Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
My guess is that most posters on City-Data fit the hipster demographic, even though most wouldn't describe themselves as that. You are a hipster if you meet the following criteria.
The thing about stereotypes is that very few people fit into the exact pocket where they match all the stereotypes of a label. Another point is we assume these hipsters are douche bags, and yes I've met many people who dress like the stereotypical hipster who are total douchers and plenty who are nice people. The age old saying rings true, never judge a book by its cover, just assume the best or assume nothing at all. Now let me kind of compare myself to your top 10 as an example (I've been called a hipster before, but I don't consider myself to be "hip" nor do I follow trends I just do what's comfortable for me)
1. Under 30-Yes
2. Prefer walkable, urban environments: anti-automobile- I like both, but if I HAD to choose I'd go with cruising in a convertible in the country over walking through a city
3. High appreciation for the arts- Absolutely, music and art should be a huge part of everyone's life.
4. High appreciation for foreign culture - Yes, but how can foregin cultures not interest you? I also am fascinated by history and I love trying foregin and new foods.
5. Politically very liberal; strong activism for the environment, legal cannabis, and animal rights - I'm socially liberal, fiscally conservative, I identify closes with the libertarian party so I absolutely support legalization of cannabis and even further I believe the government has no right to tell a human what they can or cannot do to themselves. Also, how can you not support animal rights? Now, I'm a carnivore so don't confuse me with some sort of peta supporter, but animal abuse is disgusting.
6. Against organized religion- I don't subscribe to a particular religion, but I believe every religion has very positive aspects to it (of course there's negative aspects to almost every religion but much of the negatives are a result of mortal men writing the holy books in a time where the average person wasn't exactly enlightened and was even a bit ignorant) and faith is good for anyone. As long as people respect other peoples beliefs (no matter what they are) I have no issue with organized religion.
7. Prefers independent music and movies to mainstream - Eh, if it's good I like it. Honestly 90% of the bands I listen to were on a major label at some point, granted most of them are retired or dead. I like all types of tunes though; rock, jazz, blues, country, funk, if they're good song writers and good musicians I'll listen to it.
8. Prefers locally-made craft beers or Pabst Blue Ribbon: I definitely prefer craft beer, though it doesn't have to be local (but I do enjoy supporting my local brewery, it's good to support local businesses) but screw pabst, I hate drinking that **** water.
9. Little tolerance for suburbia or mainstream suburban "cookie cutter" culture - I try not to judge people on stereotypes, but ignorance tends to be bread in white bread suburban neighborhoods. Like I said you can't judge people before you know them, but my parents are upper middle class suburbanites and there are some things they same some time that are just astounding. Even myself, when I was growing up I had some very ignorant view points. Thankfully I've traveled, lived in different areas, learned more, and learned to be more open (after all the more you learn the less you know)
10. Against "preppy" clothing; true hipsters wear hand me downs but many of the name brands are now marketing hipster-style clothing because of its popularity. - I say wear what's comfortable, and for myself it's wear what's comfortable and cheap. I work a relatively low paying job and my priorities fiscally are (in order) :
1. Rent
2. Food
3. Automobile up keep
4. Musical equipment
5. Concert tickets & road trips
6. beer
7. Clothing
There's always been an liberal urban segment of the population who is more interested in the arts or foreign movies and so on. This is not anything new--and that doesn't make one a "hipster". Microbrews were started by hippies and beer geeks into reviving traditional beer starting back in the 1980s--not a bunch of bored hipsters more into style than really producing anything. People in cities like New York and San Francisco have been eshewing cars in favor of taking public transit or walking for years. There's always been independent music scenes in a lot of US cities--hipsters didn't invent that either....
....Flash forward over a decade however, and we're still complaining about hipsters. Only now for some people it apparenlty refers to anyone under the age of 35 in a city who isn't wearing Dockers. See that guy on a bike with a beard--he's a hipster. See the hippy girl with the guitar--well now she's a hipster. See that punk rock kid--they're now a hipster also. See the hiphop kids wearing tight jeans and throwback Nikes--they're now hipsters as well. See the yuppies waiting in line at Momofuku--they're all hipsters too.
Agree. The term has become sort of a catch all for a young-adult counterculture.
I have, and still do, fit into some of these categories, but don't look the look and certainly am not a young adult.
(good call on the microbrew/local brew thing...1980s and maybe even in the 1970s for that, with Michael Jackson's "beer" books & the can collectors)
I've seen "hipster-ism" defined as a fetishization of the authentic. That is, drinking PBR, donning trucker caps, wearing clothes that harken back to real childhood memories or adopting everyday styles from the relatively recent past. It's kind of like irony in search of the real soul of a thing, which is kind of roundabout. What is this brand of hipster reacting to that this is the means of expression? That's the big epidemic question.
I can appreciate the "search for the authentic", but not in an ironic sense. Some of this goes back to the Generation X era...if you recall Couplands book had those little definitions. One was "Industrial Slumming" (or something like that), which seemed a related attitude.
