Sarah Thornton

Sarah L. Thornton (born 1965) is a writer, ethnographer and

Sarah L. Thornton
sociologist of culture.[1] Thornton has authored three books and
many articles about artists, the art market, technology and design, Born 1965 (age 56–57)
the history of music technology, dance clubs, raves, cultural Academic background
hierarchies, subcultures,[2] and ethnographic research methods.
Alma Strathclyde University,
mater Glasgow
Academic work
Contents
Main Writing
Life and work interests Tech Culture
Club Cultures: Music, Media, and Subcultural Capital
Artists
Seven Days in the Art World
Silicon Valley
33 Artists in 3 Acts
Notable 7 Days in the Art World
Journalism works
Legal action 33 Artists in 3 Acts
Publications Club Cultures
Non-fiction
Website www.sarah-thornton.com
Edited books
(http://www.sarah-thornto
Book chapters
n.com)
References
External links

Life and work

Thornton was born in Canada. She lived in London, England, for 25 years. She now resides in San
Francisco, California.

Her education comprises a BA in the History of Art from Concordia University, Montreal, and a PhD in
the Sociology of Culture from Strathclyde University, Glasgow.[3]

Her academic posts have included a full-time lecturership at the University of Sussex, and a period as
Visiting Research Fellow[4] at Goldsmiths, University of London.

She worked as a brand planner in a London advertising agency.[5] She was the chief writer about
contemporary art for The Economist.[6] She has also written for publications including The Sunday Times
Magazine,[7] The Art Newspaper,[8] Artforum.com,[9] The New Yorker,[10] The Telegraph,[11] The
Guardian,[12] and The New Statesman.[13]

Club Cultures: Music, Media, and Subcultural Capital

In Club Cultures: Music, Media, and Subcultural Capital (1995), Thornton examines the shift from live to
recorded music for public dancing (from record shops to raves) and the resistance to recording technology's
enculturation of the "authentic," valued cultural form. The book also analyzes the dynamics of "hipness,"
critiquing Pierre Bourdieu's theory of cultural capital with her own formulation of "subcultural capital." The
study responds to earlier works such as Dick Hebdige's 1979 book Subculture: The Meaning of Style. It
does not see media as a reflection of social groups, but as integral to their formation.[14]

Contrary to youth subcultural ideologies, "subcultures" do not germinate from a seed and grow
by force of their own energy into mysterious ‘movements’ only to be belatedly digested by the
media. Rather, media and other culture industries are there and effective right from the start.
They are central to the process of subcultural formation.[14]

The book is described by Stuart Hall and Tony Jefferson as "theoretically innovative" and "conceptually
adventurous".[15]

Seven Days in the Art World

The New York Times' Karen Rosenberg said that Seven Days in the Art World (2008) "was reported and
written in a heated market, but it is poised to endure as a work of sociology...[Thornton] pushes her well-
chosen subjects to explore the questions ‘What is an artist?’ and ‘What makes a work of art great?’"[16]

In the UK, Ben Lewis wrote in The Sunday Times that Seven Days was "a Robert Altmanesque panorama
of...the most important cultural phenomenon of the last ten years".[17] While Peter Aspden argued in the
Financial Times that "[Thornton] does well to resist the temptation to draw any glib, overarching
conclusions. There is more than enough in her rigorous, precise reportage… for the reader to make his or
her own connections."[18]

András Szántó reviewed Seven Days in the Art World: "Underneath [the book's] glossy surface lurks a
sociologist's concern for institutional narratives as well as the ethnographer's conviction that entire social
structures can be apprehended in seemingly frivolous patterns of speech or dress."[19]

33 Artists in 3 Acts
Thornton's book 33 Artists in 3 Acts (2014) looks at the lives and work of figures "from all over the art
ecosystem, from the market-driven mogul (Jeff Koons) to the profoundly intellectual performance artist
(UCLA professor Andrea Fraser) to the impish prankster (Italian conceptual artist Maurizio Cattelan.)"[20]
The central question guiding the book is: What defines an artist in the 21st century? Thornton received "a
range of answers that will startle even art-world insiders."[21] Jackie Wullshlager of the Financial Times
opined that Thornton is "skillfully nuanced" and "elevates gossip to sociology, writing with verve, insight
and authenticity."[22]

