It’s an interesting question: what is coolness?

这个问题很有趣：什么是酷？

And it’s sort impossible to define, but sociologists have tried.

这个基本没法定义 不过社会学家试过

And their definition I think is really useful.

我觉得他们的定义很有用

Their definition is that coolness is a measured positive rebellion against an illegitimate mainstream.

他们的定义是 酷是指对不合理主流的适当积极反抗

And thinking of that all in one big pile is a little bit complicated, but when you disentangle it it makes a lot of sense.

从整体上思考这一点会比较复杂 但如果你把它分解开来 就说得通了

It is a measured small rebellion—a little difference or distinction—from a mainstream that is considered illegitimate or bad.

它是适当的小反抗——与不合理和坏的主流有少许不同或区别

Coolness is a response to a mainstream.

酷是对主流的回应

It is in many ways very similar to the sociological definition of a cult.

这在很多方面与社会学家对狂热的定义很相似

A cult is also a measured rebellion to a mainstream that is considered illegitimate.

狂热也是对不合理主流的适当反抗

Maybe the best way to think about this definition is to think about it through the lens of dress codes for high schools.

或许理解这个定义的最佳方式就是从高中着装规范的角度去思考

Lots of high schoolers, when they attend a school that has a dress code,

很多高中生 在有着装规范的学校上学时

they try to break from that code, but only in ways that are measured and positive.

他们会试图违反这些规范 但是只会以适当积极的方式去违反

So if the dress code says you have to wear a coat with a tie and a buttoned-up shirt,

如果着装规范规定 你必须得穿外套 系领带 穿上扣好扣子的衬衣

maybe they’ll undo the tie a bit or wear a hat or undo their buttoned up shirt,

或许他们会稍微解开点领带 或者戴个帽子 或者不扣衬衣扣子

they’ll have measured rebellions to that illegitimate mainstream.

他们会适当地违反那个不合理主流

But it’s not cool to go to school naked.

但是裸身去上学可就不好了

It’s not cool to go to school dressed like some sort of weird superhero for Tuesday.

周二打扮成奇怪的超级英雄去上学也不叫酷

That’s not a measured rebellion, that is outright rebellion, and that is not considered “cool”.

那不是适当反抗 而是彻底反抗 那可不叫“酷”

So you need a measured rebellion, number one, but number two,

所以第一 你需要适当反抗 但第二

the mainstream has to be considered illegitimate in the first place in order for the action to be considered cool.

主流一开始必须被认为是不合理的 只有这样 行为才会被认定为酷

So in one study these researchers did something really clever:

在一项研究中 研究人员做了一件很聪明的事：

they told a bunch of students who were departing from the mainstream dress code in various ways,

他们告诉一帮以各种方式违反主流着装规范的学生

they told them the dress code was initiated to honor a high school graduate who had died overseas in a war.

他们告诉学生 之所以有这样的着装规范 是为了纪念一名在海外战争中去世的高中毕业生

Now, suddenly that dress code wasn’t illegitimate.

突然间 这些着装规范就名正言顺了

It was a completely legitimate way for people to honor a fallen soldier, and fewer students considered departing from that dress code to be “cool”.

它是纪念牺牲士兵完全合理的方式 再也没有那么多学生觉得违反着装规范很“酷”了

So it’s very important to think, when defining coolness, that you need two parts:

所以定义酷时 有两个很重要的部分需要考虑：

first you need a mainstream that is considered bad—people need to agree that the mainstream is bad—

首先你需要一个坏主流——人们得同意这是不好的主流——

and two, you need the rebellion to be positive and measured.

第二 对主流的反抗得是积极适当的

It can’t be crazy. It can’t be insane.

不能是疯狂神经的

And when you have those two things together you have cool.

具备这两个要素以后 你就很酷了

The difference between that which we consider cool and that which we consider cultish—

我们认为酷和狂热之间的区别——

because they’re relatively similar things they’re both departing from a mainstream—is essentially degree.

因为这两者比较相似 它们都是对主流的偏离——其实就在于程度

Cults are all designed around this idea that most human beings or most people in society “don’t get you” or they don’t get this important thing:

狂热的核心观点是 社会中的多数人或人类“不理解你”或者他们不明白这件重要的事：

They’re not religious enough; they’re not thoughtful enough, they’re not environmental enough; that has to be sort of the first principle of that cult.

他们不够虔诚；他们不够体贴 不够环保；这必须得是狂热的首要原则

But we reserve the word cult for essentially groups that are too far away from the mainstream to be considered a measured rebellion from it.

但我们会把狂热这个词留给偏离主流太远、并不是对主流的适当反抗这样的人

And so I think that’s exactly the right way to think about coolness versus cultishness,

这才是认识酷和狂热的正确方式

is that we’re all part of cults, we all disagree with some aspect of mainstream social or political thought.

我们都有狂热这一部分 我们都不认可主流社会或政治思想的某些方面

But whether or not other people consider us cool or cultish essentially depends

但别人认为我们是酷还是狂热 主要取决于

on whether they think that we are departing from that mainstream in a way that is measured and positive.

他们觉得我们对主流的偏离是否是适当积极的