Culture Is an Ecosystem: A Manifesto Towards a New Cultural Criticism
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Culture Is an Ecosystem: A Manifesto Towards a New Cultural Criticism
1.4. The largest cultural segment in any society is the “mainstream,” although it may represent a plurality rather than a majority.
1.4.1 The “average” person in any society belongs to this taste world as it requires no specialized knowledge, nor has very high barriers to participation. Tastes can be acquired through ambient absorption — e.g. heari... See more
1.4.1 The “average” person in any society belongs to this taste world as it requires no specialized knowledge, nor has very high barriers to participation. Tastes can be acquired through ambient absorption — e.g. heari... See more
Culture: An Owner's Manual • Culture Is an Ecosystem: A Manifesto Towards a New Cultural Criticism
Could we say that the mainstream is pretty much ambient culture — where you’re merely a passive receiver, you don’t choose but simply pander to the plurality? Is this too the effects of filterworld - where it converges to homogenity?
1.3.3 Oppositional taste worlds prefer conventions that are openly antagonistic to the mainstream — e.g. bikers, Bronx gangs, and punks all brandished swastikas in the 1970s.
Culture: An Owner's Manual • Culture Is an Ecosystem: A Manifesto Towards a New Cultural Criticism
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.
Culture: An Owner's Manual • Culture Is an Ecosystem: A Manifesto Towards a New Cultural Criticism
The creative class takes influence from Old Money, artists, countercultures, and minority subcultures, and through the mechanism of retro , often embrace outmoded forms of culture from the mainstream and rural groups — e.g "granny" glasses, hunting camouflage as streetwear.
Culture: An Owner's Manual • Culture Is an Ecosystem: A Manifesto Towards a New Cultural Criticism
Upper-middle class professionals center their tastes around discovery of interesting and superior goods.
Culture: An Owner's Manual • Culture Is an Ecosystem: A Manifesto Towards a New Cultural Criticism
The lack of specialized knowledge amongst the mainstream audience encourages cultural producers to create and distribute cultural works with minimum changes to pre-existing artistic conventions. The industry perceives mainstream individuals as conservative: They “like what they like” and prefer not to be confronted with radical change.
Culture: An Owner's Manual • Culture Is an Ecosystem: A Manifesto Towards a New Cultural Criticism
.1 In modern society, culture is never a single monolithic entity but instead an ecosystem of interlinking cultural subunits always in the state of dynamic interaction.
Culture: An Owner's Manual • Culture Is an Ecosystem: A Manifesto Towards a New Cultural Criticism
The aesthetics within each taste world are not random but map to the social needs of the individuals — e.g. the wealthy prefer goods that signal capital and privilege, while countercultures advocate conventions and beliefs antithetical to the current class structure.
Culture: An Owner's Manual • Culture Is an Ecosystem: A Manifesto Towards a New Cultural Criticism
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.
Culture: An Owner's Manual • Culture Is an Ecosystem: A Manifesto Towards a New Cultural Criticism
Countercultures tend to be educated middle-class individuals who self-isolate based on alternative value systems — e.g. hippies, radical political movements, religious cults.