The Rebel Sell

Jason Clark was recently praising Heath and Potter’s excellent book, The Rebel Sell. It’s a book I’ve been wanting to review for quite some time, in part because it was one of the most compelling reads of last year, but mostly because it clearly and succinctly articulates a number of positions on postmodernism, consumerism, globalisation and counterculture that I’ve struggled to express.

But, everytime I’ve sat down to write the review it gets away from me – turning into either an essay or a pamphlet. So instead, over the next few weeks, I’m going to drop a quote onto the blog from each of the chapters. Hopefully, that will spark a few thoughts and maybe comments from any who have read the book, or are interested in the topics.

So, from the introduction, page 5,

“The crucial point is that (contrary to rumour) the hippies did not sell out. Hippie ideology and yuppie ideology are one and the same. There simply never was any tension between the countercultural ideas that informed the ’60s rebellion and the ideological requirements of the capitalist system. While there is no doubt that a cultural conflict developed between the members of the counterculture and the defenders of the establishement, there never was any tension between the values of the counterculture and the functional requirements of the capitalist economic system. The counterculture was, from its very inception, intensely entrepreneurial. It reflected, as does Adbusters, the most authentic spirit of capitalism.”

[tags] The Rebel Sell [/tags]