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Culture as Weapon: The Art of Influence in Everyday Life
One of the country's leading activist curators explores how corporations and governments have used art and culture to mystify and manipulate us.
The production of culture was once the domain of artists, but beginning in the early 1900s, the emerging fields of public relations, advertising and marketing transformed the way the powerful communicate with the rest of us. A century later, the tools are more sophisticated than ever, the onslaught more relentless.
In Culture as Weapon , acclaimed curator and critic Nato Thompson reveals how institutions use art and culture to ensure profits and constrain dissent--and shows us that there are alternatives. An eye-opening account of the way advertising, media, and politics work today, Culture as Weapon offers a radically new way of looking at our world.
The production of culture was once the domain of artists, but beginning in the early 1900s, the emerging fields of public relations, advertising and marketing transformed the way the powerful communicate with the rest of us. A century later, the tools are more sophisticated than ever, the onslaught more relentless.
In Culture as Weapon , acclaimed curator and critic Nato Thompson reveals how institutions use art and culture to ensure profits and constrain dissent--and shows us that there are alternatives. An eye-opening account of the way advertising, media, and politics work today, Culture as Weapon offers a radically new way of looking at our world.
288 pages, Hardcover
Published January 17, 2017
31 people are currently reading
647 people want to read
About the author
Nato Thompson
29 books65 followersNATO THOMPSON is an author and curator. He has written two books of non-fiction Culture as Weapon: The Art of Influence in Everday Life (2017) and Seeing Power: Art and Activism in the 21st Century (2016) both with Melville House Publishing. His self-published fiction book, Marshsong came out in February 2019. He has also edited and written for many art catalogues. He works as the Sueyun and Gene Locks Artistic Director at Philadelphia Contemporary.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 30 reviews
October 16, 2017
I have no issue with the premise of this book or the arguments in it. But I have to wonder who edited it. It's full of repeated grammar mistakes like "chalk full of", "hone in on", and typos, all of which are pretty distracting. And while there's a conclusion for the final chapter, there's no conclusion for the book overall. It feels like there's a missing chapter.
August 23, 2018
I'm writing this review a few months after reading the book. I skimmed it again today to refresh my memory and I'm glad I did. I recommend this book to anyone interested in learning about power and to those looking for a ray of hope.
In Culture as Weapon author Nato Thompson explores the integration by the powerful of principles of art, design, and persuasion into strategies and tactics to supercharge capitalism and other movements during the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. The book appeals to my non-linear learning style by demonstrating its ideas with a wide array of examples from history but not in chronological order. From Edward Bernays to Tipper Gore vs. Prince and Twisted Sister to David Patraeus, dozens or perhaps hundreds of figures who have attempted to persuade 'the masses' are cited, quoted, and examined. But the book is structured with chapters exposing strategies and tactics categorized by cultural arenas.
The most surprising arena explored here for me is charitable giving and non-profit culture in the chapter "Sounding the Trumpet." The appeal to empathy through our emotions is used by forces less charitable to whitewash the overall destructiveness of their other enterprises. On some level I knew this, but Thompson's exposition of the cause related marketing (CRM) phenomenon is eye-opening. The topic is explored with a frank rather than scornful tone, and I appreciated the author's adherence to a somewhat objective fact-finding approach.
While it is not surprising that the U.S. military has gotten in on the 'culture as weapon' strategy, I had not known that we can all access such literature as Field Manual 3-24 on counterinsurgency or the cheat sheet handed out to soldiers known as the Iraq Culture Smart Card, a sixteen-page laminated sheet, both available online in pdf form. Thompson's commentary: "Having a field manual on counterinsurgency updated to reflect basics in contemporary anthropology and lessons ranging from the Philippines to Algeria to Vietnam does not mean that eighteen-year-old soldiers on the ground suddenly become masters of cross-cultural relationships." Yeah. The chapter "The Insurgents" from which I pulled the quote, is by itself worth the price of the book.
The overall message here is there are powerful interests attempting to manipulate our opinions, and thereby our actions. They understand that no one is a truly rational actor, that we all operate based largely on emotions, and that we can be influenced by appeals to our emotions. This leads me to question, and question thoroughly, my opinions to see if they align with my true values. Have I been persuaded to harm myself and others by forces that do not have the best interests of everyone at heart? Am I capable of noticing when I am being manipulated? Am I willing to allow it? Or will I shift my opinions and behaviors independent of the cultural push?
I find myself wishing that the information in this book could be easily conveyed to those citizens who rarely or never read. I think questioning our cultural conditioning as individuals and collectively could benefit every citizen and those who will inherit Earth from us. But even if everyone doesn't get this message and take on the introspective project I'm hopeful because, as Thompson points out, no matter how powerful those forces are that use the power of art and culture to promote their own interests, they cannot see the future nor predict all events. That gives me hope, and I needed some hope today.
