Page "Cyberpunk" Paragraph 10

Like Case, many cyberpunk protagonists are manipulated, placed in situations where they have little or no choice, and although they might see things through, they do not necessarily come out any further ahead than they previously were.

These anti-heroes —" criminals, outcasts, visionaries, dissenters and misfits " call to mind the private eye of detective fiction.

This emphasis on the misfits and the malcontents is the " punk " component of cyberpunk.