Networks of Sound, Style and Subversion

The Punk and Post-Punk Worlds of Manchester, London, Liverpool and Sheffield, 1975-80

In this important book Nick Crossley examines the birth of punk in the UK and its transformation, within a short period of time, into post-punk. Dominant explanations of these developments have tended to focus upon strains and frustrations, both social and aesthetic, which are said to have provoked a generation of young people into rebellious action. Crossley identifies a number of problems with such explanations, stressing in particular their failure to explore punk's 'micro-mobilisation'. UK punk emerged within the interactions of a small, circumscribed and geographically concentrated network of music enthusiasts, he argues, and sociological analysis of it must start there; with this network and the events and mechanisms which allowed it grow to a national scale, diffusing punk culture. Similarly, to fully understand post-punk we must investigate the various city-based networks, generated in some part through excitement about punk, which incubated both frustration at what it soon became and creative attempts to transcend its limitations. Deploying innovative concepts of 'critical mass', 'social networks' and 'music worlds', and using sophisticated techniques of 'social network analysis', Crossley engages with the detail of punk's emergence, diffusion and subsequent transformation into post-punk, offering a highly original and robust account of these fascinating and culturally important processes. Written in an accessible style, this book is essential reading for anybody with an interest in either UK punk and post-punk or the impact of social networks on cultural life and the potential of social network analysis to explore this impact.