Monday, May 29, 2006

The Rebel Sell

I just finished another good book, The Rebel Sell: why the culture can't be jammed, by Joseph Heath and Andrew Potter. An intriguing counter point to and analysis of the proliferation of countercultural theories, including the 60's hippie movement and the current array of books such as No Logo and Culture Jam. I've read both No Logo and Culture Jam, and like most people, found them compelling and by the last pages was fairly well convinced of their words. The Rebel Sell, in breaking down the foundational ideas, psychology, economics, and theories underneath these countercultural theories, was difficult at first to read, only because it directly challenged so much of what I had previously gobbled up rather uncritically. Yet, for that very reason, I highly recommend this book to all of those who have been interested in countercultural theories that suggest that by not conforming to mass society that you can change society. For a taste of the book and the writing:
On consumerism and conformity:
"Whenever goods serve as a source of distinction, it means that at least part of their value stems from their exclusivity. Because not everyone has them, these goods identify the owners as members of a small club (those who are in the know) and distinguishes them from the masses (those who do not have a clue). Conformity and distinction thus go hand in hand - one conforms to the habits and standards of the exclusive club in order to distinguish oneself from the great unwashed. Critics of mass society, unfortunately, have focused on the wrong side of the equation. It is not the desire to conform that is driving the consumption process, but rather the quest for distinction. The value of a good comes from the sense of superiority associated with membership in the club, along with the recognition accorded by fellow members. Yet once the word gets out and more people begin to acquire the good, the distinction that it confers is slowly eroded. The quest for distinction is therefore collectively self-defeating - everyone strives to get what not everyone can have. Of course, the result of this competition is that consumers all wind up with roughly the same commodities at the end of the day. But this sort of conformity was never part of their intention. Consumers are like crabs stuck in a bucket, each one trying to escape but getting pulled back in by the others. It's not that the crabs want to stay in the bucket. It's just that as soon as any one crab makes any progress toward the rim, the others try to crawl over it, using its progress as a way of furthering their own escape. As a result, they all wind up back where they started."(pg.126)
"Countercultural rebellion - rejecting the norms of 'mainstream' society - came to serve as a source of considerable distinction. In a society that prizes individualism and despises conformity, being a 'rebel' becomes the new aspirational category. 'Dare to be different,' we are constantly told. In the 60's, becoming a beat or a hippie was a way of showing that you were not one of the squares or the suits. [...] It was a way of visibly demonstrating one's rejection of mainstream society, but it was also a tacit affirmation of one's own superiority. It was a way of telegraphing the message that 'I, unlike you, have not been fooled by the system. I am not a mindless cog.' The problem, of course, is that not everyone can be a rebel [...]. If everyone joins the counterculture, then the counterculture simply becomes the culture. Then the rebel has to invent a new counterculture, in order to establish distinction. [...] This is why rebels adopt and discard styles as quickly as fashionistas move through brands. In this way, countercultural rebellion has become one of the major forces driving competitive consumption." (pg 129)
And finally, after a discussion of the countercultural critique of mass education and health care and the way that countercultural rebels opt out of the mainstream systems (and thereby undermine public support for public services):
"Is it an accident that the United States, birthplace of the counterculture and epicenter of the alternative medicine movement, has the worse public health care system in the industrialized world? [...] The deeply ingrained suspicion of Western medicine divides and weakens the progressive left. If the school system is nothing but a factory for indoctrinating the young, then universal public education can hardly be a desirable policy objective. Similarly, if the hospital is simply a mechanism for the technological domination of the body, then who would want to see everyone locked into a universal public health care system? Again, countercultural thinking not only sows confusion, if positively impedes the ability of the left to institute desirable social reforms." (pg 285)

While I didn't fully agree with everything that Heath and Potter had to say, this book has definately got me rethinking and questioning a lot of things. Thank you Nicholas for giving me this book!

2 Comments:

At 8:04 PM, June 08, 2006, Anonymous Anonymous said...

This sounds like an interesting read. I'm gonna have to pick it up. from the part you posted, it seems to have tons of holes in it's statments. But it is just a small chunk, so i'd like to see if it puts further detail into it's points.

 
At 9:55 PM, June 12, 2006, Blogger Darcy said...

robbie: i don't know. work less and try not to run the rat race...?
shawn: i think you should read it. just try to keep and open mind and not be offended when they attack that which you followed before. you may borrow it whenever you like.

 

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