Thomas Frank talks in the video below on the origins of the youth counterculture of the 1960s, and its links to, and even outgrowth from, American business and the advertising industry and the creation of a new consumer culture for teenagers and the young by business. This was, in many ways, a kind of forerunner of the modern pro-SJW corporation, obsessed with diversity and multiculturalism.
In essence, Thomas Frank is summarising the contents of his book:
Frank, Thomas C. 1998. The Conquest of Cool: Business Culture, Counterculture, and the Rise of Hip Consumerism. University of Chicago Press, Chicago and London.
From what I've read of The Conquest of Cool, Frank does also say that young Baby Boomers were entering the advertising industries by the 1960s and promoting this counterculture themselves.
Also, if you have ever read Eric Hobsbawm's Age of Extremes, pp. 320-343, there is a brief discussion of this development: the early Baby Boomer generation – when they were reaching their teenage and young adult years – suddenly become a massive potential consumer demographic for the business world, and they actively expanded this consumer market, seizing on counterculture as a method.
In fact, the whole notion that there is a stage of life called the teenage years with its own culture was pretty much an invention of the post-WWII world.
Frank started his political journey as a College Republican, but he has come to be highly critical of conservatism, especially the presidency of George W. Bush. Frank summarized the thesis of his book The Wrecking Crew: How Conservatives Rule as "Bad government is the natural product of rule by those who believe government is bad."
The Partisan in me SO wants to get behind that. But the realist in me says that Bill and Hillary are a BIG problem with that thesis. To say nothing of Barak.
Pretty amazing, no?
ReplyDeleteThere's a lot of pieces that need to be put together here.
Yes, it is.
DeleteFrom what I've read of The Conquest of Cool, Frank does also say that young Baby Boomers were entering the advertising industries by the 1960s and promoting this counterculture themselves.
Also, if you have ever read Eric Hobsbawm's Age of Extremes, pp. 320-343, there is a brief discussion of this development: the early Baby Boomer generation – when they were reaching their teenage and young adult years – suddenly become a massive potential consumer demographic for the business world, and they actively expanded this consumer market, seizing on counterculture as a method.
In fact, the whole notion that there is a stage of life called the teenage years with its own culture was pretty much an invention of the post-WWII world.
Deletethe whole notion that there is a stage of life called the teenage years with its own culture was pretty much an invention of the post-WWII world
DeleteLK, if you've got some sources on that, it's be greatly appreciated. Thanks.
Slight problem I see right away in researching just who Thomas Franks is:
Deletehttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Frank#Politics
Frank started his political journey as a College Republican, but he has come to be highly critical of conservatism, especially the presidency of George W. Bush. Frank summarized the thesis of his book The Wrecking Crew: How Conservatives Rule as "Bad government is the natural product of rule by those who believe government is bad."
The Partisan in me SO wants to get behind that. But the realist in me says that Bill and Hillary are a BIG problem with that thesis. To say nothing of Barak.