In the third part of a seven-part limited series, we look at how arbitrary choices are at the core of culture Eldridge Cleaver, author of 1960s prison memoir Soul on Ice [https://amzn.to/33VIxUm] and Minister of Information for Black Panther Party, grew up in rural Arkansas. There he| Culture: An Owner's Manual
Thoughts on "our" culture in three pieces from Kyle Chayka, Kelefa Sanneh, and Joshua Rothman Kyle Chayka: "IRL Brain Rot and the Lure of the Labubu" Bloomberg's Amanda Mull wrote about Labubus, prompting me to write about Labubus, which prompted Katherine Dee to defend Labubus, and now The New Yorker's| Culture: An Owner's Manual
With no more "art for art's sake" nor "selling out," we have landed upon a new resolution in the long battle between human creativity and the marketplace: the commerce is the art Really, who is more responsible for pushing music forward — producer Dr. Dre or his dogged business partner Jimmy| Culture: An Owner's Manual
Fads are nothing new, but an online-first culture has made raw trendiness the primary cultural value, which is moving the base of cultural production away from the U.S. Amanda Mull, Bloomberg: The Social Media Machine is Spitting Out Weirder and Weirder Results Mull’s article is a solid primer| Culture: An Owner's Manual
A newsletter covering pop culture and the hidden mechanics behind it from W. David Marx — author of Ametora, and an upcoming book from Viking Press.| Culture: An Owner's Manual
Thoughts on Chuck Klosterman's The Nineties: A Book and the lived experience of the Nineties, a particular decade I. Remembering the Triumphalism About two months before the world's most terrible people flew planes into the Twin Towers, I joined the staff of Tokion magazine in the Lower East Side. Tokion’| Culture: An Owner's Manual
In the first part of a seven-part limited series, we examine the four main ways we use "culture," which may be the worst word in the English language The Welsh literary critic and cultural theorist Raymond Williams battled Nazis during World War II as a tank commander, but his lifelong| Culture: An Owner's Manual
The defenses of pop singer Ashlee Simpson after her 2004 lip-syncing scandal set in motion the 21st century’s core belief that the best pop culture is often the most openly manufactured Recently I got into a Bluesky spat with Jody Rosen, former Slate music critic and author of Two| Culture: An Owner's Manual
The best way to understand generative AI art and aesthetics is to consider how previous "synthetics" lost value in the long-run For the first half of the 20th century, white-collar workers wore business shirts made from cotton or linen that wrinkled in the wash. Ironing them into a presentable shape| Culture: An Owner's Manual
Critics in the 21st century embraced mass culture in a belief that it would liberate audiences — but it's directly responsible for triggering the feelings of stagnation I enjoy Spencer Kornhaber’s music journalism, so I was excited to read his Atlantic feature “Is This the Worst-Ever Era of American Pop| Culture: An Owner's Manual
Reality TV, data-based editorial decisions, social media, and the principled rejection of exclusionary taste have spawned “popular” things that may not actually be very popular We generally refer to something as popular when it… 1. enjoys support from a significant number of people, much more than its alternatives 2. is| Culture: An Owner's Manual
Today the earnest progressive lyrics of 10,000 Maniacs feel extremely dated, which may help us understand why "resistance" in 2025 has become so bogged down in aesthetic rather than political concerns For all the Nineties-revivals and frequent cultural callbacks to REM and The Pixies in the 21st century, I| Culture: An Owner's Manual
In the last three decades, youth culture has moved from a deep suspicion of commerce to a passionate defense of anti-anti-commerce to an entire generation of "creatives” who leverage the commercial market… to do even more commerce In the 1990s, there was a single ethical principle at the heart of| Culture: An Owner's Manual
My new book, Blank Space, is a cultural history of the last 25 years, scheduled for publication in November 2025. Now that I've finally emerged from writing and editing, here are some early thoughts about the process. I know: I haven't been sending very many newsletters. This is because I| Culture: An Owner's Manual
A tour through Japan’s mid-century restaurants, kissaten, bars, and hotels that managed to survive earthquakes, firebombs, and urban redevelopment (along with a few that didn’t) Hello there. Culture: An Owner's Manual is a free newsletter. I have not added a paid tier, because I can't guarantee a regular| Culture: An Owner's Manual
In the second part of a seven-part limited series, we search for the common components underlying the various definitions of culture In Part One [https://culture.ghost.io/what-do-we-even-mean-by-culture/], we laid out the four primary ways the word culture is used today, namely to describe: (1) high culture, (2) communal| Culture: An Owner's Manual
