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Culture is an Ecosystem: A Manifesto Towards a New Cultural Criticism (1)

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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 constant cultural refresh. In three parts, I show why the flourishing of non-mainstream culture is important for the entire ecosystem — and the crucial role that critics play in promoting cultural innovation. 1.2.1 Individuals inside each taste world appreciate and advocate specific aesthetics and cultural artifacts, while simultaneously disdaining other groups’ aesthetics and artifacts — e.g. punks pogo but don't line dance, literary snobs like James Joyce but not Danielle Steel. 1.2.2 In the most complex societies, the primary taste worlds include youth culture, class cultures, rural or folk cultures, subcultures, and countercultures. There are also artists who attem

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 constant cultural refresh. In three parts, I show why the flourishing of non-mainstream culture is important for the entire ecosystem — and the crucial role that critics play in promoting cultural innovation. Part One : The Cultural Ecosystem 1.1 In modern society, culture is

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