Steven Pinker has this to say about why ‘counter-culture’ dress and habits is so common amount the youth of the privilaged:
Aggressive nonconformity is an advertisement that one is so confident in one’s station or abilities that one can jeopardise the good will of others without ending up ostracized and destitute.
(‘How The Mind Works’, 1997, Penguin – p501 my edition)
3 replies on “aggressive nonconformity”
are you suggesting this is why Pinker insists on holding to his aggressively nonconformist position?
because if you aren’t, I might š
Pinker presents himself very much as The Reasonable Man. If his ideas are aggressively nonconformist, he does a good job of hiding it.
And, of course, the other reason for being aggressively nonconformist is that the mainstream either won’t accept you or you’d be unable to take part even if it did…
I’ve read that book five times and there are still gems in it I missed…