[lbo-talk] school uniforms

Wojtek Sokolowski sokol at jhu.edu
Mon Aug 25 10:38:00 PDT 2003


Brian:
> And sometimes it's just attitude without context. If someone tells me
> that the range of fashions available in America is just another kind
of
> uniform, an example of corporate oppression, another technique of mind
> control, I learn a lot-- about how that person wants to be perceived.
> That's the attitude part. The attitude evaporates once we place
Western
> consumer culture into context, i.e., showing how it offers a far
greater
> range of choices than nearly any other culture before or current.
>

I think the "missing context" argument applies to the above statement. It is true that, on the aggregate level, consumer capitalism offers more choices than, say, less developed or centrally planned economies. But that does not mean that all these choices are equally available to everyone who lives in a consumer capitalist society.

In fact, consumer capitalist society is segmented into market niches, and within each niche individual choices are highly determined by the prevailing norms and styles. A person will most likely wear the kind of clothes that his/her peer culture expects, and other choices are simply not an option.

For example, my kid went to a HS with an "urban thug" subculture - basically the Goodwill and army surplus stuff. My wallet loved that, but when I wanted to show the kid to the civilized world, I encountered problems, because the kid would not wear anything else. His social life depended on the clothes he was wearing.

Such subcultures are usually manipulated and reinforced by corporate advertising - which makes them even more constraining. Media and ads sanction fads as the prevailing norm and make them even more difficult to escape. My wife's son buys expensive clothes that he admittedly does not like that much, but he feels pressured to buy them to maintain his status.

Missing the social context in which decisions to purchase clothing are made can create a false sense of abundant choices where none are available.

Wojtek



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