33 Artists in 3 Acts received praise for its academic approach and "attention to detail and illustration of
subtleties that bring her interviewees to life.... [Thornton's] flair for creating clear structures offer readers
manageable points of access... without ever compromising on quality or content, or sounding
pretentious."[23]

Journalism
At The Economist, Thornton penned investigative and analytical articles about the inner workings of the
contemporary art market. Topics included the value of art, the role of museum validation and branding, and
the impact of gender on auction prices.[24][25][26][27] In 2010, she wrote an article about the Damien Hirst
auction, "Beautiful Inside My Head Forever", which took place on the evening that Lehman Brothers went
bankrupt in 2008. The article explained how the auction was so successful.[28]

Thornton's later articles have focused on the tech world of Silicon Valley. For Cultured Magazine, she has
published profiles of tech leaders including Mike Krieger (Instagram co-founder),[29] Evan Williams
(Twitter co-founder),[30] and Ivy Ross (Head of Design for Google Hardware).[31]

Legal action
On 26 July 2011, Thornton won a historic libel and malicious falsehood victory against Lynn Barber and
The Daily Telegraph.[32] All three of the Telegraph′s attempts to appeal were denied.[33]

Publications

Non-fiction
Thornton, Sarah (1995). Club Cultures: Music, Media, and Subcultural Capital. Wesleyan.
ISBN 978-0819562975.
Thornton, Sarah (2008). Seven Days in the Art World (https://archive.org/details/sevendaysi
nartwo00thor). W. W. Norton & Company. ISBN 978-0393337129.
Thornton, Sarah (2014). 33 Artists in 3 Acts (https://archive.org/details/33artistsin3acts0000t
hor). W. W. Norton & Company. ISBN 978-0393351675.

Edited books
Thornton, Sarah; Gelder, Ken (1997). The Subcultures Reader. London, New York:
Routledge. ISBN 9780415127288.

Book chapters
Thornton, Sarah L.; McRobbie, Angela (2000) [1991], "Rethinking 'moral panic' for multi-
mediated social worlds", in McRobbie, Angela (ed.), Feminism and youth culture (2nd ed.),
Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire: Macmillan Publishers, pp. 180–197,
ISBN 9780333770320

Also as: Thornton, Sarah L.; McRobbie, Angela (December 1995). "Rethinking
'moral panic' for multi-mediated social worlds". British Journal of Sociology. 46 (4):
559–574. doi:10.2307/591571 (https://doi.org/10.2307%2F591571). JSTOR 591571
(https://www.jstor.org/stable/591571).

