. Attaining this level of self-knowledge effectively means overcoming the power of the unconscious to compel us to act without fully knowing why, therefore most theorists of authenticity treat it as a project, something one aspires to or works towards.”
In the context of cultural production, authenticity becomes problematic when it is used by Sociologists and Musicologists such as Adorno, Frith and Grossberg to express that authenticity is as a “synonym for artistic or cultural production that is ‘independent’ or anti-commercial” (Buchanan, 2010, p33). This complicates the situation for musicians, where commercialism is seen as becoming successful. To survive in the music industry, a band needs to make money, but the essential aspect of remaining authentic, as expressed by the band Suicidal Tendencies and it’s front man, Mike Muir, who constantly relates through interviews, lyrics and their music videos, is the importance of staying true to ones beliefs and ideals and of being able to think for yourself (the reflexive self).
This thought process is in line with Giddens’ reflective self, and also the work of Chivers Yochim, whose concept of corresponding cultures reflects that subcultures are always moving in relationship with dominant conceptions and current norms of identity. (2010, p23) Martin Jay, in his paper “Taking on the Stigma of Inauthenticity: Adorno’s Critique of Genuineness” (2006, p17) defines “Authenticity (Authentizitat), derived from the Greek, autos, or “self” and hentes, or “prepared”, implies something done by one’s own hand and thus a reliable guarantee of quality”, otherwise known in the subculture of skate punk as the D.I.Y ethos, which was an integral part of perpetuating authenticity within a subculture. This thesis uses the context of Giddens’ self reflexive identity, along with notions of selfawareness, self knowledge and self-direction of authenticity to build upon the understanding of skate punk subculture as displayed through the band Suicidal Tendencies.
REFERENCES
Adorno, T (1973) The Jargon of Authenticity, Northwestern University Press:
Illinois
Buchanan, I. (2010) Oxford Dictionary of Critical Theory, Oxford University
Press: Oxford
Chivers Yochim, E. A. (2009) Skate Life- Reimagining white masculinity,
University of Michigan Press: Michigan
Giddens, A (1991) Modernity and Self-identity : Self and Society in the Late
Modern Age, Stanford University Press: California
Jay, M. (2006) “Taking On the Stigma of Inauthenticity: Adorno’s Critique of
Genuineness”, New German Critique, No. 97 Adorno and Ethics (Winter
2006), pp. 15-30, (Accessed 12 March 2013,
http://www.jstor.org/stable/27669153)
[This is an excerpt from my Bachelor of Arts (Sociology) Honours Thesis, submitted to the University of Wollongong Arts Faculty in 2013. I am publishing excerpts from this thesis in multiple posts. The thesis aimed to explore the youth subculture of skate punk, how its expression perpetuated authenticity through the aesthetic form of the music video, and how this was reflexive of society at a deeper social level].
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