Category: Engaging the Culture

“The problem, of course, is that not everyone can be a rebel, for the same reason that not everyone can have class and not everyone can have good taste. If everyone joins the counterculture, then the counterculture simply becomes the culture . . . ‘The club’ becomes less and less elite. As a result, the rebel has to move on to something new. Thus the counterculture must constantly reinvent itself. This is why rebels adopt and discard styles as fashionistas move through the brands”

Nation of Rebels, p. 129

“As soon as you go down the mass market road you lose control of who wears your product.”

Nation of Rebels, p. 127

“Because taste is grounded in the sense of distinction, it follows that not everyone can have good taste.”

Nation of Rebels, p. 125

“Whenever you look at the list of consumer goods that (according to the critic) people don’t really need, what you invariably see is a list of consumer goods that middle-aged intellectuals don’t need . . . consumerism, in other words, always seems to be a critique of what other people buy.”

Nation of Rebels, p. 105