Allow me to briefly digress into a slightly intellectualised discussion that I promise will lay the foundation for some interesting brand and retail insight – which I recognise is my agreed MO.

So, subcultures and countercultures are often thrown into commentary around macro retail trends but we don’t tend to dig enough into what they actually mean, how they’ve changed – and therefore, how they are influencing retail strategies and experiences.

In the simplest terms, here is what they mean and how they differ.

A subculture is a cultural niche or group operating within a wider, dominant culture. Think modern skaters, who might seem vaguely rebellious but aren’t really rebelling against anything anymore. Frankly, modern parents would take skating over screen time every day of the week.

Meanwhile, a counterculture is a niche, group or movement whose values, beliefs and characteristics directly reject or oppose those of the dominant culture. 

Countercultures still exist of course, but as I look today it strikes me that their place in the world has changed enormously in recent years.

Not so long ago, countercultures changed the world. 1950s beats, 1960s hippies, civil rights activists and others besides were the driving force behind huge societal changes but also the look, feel and experience of our dominant culture. 

Hipsters came from all this – poets, musicians and protestors who dressed and behaved in a way that was entirely different and distinct from the norm. Everything about them was counter to the culture.

Today, to some degree, they are the norm. I saw a picture of Mark Zuckerberg recently adopting what I would describe as a hipster aesthetic. Aside from making me feel sick, it made me realise that countercultures have lost their influence and impact.

The Beatles and Jimi Hendrix wrote culturally dominant songs aligned with countercultures in the 1960s.

Taylor Swift, as I understand, is yet to write a song about Extinction Rebellion and has no plans as such.

But subcultures, meanwhile, are thriving. As the monoculture has declined, these cultural niches have boomed.

They operate perfectly within our individualised digital ecosystems, but also fill the gaps left by the absence of countercultures.

They give us the opportunity to feel different, distinct and individual but without having to perform poetry in a filthy basement five nights a week or chain ourselves to the fences of corporate headquarters. 

Subcultures have replaced countercultures, and this shows up in fascinating ways across the world of retail.

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