In Culture as Weapon author Nato Thompson explores the integration by the powerful of principles of art, design, and persuasion into strategies and tactics to supercharge capitalism and other movements during the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. The book appeals to my non-linear learning style by demonstrating its ideas with a wide array of examples from history but not in chronological order. From Edward Bernays to Tipper Gore vs. Prince and Twisted Sister to David Patraeus, dozens or perhaps hundreds of figures who have attempted to persuade 'the masses' are cited, quoted, and examined. But the book is structured with chapters exposing strategies and tactics categorized by cultural arenas.
The most surprising arena explored here for me is charitable giving and non-profit culture in the chapter "Sounding the Trumpet." The appeal to empathy through our emotions is used by forces less charitable to whitewash the overall destructiveness of their other enterprises. On some level I knew this, but Thompson's exposition of the cause related marketing (CRM) phenomenon is eye-opening. The topic is explored with a frank rather than scornful tone, and I appreciated the author's adherence to a somewhat objective fact-finding approach.
While it is not surprising that the U.S. military has gotten in on the 'culture as weapon' strategy, I had not known that we can all access such literature as Field Manual 3-24 on counterinsurgency or the cheat sheet handed out to soldiers known as the Iraq Culture Smart Card, a sixteen-page laminated sheet, both available online in pdf form. Thompson's commentary: "Having a field manual on counterinsurgency updated to reflect basics in contemporary anthropology and lessons ranging from the Philippines to Algeria to Vietnam does not mean that eighteen-year-old soldiers on the ground suddenly become masters of cross-cultural relationships." Yeah. The chapter "The Insurgents" from which I pulled the quote, is by itself worth the price of the book.
The overall message here is there are powerful interests attempting to manipulate our opinions, and thereby our actions. They understand that no one is a truly rational actor, that we all operate based largely on emotions, and that we can be influenced by appeals to our emotions. This leads me to question, and question thoroughly, my opinions to see if they align with my true values. Have I been persuaded to harm myself and others by forces that do not have the best interests of everyone at heart? Am I capable of noticing when I am being manipulated? Am I willing to allow it? Or will I shift my opinions and behaviors independent of the cultural push?
I find myself wishing that the information in this book could be easily conveyed to those citizens who rarely or never read. I think questioning our cultural conditioning as individuals and collectively could benefit every citizen and those who will inherit Earth from us. But even if everyone doesn't get this message and take on the introspective project I'm hopeful because, as Thompson points out, no matter how powerful those forces are that use the power of art and culture to promote their own interests, they cannot see the future nor predict all events. That gives me hope, and I needed some hope today.
May 9, 2017
Well this somehow made me hate marketing even more, didn't know that was possible.
Other than that, I'm not sure what else to take away from this although I liked it. I find myself agreeing with the author, but not really knowing what to do. Oh look, people are motivated by fear and it's ruining politics. Yep, because people base decisions on emotions and not logic, kinda knew that already.
Here are some rejected subtitles for the book:
"How to make money and manipulate people" Wait that's redundant.
"How capitalism ruins everything (including art)" Nah too one sided.
"Never buy anything you've seen advertised" Isn't that stolen from Michael Pollan's food book?
Other than that, I'm not sure what else to take away from this although I liked it. I find myself agreeing with the author, but not really knowing what to do. Oh look, people are motivated by fear and it's ruining politics. Yep, because people base decisions on emotions and not logic, kinda knew that already.
Here are some rejected subtitles for the book:
"How to make money and manipulate people" Wait that's redundant.
"How capitalism ruins everything (including art)" Nah too one sided.
"Never buy anything you've seen advertised" Isn't that stolen from Michael Pollan's food book?
May 10, 2020
This books absolutely needed another round of copy editing, but beyond that I appreciated its ability to give me a general understanding of each of the pieces that Thompson uses to illustrate the power of culture and the puppet masters in every field who have given us our current landscape. Would recommend
December 27, 2017
My first exposure to N. Thompson and a good one, so will see what else he has written.
Thompson is an artistic director in NY with an obvious focus on performance art in all its different forms. Art is culture; We humans respond more (affectively) to narratives and emotions than to reason. Advertisers, campaign managers, capitalists, politicians figured this out long ago. In this unprecedented world of instant and global communication, we are bombarded w/ 'messages' often hidden to our consciousness. The obvious threat is we are being manipulated to make poor decisions for ourselves and for our environment.
Because art also works at the emotional level, Thompson documents how the line between art and advertising/campaigning/capitalism-consumerism has blurred. He tackles gentrification, the Apple Store and Starbucks and IKEA 'feel and community', the commercialization of art and charity, the success and failures of Petraeus counter-insurgency war manual,
Notes
P.
