Weak Sauce: Authenticity, Selling Out, and the Skateboard Industry: A Study in Community Resiliency

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

1-1-2024

Abstract

That market-based institutions have a disruptive effect on the community is well-known by advocates and detractors. Studies have shown that a stable sense of community positively affects human well-being, growth, and economic stability. Using a combination of textual and ethnographic analysis, we examine the churn of skateboard companies over the last fifty years. We argue that the skateboard industry is a useful case study to understand the institutions that foster community resiliency—for both good and ill. This work contributes to the literature in two ways: first, by demonstrating the relationship between intangible firm value and community, and second, by bridging the gap between economic and the sociological literature on authenticity.

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