Getting Loose: Lifestyle Consumption in the 1970s

by Sam Binkley

From “getting loose” to “letting it all hang out,” the 1970s were filled with exhortations to free oneself from artificial restraints and to discover oneself in a more authentic and creative life. In the wake of the counterculture of the 1960s, anything that could be made to yield to a more impulsive vitality was reinvented in a looser way. Food became purer, clothing more revealing, sex more orgiastic, and home decor more rustic and authentic. Through a sociological analysis of the countercultural print culture of the 1970s, Sam Binkley investigates the dissemination of these self-loosening narratives and their widespread appeal to America’s middle class. He describes the rise of a genre of lifestyle publishing that emerged from a network of small offbeat presses, mostly located on the West Coast. Amateurish and rough in production quality, these popular books and magazines blended Eastern mysticism, Freudian psychology, environmental ecology, and romantic American pastoralism as they offered “expert” advice—about how to be more in touch with the natural world, how to release oneself into trusting relationships with others, and how to delve deeper into the body’s rhythms and natural sensuality. Binkley examines dozens of these publications, including the Whole Earth Catalog , Rainbook , the Catalog of Sexual Consciousness , Celery Wine , Domebook , and Getting Clear . Drawing on the thought of Pierre Bourdieu, Zygmunt Bauman, and others, Binkley explains how self-loosening narratives helped the middle class confront the modernity of the 1970s. As rapid social change and political upheaval eroded middle-class cultural authority, the looser life provided opportunities for self-reinvention through everyday lifestyle choice. He traces this ethos of self-realization through the “yuppie” 1980s to the 1990s and today, demonstrating that what originated as an emancipatory call to loosen up soon evolved into a culture of highly commercialized consumption and lifestyle branding.

Genres: History, Nonfiction

336 pages, Paperback

First published March 30, 2007

Reviews

[Chuck · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an excellent book. It provides a fascinating analysis of the lifestyle radicalism of the 1970s, a critical perspective on the apocalyptic radicalism of the 1960s, and a sense of a bridge between the opposition of 1960s and the present.

[Staci · Rating 3 out of 5]

I found Binkley's first few chapters to be an interesting framework for looking at popular American culture and the shifts in the 1970s - his synthesis was helpful and provided some useful references. The last few analyze very specific sources, in that limited-academic book way (useful as a tool if you're interested in that exact aspect on print culture).

Also - Chest hair is an indexed topic.

[Christopher Sutch · Rating 5 out of 5]

I reviewed this for the Journal of the American Studies Association of Texas. This is a very insightful examination of the shift in cultural logic of American everyday life from the 1960s to the 1980s. Contains some very interesting and etnertaining information.

[Cecilia Williford-reese · Rating 1 out of 5]

No.