SoulCycle & Mistaking Exclusivity for Community (Cafe Society Quick Bite #1)
Exclusivity Doesn't Scale & Toxic Communities
Cafe Society is Maxwell Social’s weekly magazine on the intersection of community and society — an anthropological look at the underpinnings of what makes the world tick, written by David Litwak (@dlitwak) and the Maxwell team.
Today is the first in what will become at least weekly installments of Cafe Society Quick Bites — once a week short summaries of community & society in our culture.
Today we’re going to dive into the recent news behind Soul Cycle.
Over the past few weeks a scandal has erupted as news came out about how Soul Cycle instructors were sleeping with their clients, but it reached a fever pitch with the release of this most recent Vox article that made it clear that the problems with SoulCycle ran deeper than a few inappropriate relationships.
I’m fascinated by SoulCycle. Every woman I know was obsessed with it at one point — someone once told me the classes regularly made her cry. I knew talented, educated young women who were excited to work front desk jobs there that at first glance seemed to be way below what someone with their education level should be doing. And when I went to a couple classes I couldn’t help but roll my eyes a bit at the candles at the front of the room and the spiritual mumbo jumbo they often repeated, but was impressed and somewhat confused that everyone seemed to buy-in wholeheartedly.
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And check out some of our deeper dinner discussions like why Soho House has had trouble scaling its community (and why we think miniclubs are the future), Possibility-As-A-Product: Superbad, Clubhouse & the Inciting Incident, Gatekeepers & The Wing, Inclusive Exclusivity, Sofar Sounds & Self-Cancelling Greek Life, Ford Bronco, Blockbuster & Nostalgia Porn For A Simpler World and Amsterdam’s Radical Anarchist White Bikes & Community Hobbyists.
Have a great rest of the week!
David (@dlitwak) & The Maxwell Team
