In the work of Henner Hess, however, the subcultural system closely resembles the more useful concept of equilibrium common in economics, that is, a self-perpetuating state of affairs in which agents have an individual interest in behaving in ways which support it and have no interest in deviating from that behavior even if collectively they might attain a superior state.

DEFINE: Defines subculture via the economic concept of equilibrium — self-perpetuating because individual incentives reinforce it. XREF: Parallels game theory and collective action problems, where individually rational choices produce collectively suboptimal outcomes.

Diego Gambetta, The Sicilian Mafia The Busi…, loc. 772