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On hipsters
Feb. 23rd, 2011 12:27 amI just stumbled across a lovely example of the concept of the hipster: "Pop Songs Your New Boyfriend's Too Stupid To Know About" by Tullycraft. It reminded me that I'd been meaning to try to find Pierre Bordieu's 1963 book “Distinction: A Social Critique of the Judgement of Taste" online, since my library doesn't have it. I heard of it through a New York Times article called The Sociology of the Hipster, which is worth reading. Anyway, in the process of googling the book, I found a critical review of it and just had to stop and giggle for a moment about this: a critique of a critique of critiquing critique. Beautiful.
I've been thinking a lot about hipsters lately. My first exposure to the term was in early 2009, when I was linked to the photo blog Look At This Fucking Hipster. (Well, technically my first exposure to the term was probably in QC, but I don't think I ever really noticed it there.) I spent some time clicking through the blog, trying to figure out what on earth the pictures had in common. The blog is a lot funnier now that I have some background.
That NYT article defines hipsters by their judgment of taste. I think that's mostly accurate. A lot of subcultures involve judging taste--that's how you differentiate the in-group from the out-group*, by finding out what you agree and disagree about. But hipster culture is defined by value judgments of personal choice, to the extent that even an acknowledgement of the existence of the culture is an insult. No one wants to be called a hipster, because that means you care what other people think. The successful hipster manipulates other people's opinions of their taste while simultaneously cultivating an image of nonchalance.** There are more tangible hipster indicators, trucker hats and that particular kind of glasses and so forth, but they're all derived from the practice of judging judgment.
We all judge each other. I make a habit of fighting to the death to prove wrong anyone who gets all noble in my face and tells me they don't judge anyone. Bullshit. You do, and it's a good thing that you do, because if you were not capable of using heuristic mechanisms to take mental shortcuts through the maze of social interaction, you literally would not be able to function. (If you don't believe me on that, let me know and I will expand on the point with examples and citations until you do. I'm A Behavioral Neuroscientist, Ask Me How!)
But hipster culture isn't just about judging people. It's about judging people's judgments, their choices of clothing and friends and particularly music. The only other subculture I can think of that is focused so exclusively on judging taste is scene culture, and that overlaps significantly with hipsters.
And we all do that too, judging people's taste. Determining shared taste is important in the early stages of friendship, when you're deciding whether you'll get along. But I think it's important to distinguish between determining taste and actually placing a value judgment on it. Personally, I'm trying to move away from doing that. It's easy, so easy, to make fun of people who honestly love Twilight, or listen to Justin Bieber, or make a big deal out of Valentine's Day, or voluntarily wear crocs. Those value judgments are not ones I would make. But, and this is the culmination of a great deal of academic pondering, fuck that shit. I'm not making any promises, because sometimes the snark cannot be held within, but when it comes to purely aesthetic choices that don't actually matter to me, I'm making an effort to knock it off.
*I'm talking in psychological terms here. "In-group" and "out-group" don't just refer to high school cliques; they apply to any social community.
**This sentence is lifted directly from a disagreement I had in the comments of my little brother's friend's Facebook status with someone (I think he was fourteen years old) who claimed that Luna Lovegood was a hipster. I corrected him thoroughly.
I've been thinking a lot about hipsters lately. My first exposure to the term was in early 2009, when I was linked to the photo blog Look At This Fucking Hipster. (Well, technically my first exposure to the term was probably in QC, but I don't think I ever really noticed it there.) I spent some time clicking through the blog, trying to figure out what on earth the pictures had in common. The blog is a lot funnier now that I have some background.
That NYT article defines hipsters by their judgment of taste. I think that's mostly accurate. A lot of subcultures involve judging taste--that's how you differentiate the in-group from the out-group*, by finding out what you agree and disagree about. But hipster culture is defined by value judgments of personal choice, to the extent that even an acknowledgement of the existence of the culture is an insult. No one wants to be called a hipster, because that means you care what other people think. The successful hipster manipulates other people's opinions of their taste while simultaneously cultivating an image of nonchalance.** There are more tangible hipster indicators, trucker hats and that particular kind of glasses and so forth, but they're all derived from the practice of judging judgment.
We all judge each other. I make a habit of fighting to the death to prove wrong anyone who gets all noble in my face and tells me they don't judge anyone. Bullshit. You do, and it's a good thing that you do, because if you were not capable of using heuristic mechanisms to take mental shortcuts through the maze of social interaction, you literally would not be able to function. (If you don't believe me on that, let me know and I will expand on the point with examples and citations until you do. I'm A Behavioral Neuroscientist, Ask Me How!)
But hipster culture isn't just about judging people. It's about judging people's judgments, their choices of clothing and friends and particularly music. The only other subculture I can think of that is focused so exclusively on judging taste is scene culture, and that overlaps significantly with hipsters.
And we all do that too, judging people's taste. Determining shared taste is important in the early stages of friendship, when you're deciding whether you'll get along. But I think it's important to distinguish between determining taste and actually placing a value judgment on it. Personally, I'm trying to move away from doing that. It's easy, so easy, to make fun of people who honestly love Twilight, or listen to Justin Bieber, or make a big deal out of Valentine's Day, or voluntarily wear crocs. Those value judgments are not ones I would make. But, and this is the culmination of a great deal of academic pondering, fuck that shit. I'm not making any promises, because sometimes the snark cannot be held within, but when it comes to purely aesthetic choices that don't actually matter to me, I'm making an effort to knock it off.
*I'm talking in psychological terms here. "In-group" and "out-group" don't just refer to high school cliques; they apply to any social community.
**This sentence is lifted directly from a disagreement I had in the comments of my little brother's friend's Facebook status with someone (I think he was fourteen years old) who claimed that Luna Lovegood was a hipster. I corrected him thoroughly.
