Quicklet on Joseph Heath and Andrew Potter's Nation of Rebels: Why Counterculture Became Consumer Culture

ABOUT THE BOOK In their [Adbusters] view, society has become so thoroughly permeated with propaganda and lies, largely as a consequence of advertising, that the culture as a whole has become an enormous system of ideology all designed to reproduce faith in the system. The authors draw on a lot of pe [...]
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ABOUT THE BOOK In their [Adbusters] view, society has become so thoroughly permeated with propaganda and lies, largely as a consequence of advertising, that the culture as a whole has become an enormous system of ideology all designed to reproduce faith in the system. The authors draw on a lot of personal experience and pique in writing this narrative decrying the countercultural rebel, the person who turns his back on mainstream society to pursue his own path. Whether this person is pursuing an oddball fashion choice, an environmental stance or anti-globalization movement, or travel to Myanmar, the authors find plenty of reasons to see this rebel as undermining society and the momentum for real political change. MEET THE AUTHOR Coralie likes to travel constantly. Chasing monkeys off her balcony in the morning sounds like a great morning constitutional, and she loves finding new dishes to try in new out-of-the-way towns. When Coralie is not travelling, she is planning new trips, taking photographs, playing with her nephews, or writing. Coralie has a degree in Economics and is obsessed with Haruki Murakami novels. EXCERPT FROM THE BOOK Heath and Potter both believe that countercultural critique often misses the boat when it comes to effecting change in society. Countercultural values are instead seen as a way of rejecting consumerism and conformity, not as a means of changing what may very well be negative aspects of mass society. The authors trace this paranoia about conformity to the rise of the Nazi regime that led to World War II. This was indoctrination on a mass scale; the masses were part of a broad-based political fascist movement that ferreted out differences in a uniquely abhorrent way. Post-war researchers investigating the phenomenon pointed to the sociological root causes, and the basic difficulty in speaking out against the group.Here, the authors claim, was born the paranoia about conformity, starting with the hippie culture of the sixties. But the world is a much different place now than it was in the mid twentieth century. Our culture, our markets, are open places that have embraced a philosophy of uniform diversity. Are the risks of conformity so dire?CHAPTER OUTLINEQuicklet on Joseph Heath and Andrew Potter's Nation of Rebels: Why Counterculture Became Consumer CultureJoseph Heath and Andrew Potter's Nation of Rebels: Why Counterculture Became Consumer Culture+ About Nation of Rebels+ About the Authors+ Overall Summary+ Chapter-by-Chapter Summary & Analysis+ ...and much more