Intro Plato said ban artists - they distort reality. Art and life have merged
x Study why people don't act rationally
xi Facts: fear motivates faster than hope; appeals to emotion don't rely on truth; rationality need not drive enthusiasm
1 Culture Wars (Buchanan, libs, conservs)
5 Not new to politics , but the scale has changed
6 artist types: oracles (Warhol); resisters (Pepes); world makers (Mapplethorpe)
8 Morning in America - Reagan '84
47 Hitler as artist knew something about appeal to emotion
49 Nazi rallies were mega-events: search lights, crowds
52 H. Arendt: Eichman trial: "E is a clown"
55 Adorno - Horkheimer, Frankfurt School: "culture industry"
62 Music is a market force in the 60's (baby boomers, radio, tv, money to spend)
63 TF impact on VietN war, civil rights enormous - demonstrations, rallies, violence
64 W. Burroughs saw the impact of media early on
65 WB - man not rational; image/sound create associations in the mind (emotions)
66 WB, nephew of Ivy Lee (early PR man); Warhol , orig. commercial designer, embraced capitalism, money, fame. WB worried about mass media
67 advertising rules by the '50's
68 hathaway shirt man - eyepatch, ad only in NYer mag; big success
69 Marlboro Man - advert. most iconic image. Artists and acmen understood power of visual, evocative, emotive association
70 DDB firm created the 'ugly' VW beetle ad, and the LBJ/Goldwater 'daisy - Hbomb' ad
73 68 nixon: Haldeman 20 yr vet of giant ad firm. The new service econ meant immaterial goods being sold - which needed personalities, a msg
74 although we were never a culture of reason, the new media increased the scale of emotion and changed everything. Thompson thesis: culture and affect linked to politics and capital; affect used to sell and exploit; we live in a world of affect and feeling
76 fear and politics
77 Willie Horton ad: Bush vs Dukakis. Lee Atwater, campaign manager, knew 'fear' would work. R Ailes was co-writer, producer
78 Ailes helped fear go mainstream
80 the New Jim Crow (M. Alexander) exposed Reagan's "War on Drugs" as racist
81 Media and politicians exploit sensationalism in movies, gang rap,
84 steve kurtz persecuted as a result of 9/11 hysteria
87 'availability index' Barry Glassners 'culture of fear'. local media expoilts our fear index
90 Obama, 8 yrs later, unable to fulfil promise to close Gitmo
92 progressives need to play emotion game
96 Black Lives Matter (BLM) child of social media - smart phone video, but still the (black) fear kickback factor
98 Richard Florida, Ted Talk, Vaudvillian
99 RF central protagonist in this book; a feel-good speaker (but what's the content and the analysis?) [TG - my criticism of the new NPR news - feel good, laugh factor]
101 the RF creatives
102 branding the city; bikepaths are cool
103 'starchitects' build beacons to capital
104 Bilbao example w/ Gehry guggenheim museum - now a tourist must see
105 chicago cows on parade; them many copycats/cows/dragons - a viral icon
106 chicago rebranded hip
107 creative corporate Bohemia drives out the real artists
110 arts funding (NEA) is econ. sound INVESTMENT
111 'art works' - new NEA motto
112 'inner tourist'
115 gentrification
121 Rev. Billy, NYC, fights consumption
123 no more major city demolition/rebuild projects; now it's more subtle rebranding but often same effect
125 chp 6: War, Defense & Culture
128 Petraeus rewrites counter-insurg. manual - culture is added
129 'the narrative' is defined along w/ its importance in the manual
134 P is effect'ly mayor of Mosul; becomes head of Iraq Command; makes shift to culture no just military actions. Not clear if he appeared on the scene at the right time or the methods really did have the effect he's credited w/.
136 Rand paper documents that US backing right-wing gov in central america violates all the principles we stand for
137 P goes to Afgh.
138 Galula
144 McFate, anthrop. teams w/ DOD; creates debate among her academic peers
148 anthrop w/ US troops in Afgh didn't work (2008)
151 tabloid stories re US military in Afgh (P. etc)
155 chp: Sounding the Trumpet - Charities (biblical ref)
156 Warhol C. Soup Art; a child of the depression - ate C soup every day
158 'Pink business' breast awareness - capitalistic charity?!
