What is running culture?
Running has never been more popular, but some are questioning what exactly running culture is, and where we go from this moment.
What is Running Culture?
I see people talking about ‘running culture’ or ‘run culture’ all the time. Sometimes it’s in a hashtag (which don’t work on Instagram any more, FYI), but other times it’s in relation to the growth of the subculture of running within popular culture.
After the record-breaking London Marathon where there were more discussion panels, more shakeout runs, and more brand presence in general, I saw a couple of big IG accounts talking about running culture peaking. The implication is that it’s all downhill from here. The decline of Western running civilization. I personally don’t see that happening, but I can predict the future as well as they can.
My issue was that the whole conversation was centered around consumerism when there were runners — both running and cheering — than ever before. My kneejerk response was:
CAPITALISM IS NOT CULTURE.
It’s a handy soundbite, and while there’s truth running through it, saying what culture is not, isn’t actually very constructive. So what is running culture?
Defining Culture
Let’s start by defining culture itself. With my experience of having studied cultural geographies at university for far too long, we can go vaguely academic with this one.
There are two types of culture:
Material culture - this considers how physical objects are used and consumed in relation to culture and communities.
Symbolic culture - this is about the customs, social institutions, belief systems, and values of a group of people that distinguish it from others.
Basically, culture is how people interact with the world.
