I think it was in 'The Century for the Self' that described research in the 70's regarding the counter culture movements of the 60's. What they found was that there were a number of alternative cultures that the people not following the standard culture would adopt into (hippies, outdoorsy people, etc) to find like minded alternative individuals. They called each of these alt-cultures 'lifestyles' and found that although a majority of people claimed to be counter culture, there was only a small set of about 12 or so lifestyles that most of these people fit into.
I think 'hipster' is just one lifestyle under the above criteria.
I think 'hipster' is just one lifestyle under the above criteria.