References
1. 'Website of Sarah Thornton' (http://sarah-thornton.com/). Retrieved 28 June 2009
2. Thornton, Sarah (1997). "VIAF ID" (https://viaf.org/viaf/2584845/). Virtual International
Authority File. Retrieved 15 August 2018.
 3. McGlone, Jackie (30 September 2008). "Sarah Thornton – Swimming in shark infested
waters" (http://thescotsman.scotsman.com/features/Sarah-Thornton--Swimming-in.4539670.j
p). The Scotsman. Retrieved 28 June 2009.
4. "Sarah Thornton | Writer and Sociologist of Culture" (https://sarah-thornton.com/). sarah-
thornton.com. Retrieved 4 October 2021.
5. Thornton, Sarah (19 November 1999). "Advertisements are good for you" (http://www.timeshi
ghereducation.co.uk/story.asp?storyCode=157402&sectioncode=9). Times Higher
Education   Business & management. Retrieved 23 November 2014.
6. "Books by Economist writers in 2009: What we wrote" (http://www.economist.com/node/1500
9707). The Economist. Retrieved 23 November 2014. "Seven Days in the Art World. By
Sarah Thornton. Norton; 287 pages; $15.95. Granta; £8.99 How artists become collectable
and who rules the art world, by our chief writer on contemporary art."
7. Thornton, Sarah (4 October 2009). "Selling art by the shedload" (http://entertainment.timeson
line.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/visual_arts/article6857843.ece). The Sunday Times
Magazine. Times Newspapers Limited. pp. 48–53. Retrieved 23 November 2014. "His
pickled sharks and pill cabinets made him rich and famous. Now he's shelved them and
reinvented himself as a serious painter. And it seems Damien Hirst has struck oil all over
again."
8. Thornton, Sarah (23 October 2008). "In and out of love with Damien Hirst" (http://www.theart
newspaper.com/articles/In%20and%20out%20of%20love%20with%20Damien%20Hirst/162
69). The Art Newspaper. No. 195. Retrieved 23 November 2014. "Making sense of spots,
sharks, pills, fish and butterflies."
9. Thornton, Sarah (5 November 2006). "Love and money" (http://www.artforum.com/diary/id=1
0968). Artforum. Retrieved 23 November 2014.
10. Thornton, Sarah (19 March 2007). "Letter from London: reality art show" (http://www.newyork
er.com/magazine/2007/03/19/reality-art-show). The New Yorker. Retrieved 28 June 2009.
"The national obsession with the Turner Prize."
11. Thornton, Sarah (3 October 2008). "Is art the new gold?" (https://web.archive.org/web/20081
008013324/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/arts/main.jhtml?xml=/arts/2008/10/03/basarah.xml).
The Daily Telegraph. Archived from the original (https://www.telegraph.co.uk/arts/main.jhtm
l?xml=/arts/2008/10/03/basarah.xml) on 8 October 2008. Retrieved 28 June 2009.
12. Thornton, Sarah (5 February 2012). "The art of recession-dodging" (https://www.theguardia
n.com/commentisfree/2012/feb/05/art-recession-dodging-super-rich?INTCMP=SRCH). The
Guardian. Retrieved 23 November 2014.
13. Thornton, Sarah (23 October 2008). "Bye-bye to bling for billionaires" (http://www.newstates
man.com/arts-and-culture/2008/10/art-market-works-prices). New Statesman. Retrieved
28 June 2009. "Art sales have been inflated by super-rich collectors who didn't know what to
do with their money."
14. Thornton, Sarah (1995). Club cultures: music, media and subcultural capital. Cambridge,
UK: Polity Press. p. 117. ISBN 9780745614434.
15. Hall, Stuart; Jefferson, Tony (2006) [1975], "Introduction", in Hall, Stuart; Jefferson, Tony
(eds.), Resistance through rituals: youth subcultures in post-war Britain (2nd ed.), New York
City Oxford, UK: Routledge, pp. xix–xx, OCLC 489757261 (https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/48
9757261) ISBN 9781134346530.
16. Rosenberg, Karen (28 November 2008). "Words worth a thousand paintings" (https://www.n
ytimes.com/2008/11/28/books/28artbw.html?_r=3&pagewanted=all). The New York Times 
Holiday Gift Guide. Retrieved 23 November 2014.
17. Lewis, Ben (5 October 2008). "Seven days in the art world by Sarah Thornton (book review)"
(http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/books/book_reviews/articl
