How Innovation Happens Cultural Q & A with anthropologist Grant McCracken

About 15 years ago, Grant McCracken went to a mall to interview young people about their identity. He discovered that the old rigid categories of "intelligent", "Jock" and "nerd", was given a much longer list: There was surfer / skater boys, b-girls, goth, punk, rock, heavy metal and walk many different types of children. In books such as wealth, McCracken, the explosion of new forms of life and identity in North America and the developed world are cataloged in general. In hismost recent volume, last year's Chief Culture Office, McCracken argues that an understanding of how consumers play with their identities is key to making products that people want. His next book, Culturematic, will be published next year and examines how people create self-replicating cultural experiments that producers and audiences either dig or reject. One example: MTV's invention of reality television in 1992, just as the station's old programming model was beginning to flag. Out of a Moment of desperation grew predominant form of today's TV series. Trained in anthropology, born in Canada, the McCracken Research Affiliate at the Convergence Culture Consortium at MIT and a consultant fire, covering everything from his blog, academic research on the mysterious Gossip Girl plot lines. Reason.tv 's Nick Gillespie McCracken sat down with the line through, that in all his work there to speak. Edited by Jim Epstein, Epstein and directed by Anthony Fisher. About 8 minutes. ABasic ...