Pseudo-Subterranean Values: Tinjauan Antropologis tentang Anarkisme di Kalangan Anak Punk Kota Jakarta Timur

Abstract

Punk is often positioned by dominant society as a deviant culture, while subculture provides a space in which marginalized actors can renegotiate identity and challenge dominant cultural norms. The incorporation of punk symbols into popular culture and capitalist markets, however, has weakened part of their oppositional meaning. This study examines how anarchist ideas and subterranean values are understood and practiced among punk youth in East Jakarta, and why those values frequently operate as pseudo-subterranean values. The study employed critical ethnography and was conducted in East Jakarta over 34 days. Data were collected through participant observation, in-depth interviews, and a review of secondary sources. Fifteen informants participated, five of whom, aged 20–26 years, were selected as case studies. The findings show that punk communities construct solidarity, freedom, anti-hierarchy, and alternative identity as forms of resistance to dominant culture. Nevertheless, their dependence on informal work, consumer goods, market circulation, and the wider economic system limits the autonomy of that resistance. Punk identity remains shaped by structural inequality and by the capitalist relations it seeks to oppose. The study concludes that punk subculture creates meaningful spaces for identity formation and mutual support, but its resistance is partial and contradictory rather than wholly independent of dominant structures.