FREE THE REBEL SELL: HOW THE COUNTER CULTURE BECAME CONSUMER CULTURE PDF Joseph Heath,Andrew Potter | 376 pages | 17 Feb 2006 | John Wiley and Sons Ltd | 9781841126555 | English | Oxford, United Kingdom The selling of the counterculture | Unknown | The Economist Goodreads helps you keep track of books you want to read. Want to Read saving…. Want to Read Currently Reading Read. Other editions. Enlarge cover. Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Open Preview See a Problem? Details if other :. Thanks for telling us about the problem. Return to Book Page. Preview — Nation of Rebels by Joseph Heath. Andrew Potter. In this wide-ranging and perceptive work of cultural criticism, Joseph Heath and Andrew Potter shatter the most important myth that dominates much of radical political, economic, and cultural thinking. The idea of a counterculture -- a world outside of the consumer-dominated world that encompasses us -- pervades everything from the antiglobalization movement to feminism an In this wide-ranging and perceptive work of cultural criticism, Joseph Heath and Andrew Potter shatter the most important myth that dominates much of radical political, economic, and cultural thinking. The idea of a counterculture -- a world outside of the consumer-dominated world that encompasses us -- pervades everything from the antiglobalization movement to feminism and environmentalism. And the idea that mocking or simply hoping the "system" will collapse, the authors argue, is not only counterproductive but has helped to create the very consumer society radicals oppose. In a lively blend of pop culture, history, and philosophical analysis, Heath and Potter offer a startlingly clear picture of what a concern for social justice might look like without the confusion of the counterculture obsession with being different. Get A Copy. Paperbackpages. Published December 14th by Harper Business first published January 1st More Details Original Title. Other Editions Friend Reviews. To see what your friends thought of this book, please sign up. To ask other readers questions about Nation of Rebelsplease sign up. Lists with This Book. Community Reviews. Showing Average rating 3. Rating details. More filters. Sort order. Jan 08, Cate rated it really liked it Recommends it for: anyone currently or formerly involved in "counterculture" movements. From the time I was about 15 I began wondering why the fashion styles of various counterculture movements seemed to be absorbed by the mainstream okay, so really I was pissed that the same kid that made fun of me two years before for wearing this or that was now wearing this or that item, only now it was considered "cool". I later came to the conclusion that most people involved in the counterculture do--the styles had been co-opted by corporate marketing schemes. Turns out I, along with the r From the time I was about 15 I began wondering why the fashion styles of various counterculture movements seemed to be absorbed by the mainstream okay, so really I was pissed that the same kid that made fun of me two years before for wearing this or that was now wearing this or that item, only now it was considered "cool". Turns out I, along with the rest of the counterculture, was wrong. Heath and Potter argue that counterculture hasn't been co-opted by consumer culture, but rather that counterculture is consumer culture. In other words, there is nothing to sell out because the whole ideology of the counterculutre is false. The highly idividualistic nature of the counterculture i. Individualism, or distinction, can be equated with "scarcity" in economic terms. The more distinct or scarce a trend is, the more status it gives the individual. This explains why former enthusiasts of Green Day suddenly turned on the band when they signed with a major label--listening to the band had decreased in distinction--it no longer set the individual apart from their peers, in short, it became "uncool. Instead of working towards gradual reform through democratic processes i. In my opinion the book is right on. Unfortunately I don't think that counterculture movement is on the way out, due to one fact that Heath and Potter make a point of--its just way more fun to overthrow the system The Rebel Sell: How the Counter Culture Became Consumer Culture. Despite agreeing with nearly all of the main points in this book, "Rebel Sell" was a lousy read. Heath and Potter's arguments are poor and often backed up with little more than assertions, such that even when the reader can see that The Rebel Sell: How the Counter Culture Became Consumer Culture are correct about something, one is annoyed by their intellectual dishonesty and flimsy rhetoric. D Despite agreeing with nearly all of the main points in this book, "Rebel Sell" was a lousy read. Do they weigh the relative evidence for each theory? Do they counter Gladwell with their own arguments? Another example of the author's sloppy logic occurs in the