Why Culture Sucks - by John Ganz - Unpopular Front

Some Thoughts on Formlessness and the Age of Blah

There have been a number of recent pieces expressing ennui about the present state of culture. In the New York Times, Michelle Goldberg wrote about W. David Marx’s book “Status and Culture: How Our Desire for Social Rank Creates Taste, Identity, Art, Fashion, and Constant Change” and why contemporary culture feels so dull: it’s because there’s no longer the same kind of intense competition for social status that birthed compelling art as its fuel. (I haven’t read the book so don’t want to be unfair, but I have to say it sort of sounds like Marx’s book is a rehash of Pierre Bourdieu.)…

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