162 vs the Soil Kitchen in Philly (authentic charity)
163 'giving' is a real mix of motives
164 giving is never simply (freewill) giving (Mauss);Charity is power
166 as wealth disparity grows in US, levels of giving have also exploded - 'conscience laundering' according to Peter Buffet
168 "do they know its Christmas time at all" to raise famine relief money for Africa. - philanthropic colonialism'
169 enormous charity business/industry implies something is fundamentally wrong w/ our underlying system (capitalism), colonialism, consumerism)
171 CRM Cause Related Marketing: a win-win for charity and business, but do we dare look behind the screen?
172 McD ironies and paradox: charity $$ come from a business that pushes poor nutrition and pays sub-standard wages
176 where is the line, in the Faustian bargain, where one has compromised too much for short gain $$? Especially if capitalism is the root cause of many of the ills that charities are trying to ameliorate.
177 Mark Fisher, Capitalism Realism:
178 Ted Peru's "what we want is free: generousity & .."
183 Chpt 8, Ikea, Apple Store, Starbucks
185 comforting atmosphere, food at IKEA
187 CEO left Sweden to avoid taxes
193 IKEA Effect - you assemble, you thus value it more
194 Apple Store - an experience
199 No cash register!
204 Starbucks interesting history. a Cafe experience
206 social participation art, eg cooking food at a museum. [tg: are tv cook shows part of the scene?]
208 public experiential art (unmonetizable moments) - an escape from marketing of art
209 Whole Foods another example of an experience marketplace
210 B&N went to Cafe bookstore - couldn't compete w/ Amazon simply as bookstore. Employees are performers. 1998 book - "Experience Economy"
211 reminder what Plato said ab0ut danger of art in social arena
213 Personal Computer
214 challenges the radio or even the printing press as the most world-changing invention
216 history of computers; transistors, microchip, Atari, video games
222 Gates early BASIC hobbyist, user, wants copyright on S/W. Jobs & Wozniak part of Open S/W user group. Jobs goes to Atari. Apple the name evidence of Jobs market genius. Gates makes billions on S/W. Jobs knows computers can be extension of people's everythings
224 Apple Mac is marketed for 'special' people
228 DIY culture develops with the new media: pirate radio, tv, book printing, copying machines
231 Zapatista in Chiapas
234 an uprising that used modern media to connect to outside world for support
236 Porn dominates internet use
238 civil disobed comes to the internet
244 google and apple engineers don't get 'social' (b/c they're engineers)
250 marketeers target specific emotion spaces. joy and sadness are filled. Try anger and surprise
251 Trump hs the surprise, angry-fear spheres
255 all social media movements may not be successful but they can still shift the center of discussion, eg BLM
74
Thompson is an artistic director in NY with an obvious focus on performance art in all its different forms. Art is culture; We humans respond more (affectively) to narratives and emotions than to reason. Advertisers, campaign managers, capitalists, politicians figured this out long ago. In this unprecedented world of instant and global communication, we are bombarded w/ 'messages' often hidden to our consciousness. The obvious threat is we are being manipulated to make poor decisions for ourselves and for our environment.
Because art also works at the emotional level, Thompson documents how the line between art and advertising/campaigning/capitalism-consumerism has blurred. He tackles gentrification, the Apple Store and Starbucks and IKEA 'feel and community', the commercialization of art and charity, the success and failures of Petraeus counter-insurgency war manual,
Notes
P.
Intro Plato said ban artists - they distort reality. Art and life have merged
x Study why people don't act rationally
xi Facts: fear motivates faster than hope; appeals to emotion don't rely on truth; rationality need not drive enthusiasm
1 Culture Wars (Buchanan, libs, conservs)
5 Not new to politics , but the scale has changed
6 artist types: oracles (Warhol); resisters (Pepes); world makers (Mapplethorpe)
8 Morning in America - Reagan '84
47 Hitler as artist knew something about appeal to emotion
49 Nazi rallies were mega-events: search lights, crowds
52 H. Arendt: Eichman trial: "E is a clown"
55 Adorno - Horkheimer, Frankfurt School: "culture industry"
62 Music is a market force in the 60's (baby boomers, radio, tv, money to spend)
63 TF impact on VietN war, civil rights enormous - demonstrations, rallies, violence
64 W. Burroughs saw the impact of media early on
65 WB - man not rational; image/sound create associations in the mind (emotions)
