Dividing Practices Exemplified by Counterculture Movements

Throughout the past century, there have been numerous counterculture movements. From beatniks to hippies to grunge to hipsters, underground culture has thrived for generations. Often they claim to deny societal norms, and refuse to accept mainstream means to go about life, in politics, art, music, etc. While there can be great merit in not accepting the flaws that plague humanity, they are very difficult to escape in any group, no matter how anti-establishment they are.
 Here is a video that shows that very point, chronicling a man's journey in and out of hipsterdom: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zt1Z7TYztcA. I should first point out that every counterculture movement begins very small. By the time there are established stereotypes regarding a certain countercuture, they seem to lose their integrity through the loss of their "otherness". There seems to be a quest for otherness among people who join counterculture movements too late, and instead of constructing their own uniqueness through their inward gaze, they are defined by the gaze of those already established in the counterculture.
 This phenomenon is seen in his anecdote about the record store, starting at 1:25. The image around 1:50 says it all. He feels the need to justify not owning the hip records, and fears he will be judged by the cashier, who is clearly already an established hipster. She looks down at him with a sense of indifference, also a staple of the artist's perceived hipster persona. She is neither impressed nor unimpressed by him, while he tries to prove himself as a member of the same group. In a way the indifference is a form of judgement, as it reinforces the fact that she is in, and he is out. This becomes complicated, as this places the narrator in a position where he is an 'other' in a group that celebrates 'otherness'.
The Battle of Obscurity is a perfect example of examination. It is of utmost importance to possess knowledge of the most underground bands, and have a deep and wide enough taste in the arts to truly be counterculture. The more well known a band is, the more they must relate to the mainstream, therefore the more they should not appeal to someone trying to prove their otherness. So the perfect examination for how underground he is would be knowing the most underground bands. In this section, the gaze becomes mutual among both the narrator and his opponent in the Battle of Obscurity, as they are both examining each other. They define their otherness from each other, and gain success in the examination when they know more obscure bands than the other.
So while countercultures may begin as virtuous denials of the superficial hierarchies that exist in any large group, even they are eventually subject to the same rules that other divisive groups live by. The difference is the degree by which they attempt to seek out otherness, and by who's definition they are others. Somewhat paradoxically, the only possible way to retain otherness is by one's own inward gaze, as self-perception is where otherness is often found. As soon as a person begins defining themselves by the judging gaze of those around them, otherness becomes forced, and eventually ridiculed as phony.