Hipsters in the City: The Case of Fishtown Philadelphia

• In Event: 1451 - Community and Urban Sociology Section Roundtables (1 hour)
  In Refereed Roundtable 60min: 3. Debating Gentrification

Abstract

Urban hipster communities have been the subject of frequent criticism within the literature on urban dynamics. Such communities are generally viewed as bastions of hip elitist consumption and DIY activities, and destructive agents of gentrification. The present project uses interviews and limited ethnographic observation to study a hipster community that emerged within the Philadelphia neighborhood of Fishtown. While this community, like hipster communities described within previous studies, is heavily involved in various types of hip elitist consumption and DIY activities, and has indeed facilitated gentrification, its hip activities also encompass the realms of religion, charity and community outreach, and political activism. It was generated by and maintains overlapping membership with a smaller community of bohemian artists and makes a relatively conscientious effort to avoid mass production, support local establishments and artistic consumption, promote creative personal expression, and protect the environment. It is also constituted by a local “hipster church” that is markedly progressive and involved with the provision of affordable and environmentally conscious consumption, charitable efforts to assist the urban poor, and progressive activism within and beyond the Fishtown area. The present case study thus amends existing narratives about hipster communities, extending these narratives into additional realms of contemporary hip urbanism. It also questions existing critiques of hipster communities, maintaining that on balance, they may be viewed as a positive and progressive urban social phenomenon.

Authors

• Geoffrey Moss, Temple University

• Keith McIntosh, Temple University