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I can't think of a counter culture that wasn't somehow absorbed by the economy and sold back to the masses. It all ends up getting commodified which makes it pa
by refuse 4y ago
I can't think of a counter culture that wasn't somehow absorbed by the economy and sold back to the masses. It all ends up getting commodified which makes it part of "culture" without the "counter".
I've watched the trend accelerate in my life and I wonder if we're reaching some sort of point (because of social media?) where there is very nearly no culture (counter or otherwise) unless it is commodified. Everything has been reproduced and divorced from it's meaning so we have this neutered insipid idea of culture that inspires nothing.
- sudosysgen 4y agoYou're not the only one with this impression. This process is called recuperation in sociology : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Recuperation_%28politics%29?wprov=sfla1 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Recuperation_%28politics%29?wp...
- refuse 4y agoThank you, I hadn't heard of this.
- sudosysgen 4y agoIf you're interested in going down the rabbit hole, as far as I'm aware the concept first came up in Guy Debord's The Society of Spectacle. It's a bit of a weird read though. The term did take on a wider meaning in political philosophy and critical theory since, however. Now that I think about it, Embrace Extend Extinguish can be understood as the explicit application of the process recuperation to the free software counterculture.
- refuse 4y agoI'll put it on my reading shortlist! Sounds interesting.