THE REBEL SELL: Why the Culture Can't Be Jammed

Heath, Joseph; Potter, Andrew

ISBN 10: 0002007908 / ISBN 13: 9780002007900

Published by HarperCollins Canada, 2004

Pages can have notes/highlighting. Spine may show signs of wear. ~ ThriftBooks: Read More, Spend Less. Seller Inventory # G0002007908I3N00

Synopsis:

IN SEPTEMBER 2003, Adbusters magazine—the flagship publication of the culture-jamming movement—started selling “Black Spot Sneakers,” its own signature brand of “subversive” running shoes. This act represented a seismic shift in the popular anti-consumer movement. As cultural critics Joseph Heath and Andrew Potter point out, no one could possibly believe there was still any difference between “mainstream” and “alternative” culture. The only possible conclusion: the counterculture is not a threat to the “system”—it is the system.
In a book * to incense both the followers of Naomi Klein’s No Logo, as well as their right-wing counterparts, Heath and Potter shatter the myth that continues to dominate our political, economic and cultural thinking, underpinning everything from the anti-globalization movement to feminism and environmentalism. They argue that decades of countercultural rebellion have not only been unhelpful, but counterproductive. We have become so used to right-wing attacks against the counterculture that it’s hard to imagine what a left-wing critique would look like. The Rebel Sell offers a startlingly clear picture, claiming that we need to untangle concern over questions of social justice from the countercultural critique—and dump the latter to pursue the former. In a wide-ranging narrative that’s a lively blend of pop culture history, political manifesto and investigative analysis, The Rebel Sell looks at the following:

• the birth of the counterculture—who really killed Kurt Cobain?
• being normal—enforcement of norms and the cardinal sin of the counterculture
• rebellion as a source of distinction and the birth of the rebel consumer
• from status seekers to cool-hunters—the decline of prestige and the rise of “cool” jobs
• making peace with the masses—the inescapable market and how we turn consumers into citizens

The political book of the season—to be published simultaneously with HarperCollins US—The Rebel Sell will be both deified and vilified. Most of all, it will be debated.

Bibliographic Details

Title: THE REBEL SELL: Why the Culture Can't Be ...
Publisher: HarperCollins Canada
Publication Date: 2004
Binding: Hardcover
Condition: Good
Dust Jacket Condition: No Jacket