3. My Argument (II)
The search for authenticity has become a
form of status-seeking, and is the
successor to "cool" as the dominant status
good in contemporary urban culture.
5. Veblen on the Leisure Class
Two human instincts
Instinct of workmanship: An appreciation for
useful and efficient work and skill
Predatory Instinct: Pride, status,
dominance, exploitation
11. The rise of cool
By the late 1960s, the values of the
counterculture had taken hold.
Everyone wanted to be hip, edgy,
alternative, cool
12. Cool as Political
What made cool political was the critique of
mass society
Society as a cultural system of social
control and conformity. To resist, you
formed a counterculture
17. The end of cool
What killed cool?
Answer: The internet
The idea of a culture and economy that was
opposed to the mainstream ceased to
make any sense
20. The Search for Authenticity
We live in a world of artificiality, fakery,
truthiness
Reality TV, Facebook “friends”, rampant
plagiarists, suburban sprawl, lying
politicians...
Life seems increasingly packaged, shallow,
alienating
21. The Age of “Authenticity”
•Between 2005 and 2008, John Zogby
found:
“a deep-felt need to reconnect to the
truth of our lives, and disconnect
from the illusions that everyone from
advertisers to politicians makes us
believe are real”
People are looking for “authenticity”
22. Authentic as opposed to what?
As opposed to modernity
Secularism -- the disenchantment of the
world
Liberalism -- political individualism
Capitalism -- the market economy
23. What is authentic?
Nostalgia for childhood and "old ways"
Fetish for poverty, or the exotic
Love of “nature”, “the environment”
Visceral dislike of markets, marketing,
consumerism, the cash nexus
28. Conspicuous Authenticity
The key now is to show that you are socially,
environmentally, and spiritually conscious
But the same Veblenian dynamic is at work:
Organic everything
Local everything
Artisanal everything
