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Behold the hipster, the stylishly disaffected breed of twentysomethings whose fog of twee whimsy envelopes Williamsburg and the East Village. What does science have to tell us about this fascinatingly misunderstood breed?
Surprisingly much. Read More
Is this a Psychology
Is this a Psychology Today/The Onion collaboration?
Pretending you aren't one?
I don't think it's so much about them pretending not to be a hipster, even when they fit the mold. Is's more about the fact they are pretending to be original. Even in the last comment the dude mentioned dressing different than everyone else. Maybe different from the masses, but among them they all look the same and try too hard to do so. No originality, yet they think they're so unique. I remember the days when tats and the 80s were cool. These douche bags, among others, have devalued what once was truly original.
Why are you so judgmental
Why is it that hipsters are fine to insult and stereotype, but hipsters themselves rarely bash or label other subcultures/groups. It always comes across as whining and insecure to me. Maybe because hipsters are usually well educated, upper middle class, and have become a widely influential subculture on a global level. In fashion the mainstream has become increasingly hipster, first selling the ripped/"worn" look of jeans, then plaid and gingham patterned shirts, a tighter straight fit of pants, canvas shoes, and the list goes on. In music hipsters have launched the careers for dozens of bands without major record contracts. They even helped feed the organic angle to themselves until the big groceries slowly start following suit. They certainly have a hand on the steering wheel of american culture. Why are you so eager to belittle.
Yes! I fully agree. If it is
Yes! I fully agree. If it is true, as this article says that hipsters respond to everything with ridicule and derision, then why is the main thesis of this article that everyone else ridicules hipsters? The answer is that everyone likes to ridicule and belittle, and will do so to whoever they are allowed to, without getting labeled as mean or bigoted. Hipsters are usually the last people to be prejudice or racist or sexist. The only things they tend to critique is art and music and pop culture but those things are critiqued by everyone all the time.
I also agree with you that hipsters are becoming widely influential, and this creates a problem for them because it means they are becoming mainstream. That is hard because frequently they want to rebel against that, not because its "cool" to not fit in but for the same reason a physician would want to keep up to date with research or any person might want the latest phone or television. Its not abnormal to want to be on the forefront of pop culture especially if you are an artist or musician, because having a unique aesthetic is your livelyhood.
Complete BS
The hipsters I know criticize everyone else's tastes constantly. Tastes in music, movies, clothing...you name it. They bash everyone else while acting like they don't care. They're negative, cynical, sarcastic, miserable people.
I'm not sure if I want emo kids back, but at least those kids admitted what they were. These hipsters...it's almost unbearable being around them.
Irony is...
wait wait wait... who's criticizing who here? And being negative? and sounding miserable? and holding others in contempt?
You must be a torture to talk to at parties.
Irony is...
wait wait wait... who's criticizing who here? And being negative? and sounding miserable? and holding others in contempt?
You must be a torture to talk to at parties.
hypocritical
All those things you said, are exactly what hipsters are against. So the whole thing is hypocritical. To be honest, it's the snobbery and elitism that makes everyone hate them.
I know no one like this. Its
I know no one like this. Its easy enough to make sweeping generalizations but when it comes down to it, most people are unique and have strong motivations and beliefs and aesthetics, and whether or not its been done before has nothing to do with it. In fact most of the "hipsters" I know are more likely to be appreciative of the past and recognize that we are all constantly influenced in every choice we make.
And the fact that so many people are excited to call hipsters "douche bags" when hipsters themselves have done no name calling (at least I've never heard it and I'm surrounded by them) is just plain mean.
Of course most people have
Of course most people have motivations, beliefs, and aesthetics, but they are still unoriginal. Plus, why not make sweeping generalizations? Isn't that the point of psychology?
How does one "pretend to be
How does one "pretend to be original"? Wouldn't the actual task of pretending to be original force you to be original? Your still going through the motions - even if you're pretending, you can't pretend to be original without actually being original because pretending" is an ACTION. And why does it bother so many people that hipsters have found a social home for themselves, away from the masses that chased them out of the suburbs? Really, why does it provoke such loathsomeness amongst you people? So what, they dress alike. Collectively they still dress (and act and live) differently than the masses, and that's what makes them unique, not only in terms of what they wear but also in terms of their interests, sense of humor, hats or whatever it is you use to stereotype a "hipster". Maybe not so unique from one another, but unique from the masses. This is what seems to be their goal. And what's wrong with that? Maybe this one hipster was a loner in high school and never felt they fit in with "the masses", but one day found another soon-to-be-hipster who they identified with, and so on, until an entire subculture of hipsters developed, a subculture that they finally felt comfortable and happy being a part of? What's wrong with that? What do you care? If you find yourself loathing "hipsters" because of the threat they impose on you (such as rejection, irrelevance, envy) with no actual negative experiences to back it up, clearly you have some inner soul searching to do. Live and let live.
Pretending you aren't one?
I don't think it's so much about them pretending not to be a hipster, even when they fit the mold. Is's more about the fact they are pretending to be original. Even in the last comment the dude mentioned dressing different than everyone else. Maybe different from the masses, but among them they all look the same and try too hard to do so. No originality, yet they think they're so unique. I remember the days when tats and the 80s were cool. These douche bags, among others, have devalued what once was truly original.
thats the whole point tats
thats the whole point tats have been around since before jesus christ and the 80s only happen once a century for a decade. If you dont like the clothes I am wearing buy me new ones. But I sure as hell aint gonna walk around naked if I can avoid it. And since you took it upon yourself to label me into a certain social class and cast me out of your own I think you suck. And you are not cool and not my friend. You stinky smelly punk. Jesus Loves You!
thats the whole point tats
thats the whole point tats have been around since before jesus christ and the 80s only happen once a century for a decade. If you dont like the clothes I am wearing buy me new ones. But I sure as hell aint gonna walk around naked if I can avoid it. And since you took it upon yourself to label me into a certain social class and cast me out of your own I think you suck. And you are not cool and not my friend. You stinky smelly punk. Jesus Loves You!