66 WB, nephew of Ivy Lee (early PR man); Warhol , orig. commercial designer, embraced capitalism, money, fame. WB worried about mass media
67 advertising rules by the '50's
68 hathaway shirt man - eyepatch, ad only in NYer mag; big success
69 Marlboro Man - advert. most iconic image. Artists and acmen understood power of visual, evocative, emotive association
70 DDB firm created the 'ugly' VW beetle ad, and the LBJ/Goldwater 'daisy - Hbomb' ad
73 68 nixon: Haldeman 20 yr vet of giant ad firm. The new service econ meant immaterial goods being sold - which needed personalities, a msg
74 although we were never a culture of reason, the new media increased the scale of emotion and changed everything. Thompson thesis: culture and affect linked to politics and capital; affect used to sell and exploit; we live in a world of affect and feeling
76 fear and politics
77 Willie Horton ad: Bush vs Dukakis. Lee Atwater, campaign manager, knew 'fear' would work. R Ailes was co-writer, producer
78 Ailes helped fear go mainstream
80 the New Jim Crow (M. Alexander) exposed Reagan's "War on Drugs" as racist
81 Media and politicians exploit sensationalism in movies, gang rap,
84 steve kurtz persecuted as a result of 9/11 hysteria
87 'availability index' Barry Glassners 'culture of fear'. local media expoilts our fear index
90 Obama, 8 yrs later, unable to fulfil promise to close Gitmo
92 progressives need to play emotion game
96 Black Lives Matter (BLM) child of social media - smart phone video, but still the (black) fear kickback factor
98 Richard Florida, Ted Talk, Vaudvillian
99 RF central protagonist in this book; a feel-good speaker (but what's the content and the analysis?) [TG - my criticism of the new NPR news - feel good, laugh factor]
101 the RF creatives
102 branding the city; bikepaths are cool
103 'starchitects' build beacons to capital
104 Bilbao example w/ Gehry guggenheim museum - now a tourist must see
105 chicago cows on parade; them many copycats/cows/dragons - a viral icon
106 chicago rebranded hip
107 creative corporate Bohemia drives out the real artists
110 arts funding (NEA) is econ. sound INVESTMENT
111 'art works' - new NEA motto
112 'inner tourist'
115 gentrification
121 Rev. Billy, NYC, fights consumption
123 no more major city demolition/rebuild projects; now it's more subtle rebranding but often same effect
125 chp 6: War, Defense & Culture
128 Petraeus rewrites counter-insurg. manual - culture is added
129 'the narrative' is defined along w/ its importance in the manual
134 P is effect'ly mayor of Mosul; becomes head of Iraq Command; makes shift to culture no just military actions. Not clear if he appeared on the scene at the right time or the methods really did have the effect he's credited w/.
136 Rand paper documents that US backing right-wing gov in central america violates all the principles we stand for
137 P goes to Afgh.
138 Galula
144 McFate, anthrop. teams w/ DOD; creates debate among her academic peers
148 anthrop w/ US troops in Afgh didn't work (2008)
151 tabloid stories re US military in Afgh (P. etc)
155 chp: Sounding the Trumpet - Charities (biblical ref)
156 Warhol C. Soup Art; a child of the depression - ate C soup every day
158 'Pink business' breast awareness - capitalistic charity?!
162 vs the Soil Kitchen in Philly (authentic charity)
163 'giving' is a real mix of motives
164 giving is never simply (freewill) giving (Mauss);Charity is power
166 as wealth disparity grows in US, levels of giving have also exploded - 'conscience laundering' according to Peter Buffet
168 "do they know its Christmas time at all" to raise famine relief money for Africa. - philanthropic colonialism'
169 enormous charity business/industry implies something is fundamentally wrong w/ our underlying system (capitalism), colonialism, consumerism)
171 CRM Cause Related Marketing: a win-win for charity and business, but do we dare look behind the screen?
172 McD ironies and paradox: charity $$ come from a business that pushes poor nutrition and pays sub-standard wages
176 where is the line, in the Faustian bargain, where one has compromised too much for short gain $$? Especially if capitalism is the root cause of many of the ills that charities are trying to ameliorate.
177 Mark Fisher, Capitalism Realism:
178 Ted Peru's "what we want is free: generousity & .."
183 Chpt 8, Ikea, Apple Store, Starbucks
185 comforting atmosphere, food at IKEA
187 CEO left Sweden to avoid taxes
193 IKEA Effect - you assemble, you thus value it more
194 Apple Store - an experience
199 No cash register!
204 Starbucks interesting history. a Cafe experience
206 social participation art, eg cooking food at a museum. [tg: are tv cook shows part of the scene?]