Without agreeing on what "culture" is, it's really difficult to understand whether we're at an optimal rate of change Katherine Dee on Wisdom of Crowds: “No, Culture is Not Stuck” Since Simon Reynolds published Retromania in 2010, there has been a debate about whether the 21st century is facing a| Culture: An Owner's Manual
Society should withhold all esteem and attention to a nonfiction author whose entire oeuvre spitballs explanatory social theory under the bad faith idea that he holds his ideas “loosely” and readers should too The Washington Post: Malcolm Gladwell's new book rehashes "The Tipping Point" I wrote a review of Malcolm| Culture: An Owner's Manual
If culture describes the arbitrary aspects of life, conventions explain why communities repeatedly make the same arbitrary choices over so many alternatives Last time we noted that culture describes the arbitrary choices of human life — i.e. behaviors where alternatives could serve the same purpose. But this fact is confusing| Culture: An Owner's Manual
The much-maligned 1985 boxing film provides a few hints about the causes of 21st century artistic stagnation: namely, popular artists now work in a risk-averse creative paradigm that avoids making instantly-outmoded artworks Sylvester Stallone’s 1985 film Rocky IV is so infamously schlocky that it’s become a cliché to| Culture: An Owner's Manual
Finally, here is a proposed revision to the ideology of inclusive cultural criticism that builds upon the poptimist critique while correcting its excesses. IN REVIEW: Part One and Part Two outlined how aesthetic experiences are a social good, and humans need a constant refresh of novel and complex stimuli for| Culture: An Owner's Manual
A healthy cultural ecosystem provides the maximum number of artistic works that are useful and stimulating to the widest range of people. In the second part of this three-part series, we look at how aesthetic experiences arise from the introduction of novel and complex stimuli, and how a diverse ecosystem| Culture: An Owner's Manual
The "culture" of a society isn't a blob of random human activity, but an orderly ecosystem arising from the interactions between particular subunits. To maintain ecosystem health, we must reject the cynical “poptimist” framing of culture as a mere vehicle for entertainment and commerce and instead promote the benefits of| Culture: An Owner's Manual
In her ghostwritten memoir, Paris Hilton further emblematizes 21st personhood by gushing about fame and business success while blaming her open avarice on childhood trauma Within a Nineties Alternative worldview, Paris Hilton is an unambiguous societal scourge: a nepo baby, only famous for being famous, who turned her self-created notoriety| Culture: An Owner's Manual
Rob Henderson coined the term "luxury beliefs" — views that provide status to the upper classes but are costly to the lower classes — based on plausible theoretical grounds, but he only seems interested in using the concept as a cudgel against liberals For a long time, the idea of "status" was| Culture: An Owner's Manual
Hyperpop provocateurs 100 gecs have a great new album. But if they are "the world's strangest band," what does this say about the wider culture? I really like 10,000 Gecs — the second album from hyperpop duo 100 gecs, a 10-track, 26-minute speed ride through video game bleeps, super-crunched laptop| Culture: An Owner's Manual
Two mini-essays on two big topics: an economics paper that provides new evidence for status value, and the social mechanics behind "stealth wealth" Each month I review the latest developments in status and culture within the framework of my book, Status and Culture. (Other than few past months when I| Culture: An Owner's Manual
Culture is made of humans, and A.I. doomsdayers haven't explained why we'll all fall in love with A.I.-made creative work, when there is so much evidence to the contrary In the late 1950s, East German teenagers often tuned into Radio Free Berlin to hear contraband Elvis Presley| Culture: An Owner's Manual
We’re a decade into online video emerging as the most powerful and popular form of mass media, and yet almost none of its stars have truly “crossed over” into mainstream success In 1998, 76 million people tuned in to watch the final episode of Seinfeld, an event often cited| Culture: An Owner's Manual
“The Elephant in the Brain” asserts that primates are the best way to understand humans, but why exactly are we supposed to ignore the "human" part of human nature? There are 1200+ notes from 620 sources in Status and Culture, but alas, it should have been 623. On his blog| Culture: An Owner's Manual
There is no need to shoehorn the complex process of cultural change into pre-existing biological theories, especially as Darwinism doesn't explain why we change styles in our own lifetimes Over the last 45 years, hip-hop has preserved its core conventions — rapping instead of melody lines, an emphasis on rhythm over| Culture: An Owner's Manual