A poseur is a person who adopts the dress, speech, and/or mannerisms of a subculture for personal gain or in order to manipulate or impress others. A poseur does not often share or even understand the philosophical underpinnings of whatever group he or she identifies with, unless it is at the most trivial of levels.

Most often, a poseur is acting from purely selfish motivations, trying to gain access to a group of people they see as elite, or cause others to think that they belong to that elite group. Thus, most subcultures view poseurs with varying degrees of mistrust and scorn, inauthenticity being the nadir of human expression for many such groups.

The insult "He/she is such a poseur", was considered the ultimate slur during the first-wave punk rock movement of the 1970s and 1980s. In fact, one illuminative story about the treachery of poseurs involves the punk rock music industry. This particular version originated in the Seattle scene of the late 1980s. The story says that various large unnamed record labels saw an immense opportunity for profits present in the punk rock movement. In order to exploit it, executives sent producers dressed as punks to shows, thinking that the musicians would be more likely to cut cheap deals with one of their own.

The legend of the record label employees "posing as" punk rockers in order to cheat (usually) impoverished musicians out of their rightful earnings serves as the perfect illustration of why poseurs are looked upon with such distrust in subcultures today.

The use of this term has since gone out of fashion in the punk culture, possibly because the line between real punks and 'fashion punks' has become easier to see. Even though the term is less used, it can be the most important thing for a young punk trying to prove him/her self to the resident punks. Being branded a 'poseur' by the local punk crew(s) is social suicide, and the equivalent to being branded a 'fag' by jock cultures in American high schools. Nevertheless, in heavy metal, the term is commonly used still to indicate commercial bands and specifically glam metal bands.

The term 'wannabe' is also used, but in a slightly different context. To simplify:

• Poseur: A person who perceives themselves to be a punk, but is neglected and possibly verbally or physically assaulted by other punks for not being authentic enough.
• Wannabe: A person who IS NOT YET A PUNK themselves, and who is not under the illusion that they are. They have a wish to become a punk, but either havn't found a way into the subculture or are going about gaining entry the totally wrong way.