July 2007: Le Monde Diplomatique publishes an aritcle called "Individualisme de masse en Californie: Le Conformisme, c'est la transgression" by Christian Ghasarian, an Anthropoligist at the Swiss university of Neuchâtel. He asserts -
Assertion I: Counter-Culture (in terms of physical appearance and "identity") has become wideley accepted, even the norm, in Northern California cities such as Berkeley and San Francisco
Assertion II (going further): Conformity is becoming less and less acceptable
Assertion/Fact III: It has a histroy. FSM (beat culture too, though Ghasarian doesn't mention it).
Assertion IV: This is a good kind of environment for kids to grow up in. Generation Next will have healthily open minds.
[Tangent, but worth noting: "Une contre-culture institutionnalisée demeure-t-elle une contre culture ?" "Does an institutionalized counter-culture remain a counter culture?" It depends on the frame of reference, of course. Counter national culture? Counter local culture?]
Sounds to me like the start of a San Francisco Renaissance. Depending on the '08 election, the Bay Area might become a haven for creative expats who read articles like this one in academic periodicals. A San Francisco Rennaisance? Wouldn't that be nice.
1 comment:
"The young always have the same problem - how to rebel and conform at the same time. They have now solved this by defying their parents and copying one another." - the highly quotable Quentin Crisp
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