e4875086.ece). The Sunday Times. Times Newspapers Limited. Retrieved 23 November
2014.
18. Aspden, Peter (8 November 2008). "Smoke and mirrors (book review)" (https://www.ft.com/c
ms/s/0/b0dcc3a6-ad35-11dd-971e-000077b07658.html). Financial Times. Retrieved
23 November 2014.
19. Szántó, András (29 October 2008). "Message in a bottle (book review)" (http://www.artworlds
alon.com/blog/2008/10/message-in-a-bottle/). ArtWorld Salon. Retrieved 28 June 2009.
20. " '33 Artists' paints behind-the-scene picture of the art world" (http://www.latimes.com/books/j
acketcopy/la-ca-jc-sarah-thornton-20141123-story.html). Los Angeles Times. Retrieved
8 June 2016.
21. "Sarah Thornton: The Art World Inside Out" (http://www.sfgate.com/art/article/Sarah-Thornto
n-The-Art-World-Inside-Out-5922813.php). San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved 8 June
2016.
22. Wullschlager, Jackie (3 October 2014). "The meaning of contemporary art" (https://www.ft.co
m/intl/cms/s/a696634c-47bd-11e4-be7b-00144feab7de,Authorised=false.html?siteedition=in
tl&_i_location=http%253A%252F%252Fwww.ft.com%252Fcms%252Fs%252F0%252Fa69
6634c-47bd-11e4-be7b-00144feab7de.html%253Fsiteedition%253Dintl&_i_referer=http%2
53A%252F%252Fsearch.ft.com%252Fsearch%253FqueryText%253D33%252BArtists%25
2Bin%252B3%252BActs&classification=conditional_standard&iab=barrier-app). Financial
Times. ISSN 0307-1766 (https://www.worldcat.org/issn/0307-1766). Retrieved 8 June 2016.
23. "Sarah Thornton, the Pulse Taker – Canadian Art" (http://canadianart.ca/features/sarah-thorn
ton-the-pulse-taker/). Canadian Art. Retrieved 8 June 2016.
24. "Bubbly Basel" (https://www.economist.com/blogs/prospero/2011/06/contemporary-art-mark
et). The Economist. ISSN 0013-0613 (https://www.worldcat.org/issn/0013-0613). Retrieved
8 June 2016.
25. "No man's land" (https://www.economist.com/news/books-and-arts/21679779-renowned-priv
ate-collection-celebrates-women-artists-no-mans-land). The Economist. ISSN 0013-0613 (ht
tps://www.worldcat.org/issn/0013-0613). Retrieved 8 June 2016.
26. "The name game" (http://www.economist.com/node/15659860). The Economist. ISSN 0013-
0613 (https://www.worldcat.org/issn/0013-0613). Retrieved 8 June 2016.
27. "Going public" (https://www.economist.com/news/books-and-arts/21697807-biggest-contem
porary-art-museum-america-will-be-unveiled-next-month-building-it). The Economist.
ISSN 0013-0613 (https://www.worldcat.org/issn/0013-0613). Retrieved 8 June 2016.
28. "Hands up for Hirst" (http://www.economist.com/node/16990811). The Economist.
ISSN 0013-0613 (https://www.worldcat.org/issn/0013-0613). Retrieved 8 June 2016.
29. "Cultured Magazine – February/March 2016" (https://www.culturedmag.com/mike-krieger-ins
tagram/). cultureddigital.com. Retrieved 8 June 2016.
30. "Twitter Co-Founder Evan Williams Makes Room for a Bigger Conversation with Medium |
Cultured Magazine" (https://www.culturedmag.com/twitter-evan-williams/). Cultured
Magazine. 20 February 2018. Retrieved 15 August 2018.
31. "Google Hardware Engineer Ivy Ross Discusses Intuition and Beauty" (https://www.cultured
mag.com/ivy-ross-google-hardware/). Cultured Magazine. 23 June 2017. Retrieved
15 August 2018.
32. Media Lawyer, PA (26 July 2011). "Telegraph in £65k payout over 'spiteful' Barber review" (h
ttps://www.pressgazette.co.uk/telegraph-in-65k-payout-over-spiteful-barber-review/). Press
Gazette. Progressive Media International. Retrieved 23 November 2014.
33. Media Lawyer, PA (24 February 2012). "Telegraph refused appeal over Lynn Barber review
libel" (https://web.archive.org/web/20141023202543/http://www.pressgazette.co.uk/node/48
824). Press Gazette. Progressive Media International. Archived from the original (http://www.
pressgazette.co.uk/node/48824) on 23 October 2014. Retrieved 23 November 2014.

External links
Official website (http://www.sarah-thornton.com)
The New Yorker, "Reality Art Show", by Sarah Thornton (http://www.newyorker.com/reportin
g/2007/03/19/070319fa_fact_thornton) 19 March 2007

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