Page 100 - Cultural Studies A Practical Introduction

84 Identity, Lifestyle, and Subculture

this point. I can spot someone who is “ corporate ” and distinguish him or
her from someone who appears “ countercultural ” quite easily because I
have learned to recognize the cultural signs of each identity while growing
up in America over the past several decades. I ’ ve learned the dictionary that
allows the meaning of those signs – blue jeans, loose sweater, and a colorful
neck scarf as distinguished from blue suit, red tie, and very neat hair – to
be read, recognized, and deciphered.
Near where I live is a town called Madison that many characterize as
“ corporate, ” and further down the coast is a town called Guilford that is
characterized as “ countercultural. ” In Madison, you will see more Mercedes
and BMWs, cars that indicate high levels of wealth that is usually associated
with the lifestyle of those who work in business. In Guilford, you are more
likely to see cars associated with middle - class incomes, many of them older
Volvos or other family cars. Madison has more upscale clothing shops and
galleries that sell original paintings – all signs of the presence of people with
money. In a very small sign of the same culture, if you go to the public
library, you will be more likely to see elegantly dressed older women with
carefully done gray hair whose reading glasses are held in place with deco-
rative and expensive - looking neck bands. In Guildford, in contrast, you
will be more likely to see a children ’ s toy store and a bakery cafe that looks
distinctly “ hippyish, ” a leftover or a deliberate evocation of the counter-
cultural world of the 1960s. This is the home to people with families who
are probably more liberal politically than the slightly older group that
clusters in Madison.

Each place thus has a distinct culture defined in part by the identities of
the people who live there. In each place, people do the same physical things
each day, but they also lead slightly different lifestyles. In Madison, people
are more likely to have leisure or be retired with wealth to live on. They
shop or read books during the day rather than work; they might engage in
philanthropy to keep busy. They spend so much on books that the local
privately owned bookstore – one of the few left that is not part of a chain
– can afford to bring in authors for readings. For sports, the inhabitants of
Madison prefer golf to the National Basketball Association. Madison has

its own first - run movie theater, a small place that specializes in unique

independent or foreign films. It is for people with “ higher ” or more edu-
cated tastes. Guilford has more middle - class people, and the theater nearby

is of the usual American kind – all first - run American films. It also has a
hardware store, something you would not see in Madison, where people
are less likely to do home repairs themselves, although Guilford has a wine