CULTURE: An Owner's Manual

CULTURE: An Owner's Manual

CULTURE: An Owner's Manual is a newsletter covering pop culture and its hidden mechanics from W. David Marx — author of Status and Culture: How Our Desire for Social Rank Creates Taste, Identity, Art, Fashion, and Constant Change and Ametora: How Japan Saved American Style.

Latest

Jun
07

Pleading Clemency for Pierre Bourdieu's Impending Capital Punishment

Okay, Bourdieu may misuse the word "capital," but his work remains invaluable for better understanding class stratification and its influence
5 min read
May
16

How merchants of style became the institution of art

Natasha Degen’s new book Merchants of Style examines how the fashion industry piggybacked on the Warhol revolution to take
6 min read
May
02

10,000 Gecs as 2023 Culture

Hyperpop provocateurs 100 gecs have a great new album. But if they are "the world's strangest band," what does this
5 min read
Mar
29

Links on Culture - March 2023

Instagram face, Ozempic, olive oil coffee, Pynchon, and when that submarine most definitely does not come out Each month I
4 min read
Mar
07

How technology intersects with status signaling

As much as technologists view their creation of more efficient tools as a democratizing force, new gadgets and apps are
4 min read
Feb
28

The perils of “ape-brain” overreach

“The Elephant in the Brain” asserts that primates are the best way to understand humans, but why exactly are we
6 min read
Feb
21

Three Ways of Enjoying Music (and the Reverse Snobbery of Ultra-Poptimism)

The “let people enjoy things” ethos isn’t true egalitarianism because it implicitly denies the fact experts take the most
5 min read
Jan
31

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
4 min read
Jan
24

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
5 min read
Jan
17

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
3 min read