The City of Auburn was declared one of the top United States cities for hipsters by a survey taken by FindTheHome.com and shared on CBSNews.com.
The survey is based off of the number of residents from age 20-34, the percent who have bachelor degrees and the number of cafés and yoga studios.
Auburn placed eighth in the ranking, passing Seattle, San Francisco and Santa Monica, California.
Many were surprised to see Auburn make the list at all.
Brandon Gilbert, junior in professional and public writing, said people have to spend some time in the town to figure out what it’s really like.
“When I first took my visit here, I thought it was a pretty hipster place,” Gilbert said. “I saw trees and a bunch of little coffee shops and little quaint stores, so I was like, ‘This is a pretty quiet, little place.’ But, now that I’ve been a student here for a couple of years, I’ve realized it’s not as hipster as I thought.”
Kristen Janikowsky, freshman in civil engineering, said there is a hipster culture in Auburn, but it is not the largest category of people.
“I’m actually surprised to hear we’re in the top 20,” Janikowsky said.
Janikowsky also said hipsters can be found at coffee shops and cafés as the article suggests, and said this culture is expanding.
“There’s definitely a culture,” Janikowsky said. “I think you see it more a Wake Up and Mama Mocha’s and stuff, and it’s getting bigger and bigger.”
Sociology professor Allen Furr defined what a hipster is from a sociological standpoint.
“Hipster is a contemporary form of disenchantment with mainstream culture,” Furr said. “It’s a counterculture, but not as strong as hippies or bohemians. They don’t fully reject society, they reject what’s popular in society.”
Furr also commented on why hipsters will never refer to themselves as hipsters.
“It’s because they don’t want to be conformists,” Furr said. “So, if you call them a hipster, that’s saying that they have conformed to this other image. To call them a hipster is really just to say that they’re conforming to a different package.”
Abigail Maddox, senior in human development and family studies, said she agreed with Furr.
“I would think it’s because hipsters are kind of against mainstream, and so to call themselves hipsters would go with the mainstream, so they don’t really want to be called hipsters because it’s what the norm is,” Maddox said.
According to Furr, people are surprised to hear about the number of hipsters in Auburn because it is not the primary group residents of Auburn focus on.
“I think we have more than we think we have,” Furr said. “I think there is a lot of people here who do lean towards the hipster lifestyle. I think we probably do have more because we have all these yoga studios and coffee shops. We have a large non-hipster population, but if you look past them, you will see who everybody else is, and a lot of them are hipsters. I think it’s a quiet thing.”
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