What exactly is lifestylism and why is it so bad?

[aziraphale]

I can;t seem to get a clear explanation of it and hwy it is such a negative thing.

[ContrarianLemming]

see here http://www.revleft.com/vb/we-anarchists-have-t126305/index.html?t=126305

[Vendetta]

It's focusing on how somebody lives their life instead of how they view class struggle, more or less.

[aziraphale]

Thank you. :) That clarified things a bit

[Tablo]

They really aren't a big deal. They just confuse the poorly informed into thinking Anarchism is about eating out of dumpsters.

[bcbm]

I can;t seem to get a clear explanation of it and hwy it is such a negative thing.

its a term made up by social anarchists to deride people who disagree with them, or to be used as a scapegoat for the weakness of the anarchist movement (see link in previous post).

[Tablo]

its a term made up by social anarchists to deride people who disagree with them, or to be used as a scapegoat for the weakness of the anarchist movement (see link in previous post).
>> I don't use it to identify the primmies or the mutualists that I disagree with. The only people I call lifestylists are actual lifestylists with no understanding of Anarchist tradition.

[Glenn Beck]

Lifestylism is a trend largely correlated with the cultural turn taken by radical left politics in the West during the post WW2 period as a reaction to the introspective and individualistic social developments of the time, the rise of mass consumer culture, and the decline of labor struggles. It consists in a preoccupation with adjustments in individual thought and behavior and in general with subjective forms of resistance, typically to the exclusion of any general or systematic political program. It's often associated with subcultures and the valorization of social nonconformism.

It is bad because it is stupid.

[Invincible Summer]

its a term made up by social anarchists to deride people who disagree with them, or to be used as a scapegoat for the weakness of the anarchist movement (see link in previous post).

While this can be true in some cases, I'd argue that most of the time, it's directed at people who actually care more about the "lifestyle" and "image" of anarchism than the political ramifications.

[bcbm]

While this can be true in some cases, I'd argue that most of the time, it's directed at people who actually care more about the "lifestyle" and "image" of anarchism than the political ramifications.

this would be the second use i suggested.

[Sir Comradical]

Buying into it means you have to engage in meaningless discussions with morons as to why you bought a pair of Levis - "ohh look, you're wearing Levis! Isn't that like capitalist? Omgz". Marxists, as far as I know, don't buy into lifestyle politics because we're not against the products created by bourgeois society but rather the way in which these products are produced. There's nothing MORE capitalist about buying designer label clothing because ALL clothing is made according to the capitalist mode of production. A good example - slavery abolitionists most likely wore garments made by slaves, does that make them hypocrites? No.

[which doctor]

The problem isn't lifestylism per se, but rather when these personal behaviors pose as political statements. Only in the absence of an actual leftist politics that challenges capitalism, could anything like 'lifestylism' even exist at a political level. Undoubtedly, lifestylism is also one of the most ghettoized political subcultures, since crusty people only hang with other crusty people, so it's a pretty irrelevant milieu.

[HEAD ICE]

Lifestylism is the belief that you can change an individual aspect of your life and it will affect social change. This is rejected because social problems can only have social solutions.

[Invincible Summer]

this would be the second use i suggested.

Well that's not quite what I intended. I think it's possible for one to criticize another for being a lifetsylist without scapegoating the other for weakening the anarchist movement.

I guess there can be different levels of criticism, the one I'm referring to being a more personal level.

[Alaric]

Lifestylism is the internalization of political thought, a reactionary ideaology in which one tries to avoid confrontation with the existing political establishment by living on its fringes. Sadly, it's really bad in anarchism. Getting involved with large scale organizing is, in all fairness, intimidating. I can't claim to have done anything to advance class struggle. But lifestylists reject the whole concept of class struggle and violent overthrow of the system, instead concerning themselves with a personal liberation that is only possible as a consequence of capitalist excess, lurking off to the side of industry and feeding off the crumbs.

While they are often pleasant people, they're a dead end. We need more enraged anti-WTO anarcho-communists smashing windows and trying to get people mad, not more crust punks chewing on old pizza out of a trashcan congratulating themselves on sticking it to the man.

[elf]

Lifestylism is the belief that you can change an individual aspect of your life and it will affect social change. This is rejected because social problems can only have social solutions. Umm... Really? What if a whole bunch of people boycott a company, that's individual action yes? And yet boycotts have demonstratively worked in some cases. Because, you know, mass individual action can be a "social solution". The belief that individual action cannot change the world is a fallacy. It is also true that the only individual action that can truly change the world is organised and on a mass scale. Such things can just as easily get called "lifestylism" I guess.

[HEAD ICE]

Umm... Really? What if a whole bunch of people boycott a company, that's individual action yes? And yet boycotts have demonstratively worked in some cases. Because, you know, mass individual action can be a "social solution". The belief that individual action cannot change the world is a fallacy. It is also true that the only individual action that can truly change the world is organised and on a mass scale. Such things can just as easily get called "lifestylism" I guess.

A bunch of people boycotting a company is a social action and the only boycotts that I can think of that have ever worked have been concerted actions. However still, boycotts do nothing to overthrow capitalism. Lifestylists believe that they can live outside of capitalism due to how they live their life - an impossibility.