208 public experiential art (unmonetizable moments) - an escape from marketing of art
209 Whole Foods another example of an experience marketplace
210 B&N went to Cafe bookstore - couldn't compete w/ Amazon simply as bookstore. Employees are performers. 1998 book - "Experience Economy"
211 reminder what Plato said ab0ut danger of art in social arena
213 Personal Computer
214 challenges the radio or even the printing press as the most world-changing invention
216 history of computers; transistors, microchip, Atari, video games
222 Gates early BASIC hobbyist, user, wants copyright on S/W. Jobs & Wozniak part of Open S/W user group. Jobs goes to Atari. Apple the name evidence of Jobs market genius. Gates makes billions on S/W. Jobs knows computers can be extension of people's everythings
224 Apple Mac is marketed for 'special' people
228 DIY culture develops with the new media: pirate radio, tv, book printing, copying machines
231 Zapatista in Chiapas
234 an uprising that used modern media to connect to outside world for support
236 Porn dominates internet use
238 civil disobed comes to the internet
244 google and apple engineers don't get 'social' (b/c they're engineers)
250 marketeers target specific emotion spaces. joy and sadness are filled. Try anger and surprise
251 Trump hs the surprise, angry-fear spheres
255 all social media movements may not be successful but they can still shift the center of discussion, eg BLM
74
May 2, 2018
This is a book with a lot of interesting observations and ideas, though it is difficult to actually whittle down its thesis or focus. Basically, this book is all about how culture (the abstractness of that word aside) is manipulated and monetized by everyone from PR professionals, activists, real estate developers, and military leaders. The author also discusses things like modern product design, internet culture, and the charity industrial complex. If those things sound rather disparate, you are not wrong - I wasn’t always sure how his points tied into his thesis, but I was always interested in them. Hence the four stars. Particularly intriguing for me were the chapters on urban planning, the history of PR, and counterinsurgency tactics. Worth a read if you are interested in public relations and culture studies.
December 20, 2018
Good primer on cultural production's connections and reflections across omnipresent state / capitalist forces, most appropriate for folks less versed in these histories. There are a few interesting tidbits of lesser-known histories and iterations of concept in art worlds attempting to circumvent capital, but admittedly as someone with a degree in "Media|Society|Arts" I'm not the target audience for this book. Thompson is a very good writer though - he distills these many concepts with ease and is a natural at connecting these greater trends to his area of expertise, socially-engaged art. The lack of formal conclusion, as mentioned in other reviews, is definitely frustrating -- a short wrap-up regarding the role of affect hinted in the introduction would have been fitting and welcomed.
May 7, 2017
Certainly an interesting introduction to cultural production through the lens of marketing. The book touches on a wide range of topics, from real estate to the military to charities, without losing its focus or strength. Only in its final chapter and conclusion did I feel it losing steam.
I'll be looking into Thompson's other books because of this one.
An interesting read following this book would be "I Hate the Internet" by Jarrett Kobek.
I'll be looking into Thompson's other books because of this one.
An interesting read following this book would be "I Hate the Internet" by Jarrett Kobek.
January 26, 2022
I didn't expect to like this book. It was something that my partner read part of for a university required class. But it was eye-catching so I thought I'd give it a go and I was pleasantly surprised.
This book uses a lot of short anecdotes to build toward its main argument, as most essay-like books do. These mini stories are the main thing I enjoyed about the book. They were all articulated very concisely and were mostly interesting. I found the ones in the chapter about the US military to be particularly engrossing.
It really needs a proper conclusion. There's a short conclusion for the final chapter but no actual conclusion to wrap it all up which leaves it feeling unfinished.
Ideas:
This is very much an anticapitalist book, which I certainly agree with, but none of the arguments in the book are nearly as novel or clever as they are presented. Don't get me wrong - they're solid arguments and I agree with almost everything the author has to say, but they just aren't all that unique.
Obviously art and marketing can cause cultural shifts and those shifts are often weaponized, primarily by corporations.
Of course the advent of computers massively changes the way that culture functions.
Prose:
It's acceptable, nothing crazy. It needed some more editing. The word choice is solid and it's nice that the author never tries to be excessively formal.
This book uses a lot of short anecdotes to build toward its main argument, as most essay-like books do. These mini stories are the main thing I enjoyed about the book. They were all articulated very concisely and were mostly interesting. I found the ones in the chapter about the US military to be particularly engrossing.
It really needs a proper conclusion. There's a short conclusion for the final chapter but no actual conclusion to wrap it all up which leaves it feeling unfinished.
Ideas:
This is very much an anticapitalist book, which I certainly agree with, but none of the arguments in the book are nearly as novel or clever as they are presented. Don't get me wrong - they're solid arguments and I agree with almost everything the author has to say, but they just aren't all that unique.
Obviously art and marketing can cause cultural shifts and those shifts are often weaponized, primarily by corporations.
Of course the advent of computers massively changes the way that culture functions.
Prose:
It's acceptable, nothing crazy. It needed some more editing. The word choice is solid and it's nice that the author never tries to be excessively formal.
March 29, 2020
Maudlin coy and jittery: hyped but empty. I had not expected to find the author re-enacting the problems he purported to analyze, and I was unprepared for the foolishness. Really?!
May 29, 2021
There were some interesting things about art and business in there but the book was so poorly written, that I often found it distracting
December 31, 2021
The computer is a very powerful device. We see its effects in small things already. The twitchy behavior of friends needing to check their phones. The inability to let a question linger too long before one looks it up on google. The worry that everyone knows what you have been, and are, up to. The inability to get lost.
