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Culture & Religion —

History of the Hipster

“When we talk about the hipster, we’re talking about a cross-subcultural figure who emerges by 1999 and enjoys a narrow but robust phase of existence from 1999 to 2003.”
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A book on the history of the hipster will soon be released by n+1. Its website provides a preview and table of contents for the magazine’s investigation of the contemporary hipster: “What are we not talking about when we’re talking about the hipster? For example, criticizing the hipster is often a way of discussing gentrification and neighborhood change—while exempting oneself from the process. Figured as scapegoats, hipsters ruin neighborhoods by driving up rents with their parental subsidies, while the non-hipsters just…live there. Which is a totally ridiculous conceit.”

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