Cool

December 1, 2014
Cognitive scientist Quartz (Liars, Lovers, and Heroes) and communications expert Asp consider the psychology of status seeking from a decidedly pro-consumerist point of view. The book draws from a variety of academic disciplines, including psycho-anatomy studies that show the involvement of brain areas such the medial prefrontal cortex, theories of consumerism, and a historical overview of different waves of “cool”: from traditional high-status signaling and the hypermasculine rebel cool of the 1950s to the rise of an Internet-driven culture that the authors identify as “DotCool,” which values unconventionality. An ambitious work that explores well-worn theories in detail before throwing them out, this book rejects the common idea that the world is degenerating into morally suspect, puerile, corporate-manipulated consumption. In its place, the authors propose that inner moral values and external social ones are in fact very much aligned, and that our basic drive to signal social status makes the world a better place. Trendsetters rejoice: Quartz and Asp have got your back. Agent: Katinka Matson, Brockman Inc.

February 1, 2015
A counterintuitive analysis suggesting that consumers instinctively know more about the value of the signals they are sending than their critics do.Most books that cover this territory suggest that consumers are mere sheep, blindly led by the insidious forces of capitalism. That assumption, write Quartz (Philosophy and Cognitive Science/Caltech; co-author: Liars, Lovers, and Heroes: What the New Brain Science Reveals About How We Become Who We Are, 2002) and political scientist and communications professional Asp, is wrong. The authors' credentials provide an indication of how much ground they cover, from a variety of perspectives that transcend conventional categorization. Perhaps the key concept concerns self-image as reflected through the perception of others: "The fact that our self-concept draws on how we think others think about us presents a tremendously intriguing possibility," write the authors. Consumers proceed with an eye toward "how others might think of them with that product: that is, how the product might enhance their social image." Where the measuring sticks for social image might once have been wealth and conspicuous consumption, the evolution of "cool"-from anti-materialist rejection of the bourgeoisie to dot.com mainstreaming and from bebop to beatnik to rebel to hippie to ironic hipster-has changed the signals and codes that consumers send. It shows how Harley-Davidson has gone from annual sales of around 70,000 in the early 1990s to more than 325,000 in 2005 by seeing its "consumer culture evolve from a hierarchical to a pluralistic one, a 'mosaic of microcultures, ' " while sales of minivans plummeted over the same period in favor of SUVs targeting the same market with a different coded message. Quartz and Asp are particularly incisive on the evolution from rebel cool to "Dotcool," encompassing the embrace of nerdiness and hipster irony as "today's knowledge worker is valued for his unconventionality, because originality drives innovation," thus transcending the rebel-cool disdain for "selling out." Some points are more provocative than convincing, but the authors put a lively spin on an age-old argument.

COPYRIGHT(2015) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

Starred review from March 1, 2015

Authors Quartz (philosophy, director, Social Cognitive Neuroscience Laboratory, California Inst. of Technology; coauthor, Liars, Lovers, and Heroes) and Asp (former project manager, Social Cognitive Neuroscience Laboratory) present a refreshing new analysis of conspicuous consumption. The authors summarize extensive new research data on how the human brain's ancient decision-making neuroconnectivity guides consumer choice; share their view of the brain as a "social calculator"; and explain their argument of an innate human drive not to conform to societal and cultural norms. The investigation covers numerous aspects of brain research that analyzes human subjects while consuming goods and services, including shopping for groceries, everyday appliances, designer jeans, and even designer dogs. The scientific value of this work is enhanced by the span of the data across various social, economic, and racial/ethnic stratifications. The fundamental question addressed is why humans agree to pay outrageous prices for commodities with little or no practical use or functionality. Modern brain-imaging technology illuminates a new understanding of why humans purchase and a better understanding of how the brain drives consumer behavior. In addition, the authors draw on the newly emerging science of neuroeconomics that is challenging more traditional economic conceptions of consumption. VERDICT This scientific research is solidly rooted in the empirical process and is amply notated. The authors significantly advance the ideas first brought forth in Thorstein Veblen's 1899 study of upper-class spending on luxury goods (The Theory of the Leisure Class) that was expanded on in Vance Packard's The Hidden Persuaders (1957) and The Status Seekers (1959). Essential for all psychology collections.--Dale Farris, Groves, TX

Copyright 2015 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.