Using bodybuilding and skinheads/neo-Nazis as two rather diverse examples of subcultures, this study is a theoretical exploration of our understanding of the concept of subculture and common culture. The aim is to explore how the concept of subculture can be used in relation to processes of normalization and marginalisation. The focus is on the historical, symbolic and biographical relation between the subculture and the subcultural response, and socio-political transformations in society and culture. We are interested in understanding the processes in which for example bodybuilding has moved back and forth between a subcultural position and more common fitness culture, over time. As a parallel to this, we are also interested in how subcultures centred on skinheads, neo-Nazis and right-wing extremists influence and are connected to more general political transformations and opinions in contemporary society, blurring the distinction between subculture and common culture. The results indicate a complex relation between subcultures and the mainstreaming of certain values, opinions and practices. Deviance is sometimes, over time, renegotiated within common culture, turned into normality , and whereas extreme parts and contents of subcultures may be toned down in this process, core points and values may be extracted and generalized. Bodybuilding is for example transformed into fitness, but the core values of hard bodies, muscle training, health and asceticism are highly present in fitness culture, as well as in more common and dominant socio-cultural patterns. In a similar vein, the core values and sentiments in skinhead and right-wing subcultures xenophobia and nationalism are today becoming a part of the political culture in many European countries.