Rebel Sell, The: How The Counterculture Became Consumer Cultur

An explosive rejection of the myth of the counterculture in the most provocative book since No Logo. In this wide-ranging and perceptive work of cultural criticism, Joseph Heath and Andrew Potter shatter the central myth of radical political, economic and cultural thinking. The idea of a counterculture - that is, a world outside of the consumer dominated one that encompasses us - pervades everything from the anti-globalisation movement to feminism and environmentalism. And the idea that mocking the system, or trying to 'jam' it so it will collapse, they argue, is not only counterproductive but has helped to create the very consumer society that rad icals 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. Contents: Acknowledgments viii Introduction 2 Part I 1 The birth of counterculture 14 2 Freud goes to California 38 3 Being normal 68 4 I hate myself and want to buy 100 5 Extreme rebellion 138 Part II 6 Uniforms and uniformity 164 7 From status-seeking to coolhunting 192 8 Coca-colonisation 226 9 Thank you, India 258 10 Spaceship Earth 292 Conclusion 326 Afterword 344 Index 360