We've updated this SEED to include highlights from our recent FORUM with Ruby Justice Thelot, Daisy Alioto and Charlie Robin Jones — there's also a link to the recording below.
Just so we're all clear, "gatekeeping" is the act of controlling or limiting access to something valuable, whether that’s information, opportunities, resources or cultural spaces. The social psychologist Kurt Lewin first defined gatekeeping theory way back in 1943. And, until relatively recently, “gatekeeping” was most often used derogatorily, especially in fashion.
“Fashion has always been the great illusion maker. It ostensibly champions democratisation while trading on exclusivity. It nods enthusiastically to demands for inclusivity with token gestures. Fashion gatekeepers keep the gates tightly shut, promulgating the you-can’t-sit-with-us mindset. It does its best to maintain the status quo.”
Now, though, we find ourselves living in the age of discoverability. Largely thanks to the internet, we have the ability to bypass elitist institutional gatekeepers such as Anna Wintour to figure out what we like for ourselves, engaging with culture on our own terms. And, sticking with fashion for a second, there are even young content creators like William Lasry making “no more gatekeeping” their entire motto.
I think there is a crisis of bad taste right now. Maybe this is what happens when there is a lack of culture gatekeepers.
No one likes gatekeepers but at least they have society a frame of reference.
But living in the age of discoverability has introduced its own set of problems. Discoverability has largely been facilitated by big tech and, by extension, their recommendation algorithms. Over the past decade, tech platforms have come to dictate taste at scale, flattening culture by algorithmic means. Instead of helping us discover new niches, the algorithm feeds us things that are already popular. The result of this is blanding, the age of average, or whatever you want to call it; cultural midocracy where everything looks the same, from our interiors and cafes to the cars that we drive. (For an excellent essay in the New Yorker covering this topic, read here.)
In the past few years, the way we use the word “gatekeeping” has been changing – used most frequently when referring to keeping insider information to yourself instead of throwing it online; in the face of endless algorithmic recommendations, to express the decision not to recommend.
Emerging out of this sea of sameness is what is being increasingly referred to as the “taste economy”. The core premise is that, for at least the past 10 years, taste couldn’t be monetised. But moving forwards, taste will be monetised. The idea that human generated, nuanced, expert word-of-mouth recommendations will provide a much needed antidote to the algorithm. Brands that cultivate taste and build worlds through curation such as Perfectly Imperfect will win in this new paradigm.
As such, gatekeeping brings with it a whole new meaning these days. We wanted to interrogate what it means to different people in a recent FORUM we hosted with:
Ruby Justice Thelot, an interdisciplinary artist and technologist exploring trends, fashion and digital culture;
Daisy Alioto, writer and CEO of Dirt Media, an online platform covering entertainment and digital culture;
