Links on Culture - January 2023
Floppy Birkins, luxury in Korea, literal corporate rock and fashion, and waiting for the post-internet culture to drop
Each month
Is Cultural Change a Darwinian Process? No.
There is no need to shoehorn the complex process of cultural change into pre-existing biological theories, especially as Darwinism doesn't
Why do we provide status to others?
We are logical to seek status to improve our lives. But our reason for granting higher status to others requires
Rap Capital: Trap as 21st Century Culture
Joe Coscarelli's new book is essential reading on Atlanta's emergence as a major force in contemporary cultural production. But if
Links on Culture - November 2022
Drake's daft Daft Punk, Moneyball culture, Third Eye Blind as cool, the other Gallagher brothers, and natural wine decline
Once
Links on Culture - October 2022
Restaurant reservations, preteen painters, cultural appropriation, and the end of the internet
Once a month I analyze the latest culture-related
The X of Generation X
Douglas Coupland's book Generation X ended up giving his demographic cohort a permanent name, but we shouldn't overlook the deeper
Aesthetics are Everywhere... and They're Social Constructs
Virginia Postrel’s excellent The Substance of Style charts how aesthetics took over consumer society — but aesthetic conventions themselves always
Links on Culture for September
Beer cooler status symbols, wet putty cars, and how #oldmoney isn't very Old Money
The last few months have seen
21st Century Culture: Boring or Static? (Or both?)
Whether the 21st century ecosystem of pop culture is suffering from stasis is a separate question from whether its output
