What is Resistance?

Abstract

This paper reviews the concept of resistance, contrasting modernist and postmodernist positions in terms of what resistance is, its relationship to power and agency, how it is identified, where it comes from in the lives of young people, and what it achieves. Foremost attention is given to subcultural and Foucauldian positions, to argue that while resistance remains a relevant and useful concept, there are significant underlying differences between such positions on it, differences that fundamentally affect how the concept is deployed.