Your clincher sentences makes
Your clincher sentences makes no sense. To me, it seems like just an attempt to be cute, to end on a Clever note. Everyone would be a hipster by your concluding thesis.
No, they wouldn't....
The condition would exclude those people who try to be hipsters, and by doing so aren't.
Ingroups/Outgroups
There might be a different explanation for this paradox of hipsters not considering themselves hipsters. The hipsters interviewed in the article admit that they wear hipster styles, listen to indie, and have hipster friends, yet they don't consider themselves hipsters. Maybe this is because they are trying to resist the outgroup homogeneity effect. We, members of our own ingroups (preps, thugs, psychologists, etc), tend to overestimate the similarity of outgroup members (in this case, hipsters). Basically, they are all the same, but we are individuals. Of course they don't consider themselves hipsters; hipster has become an epithet for people who like indie, wear skinny jeans, and drink PBR.
Why do a study in which we ask hipsters why they don't think they are exactly like their hipster comrades? It's the exact same "phenomenon" as emo kids. What's next? A study asking people with mental illnesses why they don't consider themselves "psychos"? Pop psychology at its finest.
That's an interesting idea...
... but of course one only needs to resist the homogeneity effect if the group label is offensive; child psychologists don't mind being called "psychologists," as far as I know.
As for the "pop psychology" charge, in fairness to the authors of the study, their work is much more thoughtful and thought-provoking than you might imagine from my piece; you should really check it out.
"... but of course one only
"... but of course one only needs to resist the homogeneity effect if the group label is offensive;"
Your video explaining the label "hipster" is a video called "being a dickhead is cool."
How is this not pejorative?
The problem is that you see
The problem is that you see this behaviour from everyone who follows this trend. They all look the same and do the same things, which includes denying that they are part of the group. Hipster has become an epithet because of the traits hipsters share yet deny sharing. It is a part of their absurd identity as a group of people who only do and say things to be "ironic".
But that is exactly my point
You're forcing the identity of hipster onto them by saying "they all look the same and do the same things". Your problem is that you want to see them that way, so you notice only the vague similarities that confirm your beliefs about them and you don't look any deeper. It's confirmation bias. You say that they deny being hipsters because they want to be ironic, assuming they really are as one-dimensional as you cast them. The reason hipsters deny being hipsters is because they see how the absurd label of hipster and all its negative connotations grossly oversimplifies their identity.
Definitely Agree
I definitely agree with the above comment.
Me too. Grouping a massive
Me too.
Grouping a massive and (as the article itself stated) poorly defined group into one big stereotype is myopic and unkind. And its the same old story of criticizing young people because we don't understand them. The only difference between this group and prior generations is that they are aware they are being marketed to (and are frequently the ones doing the marketing). This creates a confusing conundrum of identity, but there is nothing wrong with that. Creating (or figuring out) an identity is one of the things youth is all about. Adulthood as well sometimes.
I agree with the above too!
I agree with the above.
I work in market research and someone, of any group, will rarely admit to conforming to something because it is cool or they want to belong. A person who buys a Lexus to feel 'well heeled' (as said in the article) will say they bought it due to safety, comfort or something else rational. They won't admit to being one of those "typcial Lexus drivers who buy into the image".
However, that's not as interesting. As we can't pay out on hipsters.
I see hipsters.
Sometimes they don't even know they're hipsters.
A shiver...
...just ran up my spine
The joke that proves the point
Q: How can you tell which person is the hipster in a group?
A: S/he's the one complaining about hipsters.
If you can only be a hipster by trying not to be a hipster doesn't that make every other group also hipsters? Is a (jock/farmer/grown-ups/etc.) who refuses to accept the label that someone else assigns to them then also a hipster?
Unless you totally and completely accept the idea that people CANNOT be individuals and there is no such thing as originality then you are behaving as a hipster would behave according to this study.
The Sad Science of Jeff Wise
You write this article about hipsters, yet you don't once define what one is.
That's not science. That's gossip.
It's easy to say anything you want about an ill-defined group, assuming it's a group at all. Few people belong to a single subculture. That may explain why out all the descriptions of "hipster" that I've come across, they have few common traits and many contradictory ones.
Criticizing cherry-picked qualities of a vague stereotype is equivalent to a straw man argument. This is a poor article.
I agree 100%. I was curious
I agree 100%. I was curious about this article at first, and after a few paragraphs, it failed.
West cost
this article reminds me of west cost hipness. los angeles is the most hip, but san francisco is more hip because they aren't as trendy as los angeles. but seattle is more hip than sf because they aren't as trendy as san francisco.
if i had to define hip, i'd say hip is being cool and popular while being original. once you're cool and popular and original, you cease to be original, as everyone else wants/will copy you. so once you're hip, you're no longer hip. it sounds like you're saying the only way to be hip is to acknowledge you're not original, and admit you're part of the crowd. you seem to be saying that to be hip, you must give up trying to be hip and admit you are hip.
more like a blog that goes well with alcohol at a club scene.
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