Concerning the subcultural идентичности identity

The article discusses the applicability of such a term as identity to the subcultural self-determination. Considering the basic contemporary theories of identity and analyzing the typical features of self-reference in youth subcultures the author suggests to introduce the phenomenological approach as a method combining a classical and a postmodernist models of interpretation of the identity. The dichotomy of ‘playing’ and ‘serious’ is suggested as an explanatory principle of the subcultural identity structure.