Culture Capital and Brixton
How has Brixton created a unique 'culture capital' that many businesses and investors benefit from today? Is it possible to protect its authenticity? How can we build on it? The conflict of culture - who protects, who builds and who exploits? What could we do to mitigate potential tensions arising from feelings of shared ownership of something intangible?
How is culture expressed?
Culture is a system that expresses the value of a group of people; their beliefs, their norms, their social practices, traditions and more. A group's culture is expressed through music, dance, art, designs, names, symbolism, ceremonies, architecture, handicrafts and narratives. These practices are always authentically created and hold intrinsic value to the originators.
Extrinsic value is created when these expressions of culture transcend their originators.
In the early 2000s, kids in middle America started wearing their jeans low, a culture set by ex-prisoners wearing their jeans low because they weren't allowed belts while incarcerated. The recent obsession with big hips and big butts on women in mainstream fashion was inspired by the culture of African dancers accentuating the size of their hips and buttocks during cultural dances. Many western teenagers are now imitating east Asian culture from their experiences with online games, anime, k-pop routines and social media memes. Once people start to imitate these norms and behaviours, the cultural value system increases in demand, and more people start replicating them. Individuals begin using these cultural symbols to represent their beliefs and social status, shifting the culture from an intrinsic to an extrinsic economic value for consumers.
These expressions turn into capital.
Business owners and brand experts recognise the value created through imitating these cultural expressions by a growing audience, and can leverage this cultural value as capital. In the same way, they can leverage financial capital to grow; they can leverage this capital to grow by driving a brand preference to market their ideas. Investors do this by promising their customers a taste or association with that culture through their products and services.
Throughout history, different cultural values have been created and leveraged as capital. We believe in champagne from the Champagne region, quality Irish whisky, Swiss watches, American-made, German efficiency, fashionable Hoxton and Cool Brixton.
Consider the British company Diageo - one of the biggest drinks companies in the world which own Malibu, which leverages the Caribbean culture, Smirnoff vodka, which is based on Russian culture, Hose Cuervo tequila and Irish Guinness.
(History of Brixton)
Brixton’s Culture Capital
Brixton is now one of the most prominent destinations in the UK and has the UK's busiest nightlife; Brixton tube station is the second busiest station in London and is recognised as one of London's coolest places to visit by many tourists. Undoubtedly, Brixton has cemented itself as the heartbeat of London's culture of diversity.
From the colourful, spicy foods in the market to Reggae music, Brixton became a place that belonged to the Caribbean community and other migrants whose shared experiences have laid the foundation for this new cultural identity.
The Brixton riots of the 1980s made Brixton synonymous with the struggle against overt oppression ….to the point that Brixton started being namechecked by hip-hop artists from the US.
Brixton stands for something - a new set of shared interpretations about beliefs, values, norms and social practices which affect behaviours; it has to be from a place of authenticity. Perhaps that comes from being marginalised by mainstream culture to the point where you are left with what is real to you, a feeling, a vibe, and it's true to you, so you live it proudly. Is authenticity the first ingredient of culture and creating culture capital?
More than fifty businesses now use the word Brixton as part of their products and services identity; even organisations with no authentic connection to Brixton's cultural history borrow or "exploit" the cultural capital created by its originators to market their services.
So how did Brixton create this cultural capital that the world wants to buy, borrow, and sometimes steal?
Old Brixton Vs New Brixton
Over the past 20 years, Brixton has been through regeneration and gentrification, and seen many new brands and businesses moving into the area to build their businesses.
This migration often caused tension between new Brixtonians and “old”(original) Brixtonians. Of course, no real date separates the two groups, but generally, those who have been in Brixton for a long time consider businesses and individuals that have recently moved in as "New Brixtonians", who are here to leverage its cultural capital and often do not contribute to it.
New Brixton is often considered white, middle class, and coming in to build businesses that serve outsiders rather than serving the existing community; they tend to offer goods and services that are marketed at a pricepoint out of reach for Old Brixtonians, whilst simultaneously reflecting their own culture back at them. There is a general belief that the new Brixton exploits the cultural capital that old Brixton has built.
Excuse the pun, but is it this black and white? Are old Brixtonians responsible for creating this capital, and is new Brixton responsible for exploiting it? Besides the challenge of determining who even belongs to new or old Brixton, there is the challenge of determining who is using the capital and whose contributions are building it.
Without careful consideration, most old Brixtonians might miss the cultural significance of a brand like Brixton Brewery, founded by two local couples who wanted to put Brixton on the map for great beer. They founded and brewed an easy-drinking beer inspired by the electric neighbourhood they call home. I had the chance to spend some time with their founder, @mrbrixton, while on a cultural trip to Harlem, when I discovered his genuine love for Brixton. We both agreed we would both live in Brixton forever if we could. We love Brixton so much; our IG handles are @Geraldbrixton and @mrbrixton. Brixton Brewery has made and sold hundreds of thousands of beers to people who would have heard of Brixton for the first time. There is no doubt that Brixton Brewery has benefited from the vibrant, colourful culture of Brixton, and there is also no doubt that its authenticity, creativity and commitment to Brixton have contributed significantly to the creation of its cultural capital.
I believe this is not black and white. Perhaps all businesses leveraging the culture capital will raise the profile of Brixton somehow since more people become aware of the place, its people and its values. The issue is the balance of exploitation and contribution.
In the early 2000s, when no one wanted to be in Brixton, you could argue restaurants, such as The Lounge and Satay bar, which opened and stayed in Brixton ever since, have added more to the capital than new businesses moving into Brixton and benefiting from what's already been created.
Businesses, in the beginning, were more authentic to the cultural values(rarely signaling it). In contrast, companies selling products and services without a direct connection with Brixton often struggle to connect with the locals, often with lots of tension between these groups.
This got me thinking, if businesses intentionally enter into a location and piggyback off a culture that has been built around culture, creativity, adversity or even struggles, then surely it is fair to suggest that they make some form of contribution to this culture. How can they help us elevate it….could they contribute to a culture tax. A culture tax could be a monetary contribution that supports cultural growth or direct support for community and youth groups. The money could go towards employment initiatives, poverty, entrepreneurship and many more schemes. Could we welcome businesses to appreciate our culture, values, and capital as a huge opportunity to continue building our culture capital in new ways?
I am aware this may be a romantic idea, but why not dream of a world where we could both recognise communities building culture while celebrating and asking the businesses who want to leverage it to contribute to the growth of the capital.
I wonder how you feel about cultural capital; this is a community issue, so please share and contribute so I can improve my own thinking.