Rebel Sell [Hardcover]

If we all hate consumerism, why can't we stop shopping? This is one of the curious ironies that Canadian philosophers Joseph Heath and Andrew Potter ponder in their provocative book about the counterculture and progressive politics. In The Rebel Sell, they take issue with the misconceptions of the anti-globalization movement and others who purport to resist a corporate-dominated world, like No Logo author Naomi Klein. Heath, a philosopher at the University of Toronto, and Potter, a researcher at the University of Montreal, bemoan the fact that the "counterculture" has replaced socialism as the basis of radical political thought since the '60s. They suggest that anti-globalization activists and writers like Klein claim to oppose consumerism and corporate malfeasance while offering solutions that merely reinforce capitalism.

Heath and Potter take the reader on an absorbing tour of Western thought and the philosophical origins of the countercultural movement in the writings of Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Karl Marx, and Sigmund Freud. The authors suggest that these three figures gave rise to the notion that society dupes people into conformity and the belief that, as in the The Matrix movies, we have only to free our minds to start a revolution. Heath and Potter say this non-conformist ideal--which is the basis of today's countercultural movement--is actually at the heart of modern consumerism, too. Capitalism sells people "cool" stuff like SUVs and hip clothes as a way for us to stand out and be different from the crowd. In this way, the counterculture, which advocates such consumeristic "rebellion" as the key to revolution, merely helps capitalism renew itself. At times, The Rebel Sell engages in petty personal attacks against Klein and other anti-corporate activists and, in some cases, misrepresents their viewpoints, but the book is still fascinating, well-argued, and an important contribution to progressive thought. --Alex Roslin

IN SEPTEMBER 2003, Adbusters magazine—the flagship publication of the culture-jamming movement—started selling “Black Spot Sneakers,” its own signature brand of “subversive” running shoes. This act represented a seismic shift in the popular anti-consumer movement. As cultural critics Joseph Heath and Andrew Potter point out, no one could possibly believe there was still any difference between “mainstream” and “alternative” culture. The only possible conclusion: the counterculture is not a threat to the “system”—it is the system.
In a book guaranteed to incense both the followers of Naomi Klein’s No Logo, as well as their right-wing counterparts, Heath and Potter shatter the myth that continues to dominate our political, economic and cultural thinking, underpinning everything from the anti-globalization movement to feminism and environmentalism. They argue that decades of countercultural rebellion have not only been unhelpful, but counterproductive. We have become so used to right-wing attacks against the counterculture that it’s hard to imagine what a left-wing critique would look like. The Rebel Sell offers a startlingly clear picture, claiming that we need to untangle concern over questions of social justice from the countercultural critique—and dump the latter to pursue the former. In a wide-ranging narrative that’s a lively blend of pop culture history, political manifesto and investigative analysis, The Rebel Sell looks at the following:

• the birth of the counterculture—who really killed Kurt Cobain?
• being normal—enforcement of norms and the cardinal sin of the counterculture
• rebellion as a source of distinction and the birth of the rebel consumer
• from status seekers to cool-hunters—the decline of prestige and the rise of “cool” jobs
• making peace with the masses—the inescapable market and how we turn consumers into citizens

The political book of the season—to be published simultaneously with HarperCollins US—The Rebel Sell will be both deified and vilified. Most of all, it will be debated.

JOSEPH HEATH is Associate Professor of Philosophy at theUniversity of Toronto. He is the author of two books: The Efficient Society—anational bestseller and a Globe and Mail Best Book of 2001—and CommunicativeAction and Rational Choice. He lives in Toronto.