Winders
Encyclopedia
Origins
The term “winders” was originally coined in 2008 by the sociologist John W. Leigh, in his article Moving towards new forms of social success, describing the new forms of social success in the United States, and in Western societies. The term (a contraction of the expression “windy winners”) goes back to the original way of experiencing social success by individuals uninhibited with regards to their own success, not looking as much to reconcile rival existential expectations (such as the bobosBobos in Paradise
Bobos in Paradise: The New Upper Class and How They Got There is a book by David Brooks, first published in 2000. The word bobo, Brooks's most famous coinage, is a portmanteau of the words bourgeois and bohemian. The term is used by Brooks to describe the 1990s descendants of the yuppies...
, for example) but rather to juxtapose them in a way which is not seeking to constitute a system.
Description
The analysis of this new group is positioned along the same lines as the social success models embodied respectively by yuppies, “hardcore winners” (traders and other “golden boys” of the 1980s), and then bobosBobos in Paradise
Bobos in Paradise: The New Upper Class and How They Got There is a book by David Brooks, first published in 2000. The word bobo, Brooks's most famous coinage, is a portmanteau of the words bourgeois and bohemian. The term is used by Brooks to describe the 1990s descendants of the yuppies...
. It borrows from the critical sociology
Critical theory
Critical theory is an examination and critique of society and culture, drawing from knowledge across the social sciences and humanities. The term has two different meanings with different origins and histories: one originating in sociology and the other in literary criticism...
of Michael Hartmann
Michael Hartmann
Michael Hartmann may refer to:* Michael Hartmann , German footballer who played for the national team in 2003* Michael Hartmann , German sociologist widely known there for his research on elites and economic cultures* Michael Hartmann , German politician, member of the Bundestag* Michael...
, as well as employment sociologists Peter Meiksins and Peter Whalley
Peter Whalley
Peter Whalley was a Canadian cartoonist and sculptor. Whalley established himself as a prominent humorist beginning in the 1940s. He used a distinctive stripped down style to send up the cultural and political life of Canada. He died in a hospital in Saint-Jérôme, Quebec, on September 18, 2007. He...
, whose work Putting work in its place: a quiet revolution
details the paradigm shift
Paradigm shift
A Paradigm shift is, according to Thomas Kuhn in his influential book The Structure of Scientific Revolutions , a change in the basic assumptions, or paradigms, within the ruling theory of science...
borne by the winders within the American employment market. As J. W. Leigh puts it: “In cultural terms, for example, he is a "multi-consumer": capable of frequenting art galleries or the screens of a public cinema, and listening to Haydn and Bach as much as Beyonce or Michael Jackson.” To this regard, the winder is considered a “cultural omnivore”
From this point of view, the “winder” is one of the many avatars of the ability of superior social classes to legitimise
Legitimation
Legitimation or legitimization is the act of providing legitimacy. Legitimation in the social sciences refers to the process whereby an act, process, or ideology becomes legitimate by its attachment to norms and values within in given society...
their own situation via positive and always renewing value systems.
External links
- "Moving Towards New Forms of Social Success”, John W. Leigh, 2008, Southern Illinois University
- "Cultural consumption in the fine and popular arts realms.", Omar Lizardo and Sarah Skiles, 2008, Sociology Compass 2: 485–502.
- “Gone with the Winder”, a TNS marketing study, 2009
- “Tapping the Power of the Winder”, Intothetrend.com, 2009
- “The Winder: blowing the Bobo aside”, NowpublicNowPublicNowPublic is a user-generated social news website. The company is based in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, and was founded by Michael Tippett, Leonard Brody and Michael E. Meyers in 2005. On Sept. 2, 2009 the company was acquired by Clarity Digital Group, LLC, wholly owned by The Anschutz...
, (Oct. 11, 2010)
- Michael Hartmann in the German Wikipedia
See also
BoboBobo
- People :As a stage name or nickname* Bobo , stage name of German singer-songwriter Christiane Hebold* Bobo Brazil, stage name of American wrestler Houston Harris* Bobo Baldé , nickname of Guinean footballer Dianbobo Baldé...
Yuppie
Yuppie
Yuppie is a term that refers to a member of the upper middle class or upper class in their 20s or 30s. It first came into use in the early-1980s and largely faded from American popular culture in the late-1980s, due to the 1987 stock market crash and the early 1990s recession...
Critical Theory
Critical theory
Critical theory is an examination and critique of society and culture, drawing from knowledge across the social sciences and humanities. The term has two different meanings with different origins and histories: one originating in sociology and the other in literary criticism...
Michael Parenti
Michael Parenti
Michael Parenti is an award-winning, internationally known American political scientist, historian, and culture critic who has been writing on a wide range of both scholarly and popular subjects for over forty years. He has taught at several universities and colleges and has been a frequent guest...
Memetics
Memetics
Memetics is a theory of mental content based on an analogy with Darwinian evolution, originating from Richard Dawkins' 1976 book The Selfish Gene. It purports to be an approach to evolutionary models of cultural information transfer. A meme, analogous to a gene, is essentially a "unit of...
Socionics
Socionics
Socionics , in psychology, is a theory of information processing and personality type, distinguished by its information model of the psyche and a model of interpersonal relations. It incorporates Carl Jung's work on Psychological Types with Antoni Kępiński's theory of information metabolism...