Facebook is neither neutral nor democratic. It uses its power of collective culture as a weapon to garner revenue.
Google continues to operate like all businesses, with one goal in mind: longstanding financial growth.
Facebook is neither neutral nor democratic. It uses its power of collective culture as a weapon to garner revenue.
Google continues to operate like all businesses, with one goal in mind: longstanding financial growth.
December 19, 2017
Strange -- the title of my copy has the subtitle of The Art Of Influence in Everyday Life.
If you like the sociology of mass media, this is a fantastic book. Offering a series of very specific chapters, this is a readable overview of everything from advertising to computers to charity to IKEA. Thompson's point of view is clear and informs the topics discussed.
If you like the sociology of mass media, this is a fantastic book. Offering a series of very specific chapters, this is a readable overview of everything from advertising to computers to charity to IKEA. Thompson's point of view is clear and informs the topics discussed.
October 8, 2017
I'm very much enjoying this book. It's exactly what it claims to be, a critique of American culture from the perspective of an art curator. Thompson's voice is never authoritative or preachy, but instead is consistently conversational and interesting.
June 7, 2017
Much of this book is common knowledge, if you've been alive for the last few decades. Still, it was interesting to see how public opinion can be mobilized to effect an outcome.
August 8, 2025
Over the last three months spent in Bali, I haven’t had access to the variety of art museums and galleries experienced in the preceding eighteen months of travel (and stays) through Los Angeles, Albuquerque, Malaysia, Thailand, Japan, Korea, and Hong Kong. So, in an effort to replace my need to explore the art world, I completed a search through the digital arts and humanities section of the Hong Kong Public Library, assembling a collection of texts examining the art world and its impacts. It is in that spirit that I approached Nato Thompson’s Culture as Weapon.
An examination of art theory it is not; rather, the text functions more as a guide through the culture wars of the late 20th century to the rise of the smartphone, chronicling several historical and cultural events in which foundational elements of art have been coöpted by corporations to exercise influence, and subsequently, power. Thompson’s thesis – that culture has been weaponised – is on stark display, as he interrogates its manifest forms: advertising, public relations, gentrification, philanthropy, and social media.
Culture as Weapon is full of examples of how capitalistic and governmental forces manipulate culture to their own ends. Whether it’s in discussion of the simulacra of how one experiences the Apple Store, or General Petraeus’s use of Field Manual 3-24 in counterinsurgency operations in Iraq, or even the performative aspects of cause-related marketing in philanthropic endeavours, the criticisms are deeply resonant of what often works best in moulding public opinion.
One section that resonated with me lay in examination of the machines of fear Thompson advocates were in full effect following 9/11. I am old enough to remember that day and its responses, many of which were based in reactivity. In criticising these responses, he notes that “fear works…for all sides.” Further, he points out the importance of scale, clarifying that
“Culture in our time can be transmitted so quickly, so efficiently, and so widely that fear immediately became inescapable…permanent crisis was the dominant modality after 9/11…an ongoing state of emergency.” I found this true at the time, and by having experienced that kind of reactivity, have no illusions of how fear manifests in the politics of the present day.
4 stars. This text is a kind of radical polemic, yet its absence of any kind of chapter focussed upon solutions diminishes its overall viability as one. Indeed, Thompson takes the reader through a well-researched and convincing exposé of weaponised cultural components; however, the ending provides no prescription for countering it, other than various examples of how artistic communities from the 1960s forward found ways to exhibit their resistance. Still, a summation of the strategies artists might use to counter culture as a weapon was sorely lacking. Its inclusion would have benefitted both Thompson and the reader.
An examination of art theory it is not; rather, the text functions more as a guide through the culture wars of the late 20th century to the rise of the smartphone, chronicling several historical and cultural events in which foundational elements of art have been coöpted by corporations to exercise influence, and subsequently, power. Thompson’s thesis – that culture has been weaponised – is on stark display, as he interrogates its manifest forms: advertising, public relations, gentrification, philanthropy, and social media.
Culture as Weapon is full of examples of how capitalistic and governmental forces manipulate culture to their own ends. Whether it’s in discussion of the simulacra of how one experiences the Apple Store, or General Petraeus’s use of Field Manual 3-24 in counterinsurgency operations in Iraq, or even the performative aspects of cause-related marketing in philanthropic endeavours, the criticisms are deeply resonant of what often works best in moulding public opinion.
