Hipsters value quality of products, authenticity, community, the environment and small business policies. Anthony Bourdain has mentioned how thankful he is to Hipsters for bringing back authenticity to food and drinks. This counterculture has opened the door for a more progressive way of looking at the environment, economy and community. Hipsters are heckled for being outside of the norm, however this outsider nature gives the group a fresh look on sensitive topics.
Hipsters Revitalize The Economy
- Generating small businesses which specialize in authenticity or local products
- Ensuring third world workers aren’t exploited (Fair Trade)
- Variety of interests that are constantly in flux, adding variety to the market. (IPA’s and Craft Beers)
- Gives less power to large businesses who capitalize on consumer reliability.
- They love trying mom and pop brands or the brands that no one else is willing to try.
- Hipster account for many of the new trends we see in hobbies, drinks and food.
Hipsters Build Community
- Hipsters build Co-op farms to stress sustainability
- Creating a network of local people who learn valuable gardening skills and socialize
- Introduction to non-profit volunteering.
- Focusing on strong atmospheres to give people a place to relax and be themselves.
Environmental Policies
- Adopting policies to minimize environmental footprints
- Using no fertilizers or pesticides
- Minimizing water use to promote clean water sustainability
- Transportation via Bicycle reduces gas consumption
- Waste not/want not
- Hipsters believe in the practice of using all of the animal.
- Hipsters do not believe in letting produce be thrown away.
- All of the produce is used/eaten/donated
- Making products by hand with local products
Hipsters contribute vital values to the community and the economy. Their interests in culture, create a healthy, and only slightly strange, atmosphere in communities. The group can seem condescending and exclusive to many, yet their beliefs appear altruistic. Their values are in line with restoring the environment, while also encouraging growth in the economy.
Individuals usually chastise hipsters for being condescending assholes and while some of them can be, not all of them are pretentious. Every group has its small set of individuals who are more zealous and dogmatic then the rest, whether it be Christians or Film Majors. You have eccentrics who scare the rest of the crowd.
Hipsters were barely given a chance to express their values in their movement. Many movements like Hippies and the Harlem Renaissance were controversial, yet some accepted them for their values. Usually people within their own generation loved them, but sometimes even people from past generations found themselves having things in common with these movements. The Hipster movement was not only shunned by older generations, but even shunned by its own generation. Millennials purposefully separate themselves from Hipsters, always fearing being associating with the crowd. It is such a hated movement, for a group of people who support very modern ideas. Maybe it has to do with the fact that they may be more serious than others. They strongly commit to their beliefs and they take their values seriously. Do people shun them because they take their policies a step further than most of us, because they care more than the average person, or are they feared for the select few who seem dogmatic to us?