discussion of the politics surrounding the counterculture's response to uniform, in which they write this howler: "Given the martial archetype, it is hardly surprising that uniforms-and the men and women who wear them - are treated with tremendous scorn and hostility by cultural rebels Throw in the fact that most people in uniforms are agents of government-sanctioned violence or coercion and it is easy to see why the decision to wear a uniform was seen not only as an unappealing lifestyle choice, but as manifestly dangerous. It was inevitable, then, that the Vietnam War served as a lightening rod for countercultural protest". That's right, folks, get ready to re-write your history books, the opposition to the Vietnam War was REALLY due to the fact that the people fighting it wore uniforms. More importantly, to say that the authors paint in broad strokes as they admit in the afterword is a gross understatement. Every single person or organization who has ever complained about "the system" in any context is lumped together. Well, this isn't exactly true. One of Heath and Potter's assumptions is that the counterculture is completely ineffective, and so anyone who successfully changed the system is by definition not part of the counterculture. Circular reasoning aside, the notion that Martin Luther King was not a revolutionary is outright laughable. The authors assert that the counterculture wants nothing but a total overhaul of the system, and that in this they have been completely ineffective. But they go on to claim that the counterculture has been ineffective in fostering any change, and that it is in fact counterproductive. There is no hard evidence offered for this belief. In fact, they do point out the enormous social changes that have taken place since the 60's. The book also feels completely out of order; major concepts The Rebel Sell: How the Counter Culture Became Consumer Culture defined hundreds of pages after they have been discussed in detail. For example, the authors are exceptionally vague about the nature, extent, and description of the counterculture. There are plenty of examples here and there, but over a hundred pages into the book there is no coherent description of the target of the authors' polemic. We are left wondering is they are The Rebel Sell: How the Counter Culture Became Consumer Culture up a strawman? Lots of works are cited that are supposedly representative of the counterculture, but we're still left with the sense that the counterculture has something to do with hippies, punks, Adbusters, and Naomi Klein and, apparently, the entire political left. The best parts of the book, by far, are the conclusion in which they clearly state what they have been hinting at for the previous pages and the afterword in which they defend their conclusions from selected criticisms. This fact makes something startlingly clear; this book is little more than a 25 page article padded with hundreds of page of more or less supporting facts and arguments. The first ten chapters really add very little to their argument, while the authors' snarky tone and dismissive attitude could put off more than a few readers who could The Rebel Sell: How the Counter Culture Became Consumer Culture approve of much of their central thesis. The Rebel Sell sparked interest up here mainly because of the shots the pair took at Naomi Klein, in particular ridiculing her complaint in No Logo about the hipster wannabes who had invaded her slickly grungy Slavic neighborhood to the point that the original cool kids wanted to pick up their studio lofts and go sulk. This episode was just one of several that the authors—who display a marked affinity for using Hobbes as a preferred analyst of societal problems over that twentieth century wunderkind, Marx—used to reinforce their central contention: that all of the hand-waving and utopian shenanigans The Rebel Sell: How the Counter Culture Became Consumer Culture jamming that the counter-culture engages in have only ever served to produce the paradoxical effect of reinforcing the consumer culture that they desperately wish to overturn. The stark reality, say the duo in their placid but relentless tone, is that these counter-culture groups have merely become another player in globalized capitalism, finding a niche market and setting up the infrastructure to enable its exploitation and keep the almighty dollar on the move. Indeed, Heath and Potter turn the screws of mild sarcasm in order to point out how—seeing the ineffectiveness of the left's perennial dream of a revolution that will topple the hated marketplace and its political minions—it would be more productive for them to join in the working of the long- established political system currently in place; that incremental changes and patient legislation and careful opinion swaying has always produced the most palpable achievements in working towards a more just, more equitable, and more environmentally aware society.