Culture Is an Ecosystem: A Manifesto Towards a New Cultural Criticism

Complex cultural ecosystems with many sub-units provide inherent sources of novelty for the mainstream — e.g. minority cultures, subcultures, and countercultures create new conventions with potential to provide stimulation to mainstream individuals.

The "culture" of a society isn't a blob of random human activity, but an orderly ecosystem arising from the interactions between particular subunits. To maintain ecosystem health, we must reject the cynical “poptimist” framing of culture as a mere vehicle for entertainment and commerce and instead promote the benefits of constant cultural refresh.