One section that resonated with me lay in examination of the machines of fear Thompson advocates were in full effect following 9/11. I am old enough to remember that day and its responses, many of which were based in reactivity. In criticising these responses, he notes that “fear works…for all sides.” Further, he points out the importance of scale, clarifying that
“Culture in our time can be transmitted so quickly, so efficiently, and so widely that fear immediately became inescapable…permanent crisis was the dominant modality after 9/11…an ongoing state of emergency.” I found this true at the time, and by having experienced that kind of reactivity, have no illusions of how fear manifests in the politics of the present day.
4 stars. This text is a kind of radical polemic, yet its absence of any kind of chapter focussed upon solutions diminishes its overall viability as one. Indeed, Thompson takes the reader through a well-researched and convincing exposé of weaponised cultural components; however, the ending provides no prescription for countering it, other than various examples of how artistic communities from the 1960s forward found ways to exhibit their resistance. Still, a summation of the strategies artists might use to counter culture as a weapon was sorely lacking. Its inclusion would have benefitted both Thompson and the reader.
December 25, 2020
When I first discovered this book, I expected it to be a sort of how-to manual for creating meaningful, positive change via art. It's really more of the opposite: a survey of all the ways in which forces of oppression and greed have harnessed creative techniques for their own ends.
If, like me, you've already read a lot about this sort of thing, via books like Captains Of Consciousness: Advertising And The Social Roots Of The Consumer Culture, The Conquest of Cool: Business Culture, Counterculture, and the Rise of Hip Consumerism, or the work of Theodor W. Adorno, or most of what The Baffler covers, then Nato Thompson's book is not a huge revelation, although there are some angles he examines that are new and interesting. And for those less familiar with the antecedents, this is a very competently written summary and introduction.
If, like me, you've already read a lot about this sort of thing, via books like Captains Of Consciousness: Advertising And The Social Roots Of The Consumer Culture, The Conquest of Cool: Business Culture, Counterculture, and the Rise of Hip Consumerism, or the work of Theodor W. Adorno, or most of what The Baffler covers, then Nato Thompson's book is not a huge revelation, although there are some angles he examines that are new and interesting. And for those less familiar with the antecedents, this is a very competently written summary and introduction.
March 30, 2024
I read this book for a course I’m taking and I honestly have nothing good to say about it. I don’t feel that it’s particularly well written or that it even follows a clear train of thought. It feels like a culmination of a bunch of different essays—all of which felt very forced. The “evidence” used to back the authors points is so… out there. I just felt like the information wasn’t related closely enough to prove many of his thoughts, and the ones that did make sense were like—duh! while reading I also noticed several typos which is an immediate turn off to me (as if the content wasn’t enough), along with a lot of repetitive language. I was also put off by the “conclusion” which I expected to somehow tie together all the far-fetched pieces of his book and it ended up only being a conclusion of the last two chapters. I guess he can’t find a way to make it make sense either. The only thing that got me through besides the class deadline was the little history stories added throughout the book in a sad attempt to back up his logic. I don’t think this book has any clear purpose or use to anyone. I don’t know who would consider reading this book by their own free will anyways, but if they were I would tell them not to waste their time.
Read
September 25, 2020It is an interesting book that critically assesses several aspects of modern culture under influence of the internet and capitalism. In some ways, it is prophetic of current (2020) media developments, especially in the USA. Yet it could have been better structured to deliver a clear message and to better reflect the title.
August 19, 2018
This books sucks and is boring. Read The Conquest of Cool instead by Thomas Frank.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
July 18, 2019
Excellent book, well worth the read. Put a number of things into a useful context for me.
February 3, 2020
Excellent !
July 2, 2020
Any book that mentions Mitzy McFate (in a negative light) automatically gets 4 stars.
Want to read
March 29, 2021Note: I accessed a digital review copy of this book through Edelweiss.
August 3, 2022
The book is a well-composed bird view of how culture works in our society.
July 10, 2023
I love this book, in fact i’ve read it more than once! I’ve never looked at the word the same way.
November 14, 2022
This was a school read so I don't have much to say. It has some pretty interesting topics but the writing is pretty meh. The topics are also such real-time constantly changing subjects so it's kind of impossible for this book to not be a bit outdated, even if it's relatively recent. It was also kind of exhausting to read.
April 29, 2022
This book taps right in the middle of my perceptions of art in recent years.
It is well researched, it inspires a lot of questions. I will be going back to my notes and rereading parts of that book. Strongly recommened.
It is well researched, it inspires a lot of questions. I will be going back to my notes and rereading parts of that book. Strongly recommened.
May 15, 2020
Not my type of book... read it for a class
May 3, 2018
Ajankohtainen esitys tavoista, joilla kulttuuria käytetään vallan välineenä. Lähtökohta on kiinnostavampi kuin lopputuotos mutta kirja antaa kyllä ajateltavaa niistä monista tavoista, joilla kulttuuri ympärillämme vaikuttaa yhteiskuntaan
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