Punk in the Federal Republic of Germany From 1976 to the 1990s. Youth Protest Aganist /With Mass Culture

• Applicant: Professor Dr. Martin H. Geyer
• Subject Area: Modern and Contemporary History
• Term: from 2019 to 2024
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 416116288

• Final Report Year: 2024

Final Report Abstract

Punk developed as a social movement and cultural phenomenon in the Federal Republic of Germany from the mid-1970s. In the period from 1976 to 1995, this youth culture developed from a marginalised phenomenon of young people into a recognisable music and lifestyle. Punks in West Germany cultivated a tense relationship with mass culture but were unable to emancipate themselves from it. They sought to counter this with their own media processes. In addition, there was a general visibility in public. The striking visibility of their bodies and their communal appearance led to various social groups reacting to the punks. The selffashioning of the punks thus allow an insight into the West German society of the late 1970s to the mid-1990s. They stand as social figures because they recurred as a theme during these years. The social figure of ‘punk’ and the youth culture associated with it demonstrate a remarkable longevity. In this respect, they are particularly suitable as a probe for analysing media and social change in the old and reunified Federal Republic. The research project analysed punk as a youth culture, protest movement and lifestyle on the basis of four thematic complexes. Punk in the Federal Republic was analysed as an exclusivist youth culture and at the same time as part of society (1). This way of life was linked to transnational media processes about youth culture (2) and encompassed praxis forms of punk as a lifestyle (3). The significance of individualisation was explored and punks were located in the tense situation between scenes and mass culture (4). The project took the punks and their media situation and interactions with the media seriously from the outset. Punks not only criticised mass cultural developments, but also participated in a transnational exchange practice via fanzines, recordings and letters. Some punks were media actors and thus part of a counter-cultural communication culture. This was an attempt to gain individuality within mass culture. At the same time, however, these media activities led to punk being adopted into the media setting during the period under investigation and ‘punk’ being recognisable as a social figure to this day.

Publications

• „Punk in West Germany in the 1980s: Youth Protest and Gender“ am 07.12.2019 auf einem gemeinsamen Doktorand*innenworkshop der University of Oxford und der LMU München unter der Leitung von Prof. Dr. Paul Betts und Prof. Dr. Martin H. Geyer
  Siebengartner, Karl
  
• Kapitelvorstellung „Vom Punk zu Punks: Anfänge in der Bundesrepublik“ am 24.06.2021, Seminar des strukturierten Promotionsprogrammes des Historischen Seminars der LMU München
  Siebengartner, Karl
  
• „Punk in der Bundesrepublik von 1976 bis Mitte der 1990er Jahre: Jugendlicher Protest gegen/mit Massenkultur.“ am 14.07.2021 im Rahmen des Oberseminars von Prof. Dr. Margit Szöllösi-Janze, LMU München
  Siebengartner, Karl
  
• „Unruly Bodies: Punks, ecstasy and pop culture in West Germany“ am 02.10.2021 auf der Tagung „Pop Cultures and Ecstatic States of the Body, 1950s-1980s“ an der Universität Kopenhagen
  Siebengartner, Karl
  
• Punk und Fanzines im München der 1980er: Arenen der Selbstdarstellung | #PopPunkPolitik, in: Blog der Münchner Stadtbibliothek, 03.12.2021
  Siebengartner, Karl
  
• Punks und Polizei. Staatliche Reaktionen auf rebellisches Verhalten in Westdeutschland 1980 bis 1985, in: Westfälische Forschungen 72 (2022), S. 203-221.
  Siebengartner, Karl
  
• Research Project: Punk in the Federal Republic Germany 1976- 1990s (English & German text), in: pophistory, 01.04.2021
  Siebengartner, Karl
  
• „Politik des individuums“. Selbst und Massenkultur im bundesdeutschen Punk zwischen 1976 und 1995 am 19.07.2022, Oberseminars von Prof. Dr. Simone Derix, FAU Erlangen
  Siebengartner, Karl
  
• „Prekäre Orte. Punkschuppen in München um 1980“ am 15.02.2022 im Rahmen der Veranstaltung „Pop Punk Politik – Die 1980er Jahre in München. Subkultur als Ausstellungsthema“, Veranstalter: Bayerische Museumsakademie/Museumspädagogisches Zentrum, Literaturarchiv Monacensia
  Siebengartner, Karl
  
• Rip Off Records (Hamburg) and the Microhistory of Capitalism. The Life, Death, and Afterlife of the Record Store, 186-196. Bloomsbury Publishing Plc.
  Siebengartner, Karl
  
• Punk(s) in der Bundesrepublik Deutschland. 1800 | 2000. Kulturgeschichten der Moderne. transcript Verlag.
  Siebengartner, Karl