For me its a way of trying to find out the soul or genus loci of a place, yet the authentic isnt necessarily hip. Coffeeshops? Authentic to a place like Dayton? No. Donut shops? Yes. But you wont find hipsters in donut shops.
Back in the 70's I suppose there were hipsters too. Knew someone who left suburbia to reject the whole materialistic
white segregated concept, became a vegetarian, searched for out of the norm music, loved traveling and was
anti-war, pro pot., socially conscious.....
He came from a very well to do family and was rebelling against all that comes with that. However,
he eventually went back to his original way of life since he could only make it on his own only for a few years.
Back in the 70's I suppose there were hipsters too. Knew someone who left suburbia to reject the whole materialistic
white segregated concept, became a vegetarian, searched for out of the norm music, loved traveling and was
anti-war, pro pot., socially conscious.....
He came from a very well to do family and was rebelling against all that comes with that. However,
he eventually went back to his original way of life since he could only make it on his own only for a few years.
There are people, like myself, who are socially conscious, appreciate alternative music, love travelling, etc. Many hipsters don't care about much more than the appearance. They are superficial.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Minervah
That is also very true of Portland. But many people don't know that because they haven't lived here that long. When I moved here 35 years ago, that was one of the things I liked about Portland. People were more individualistic and there was so much more creativity. Now it all seems so copy cat and show-offy.
For me, seeing everyone trying to look like and act like everyone else, is become pretty boring. But I can understand that to younger people who are new to all of this, it can appear to be different or unique because they don't have anything else to compare it to. Also, I don't think that young people are encouraged much to think for themselves these days. I think they are a lot smarter and have way more knowledge than my generation but they are also more conforming and more inclined to follow the crowd they see on TV and Social Media and the like.
Hipsters are a good example of this. I am not saying they are good or bad, just not very interesting.
Portland is an excellent example. There were true urban pioneers back in the time Minervah is talking about who really revived Portland's inner city neighborhoods. These people were substantive and had the walk to back the talk and were unconcerned with appearance or aesthetic. While some people who "appear" to be hipsters may still fall into this "substantive" category, the vast majority of the people who appear to be hipsters simply like the look or the fashion of the clothes, the hair, the tattoos, the piercings, having a vinyl collection, watching artsy films, etc, and are more recent transplants to Portland who come here in search of that particular brand of superficial, consumerist lifestyle because it's the cool thing right now. It's all pretense. It's all superficial. It's all about the aesthetic. And it often comes with a haughty attitude, unfortunately.
2. Prefer walkable, urban environments: anti-automobile-yes to the first, but not really anit-automobile.
3. High appreciation for the arts- Yes
4. High appreciation for foreign culture - Yes, esp considering i'm part German and spent summers there it comes with the territory
5. Politically very liberal; strong activism for the environment, legal cannabis, and animal rights - Welll....i consider myself more of a socialist/social-democrat/Green (in the German/European political sense), but indiferent to the cannabis and animal rights issues. I am NOT a "fiscal conservative".
6. Against organized religion- Since Im gay, yes, Organized Religion is THEenemy!!!!
7. Prefers independent music and movies to mainstream - By far! Big indy music fan, but also getting into classical.
8. Prefers locally-made craft beers or Pabst Blue Ribbon- : YES...and before that into imported beer (see the German comment above).....for a long time now. PBR, eh, its cheap.
9. Little tolerance for suburbia or mainstream suburban "cookie cutter" culture -
I live in suburbia and it's not as cookie cutter as people think it is. There's more authenticity in sububria than one may suspect.
10. Against "preppy" clothing; heh...um, no....my personal styles are a sort of "rustic preppy"...LL Bean/Brooks Brothers/Burberry casual or. ..in the winter....'Hobo Joe' with old jeans, work boots and army jackets and sweaters and flannel shirts.
Im not sure where this puts me. Middle aged bourgouis bohemian, perhaps. Expect my polticis are pretty far left....
One thing I am getting from this interesting thread is that it looks like the word "hipster" appears to have different defintions for different people. I think maybe the previous countercultures like beatniks and hippies were more well defined. But then, I for one don't see hipsters as a part of a counterculture although I see many people do.
One thing I am getting from this interesting thread is that it looks like the word "hipster" appears to have different defintions for different people. I think maybe the previous countercultures like beatniks and hippies were more well defined. But then, I for one don't see hipsters as a part of a counterculture although I see many people do.
I've put in my own two cents on how no one self-identifies as a hipster. Given that's the case, I think it's impossible for their to be a sense of counterculture, because there's no "group solidarity" among the various people considered hipsters. They all tend to dislike one another actually, and stereotype each other as being hipsters while denying the label applies to themselves.
They want the artistic/entrepreneurial/free spirit image yet secretly mommy and daddy are taking care of everything by paying rent prices that are sky high, causing wide swings in overall housing costs/taxes and driving hard working people out of their own neighborhoods.
I could never understand why their mommy and daddy do this anyway. What's in it for them? lol.
I could never understand why their mommy and daddy do this anyway. What's in it for them? lol.
Perhaps, mommy and daddy always wanted to be their friends first rather than parents.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
