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L...“ ’-b-3hx¢”.-_,’ .. vA—d- 5_ g -' ...n ._ .d -.. -,‘~ ’ , o. «.0 ’0. -u v. o -- .oo.-.:. . . . t o 0. M-‘do -. .If'. I... . _‘- ha. ’ ~. 06?. ~ L-_—--i_-_‘-_J__ _ _ u-gr.l- TH 65‘? f . 1 ‘ ' & III IITIIIIIIIIIIllllllIllIIllIIIII IIIIIIII ' . = g . 93 10579 4881 -—w:—'-———Ir.— __ . l . .‘t a ‘ J ‘. ’ . This is to certify that the _ x I thesis entitled ‘ " Ii," Orientation to Fashion I presented by Miss Corinne Gray I has been accepted towards fulfillment _ I of the requirements for . , '. " Ldegree 11132212195: and Anthmpology I ‘ . I.. ' - fiajorp profgoWWt } — ': Date August 10, 1953 I". 'A fi ,‘ I ' s t K “ . I . ’ l ‘ I s : l l 2 C. I ‘ ' .‘ l '. . a #7? -' " C I , , I ‘ I I; \ ' I - I J ,1 J ' I ,,’ I ’ 1 .1 I 4' I 3 l . .l ,. x ,- I. ' "I .p- :l I78 // L 7 I _L I v III ll III .(m.: z. owkzaa FF FF FF 9 FF FF FF FF 3 2 FF 2 FF 3 Fm FF a c 3 z a m a m a a a m m a a a a m m a a m F F 2 PV F (F. FF FF F 3 B L F F g :2 :2... a. m o m a a m m m m F F a 1“ FF FF FF z 2 F F F m ac: 3 a a 2. .F 2 F Fuss: .F :2 F m F F a m m m a a F m F F F F F F F F F F F F F F F F F F F F F I- .. F F F F F F F F F F F F F F F F F F F F F F F F F F F F F F F F F M F F F F F F F F F F F F F F F F F F F F F F F F F F F F F F F F F F F F F F F F F F F F F F F F F F F F F F F F F F F F F F F F F F F F F F F F F F F a F F F F F F F F F F F F a F F F m a F F o a F a a F a F a F F a a F F F m m m m m n F F F n m a m m m m m n m m a r. n n m a m a m m m m m m m m m n m m m m m n a m m m m m m m m n m n F F F F F F F F F F F F F F F F F F. F F F. F F F F F F F. F. F. F. F. F. F F F F F F F _F F F F F F F F F. r. F F F F. F F F F F F F F F F F F F F F F F F F F F F F .. F F F F F F F F F F n F F F F F F F F F F F F F F F F F F F n r. F F F r F F F F F F F F F F F F F F F F F F F F F F F F F F F F F F F F F F F F F F F F F F F F F F F F F F F F F F F F F F F F F F F F F F F F F F F F F F F F F F F F F F F F F F F F F F F F F F F F F F F F F F. F F F F. F F F F F F F F 32: FF FF: :2 FF FF:3333333339.?23:21.33 :33:33333933332.»meFFFFFFFF—FFFFFFFFFFFF— FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF:FFFFFFFFFFFace-FFFFFFrIFFFFFFFFFF u. :5 S. u ORIENTATIONS T0 FASHION By Corinne Gray A THESE Submitted to the School of~Graduate Studies of Michigan State College of Agriculture and Applied Science in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of MSTER OF ARTS Department of Sociology and Anthropology 1953 .e‘ THESIS A I Us ‘M ca" ACKNOWLEDGMENTS The author wishes to express her most sincere appreciation to'Mr. Gregory P. Stone without whose guidance and assistance this thesis could not have been written. She also wishes to thank Dr. Duane Gibson and Mr. Joel Smith for help with the statistical analysis, and Dr. William Form and Arthur Vener for their critical comments. In addition she is indebted to the staff of the social research laboratory for their general assistance. Cc ("a 5.1! 7.3: U; L1 2; TABLE OF CONTENTS LIST OF TABLES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . INTRODUCTION........................ Chapter I. PROBLEM AND HIPOTHESES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Review of Literature Summary of Theoretical and Speculative Contributions Empirical Contributions Assessment of Empirical Studies Conclusion Restatement of Thesis Problem Statement of Hypotheses II. A TYPOLOGY OF ORIENTATIONS TO FASHION . . . . . . . Preliminary Considerations Development of the Typology III. SOCIAL CHARACTERISTICS OF TYPES OF ORIENTATIONS m FASI-EON O O O I O O O 0- O O O O O O O O O 0- O 0 Demographic Characteristics Indications of Social Participation Exposure to Mass Media Three Focal Hypotheses Summary IV. SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Suggestions for Future Research BIBLIOGRAPHY Page iii 57 102 Table I. II. III. IV. V. VII. VIII. IX. X. XII. XIII. XIV. XV. XVI. XVII. LIST OF TABLES Distribution of Responses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Deviation of Responses from Expected for an Individual Distribution of the Typology . . . . . . . . . . . . . Association of the Fashion Typology with Age . . . . . Association of the Fashion Typology with Education . . Association of the Fashion Typology with Size of Birth-place o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o 0 Association of the Fashion Typology with Length of Timfi in Present Residence o o o o o o o o c o o o o o 0 Association of the Fashion Typology with Number of Children 0 o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o 0 Association of the Fashion Typology with Income. . . . Association of the Fashion Typology with Religious Affiliation O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O 0 Association of the Fashion TypOIOgy with Church Attendance O O O O C O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O 0 Association of the Fashion Typology with Religious MObility o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o 0 Association of the Fashion Typology with Club Membership 0 o o o c o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o 0 Association of the Fashion Typology with Number of CIUb MemberShiPS. o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o 0 Association of the Fashion Typology with Kinds of MagaZines Read 0 o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o 0 Social Class Distribution of Sample . . . . . . . . . . Association of the Fashion Typology with Social Class . iii Page 53 5h 55 S9 62 63 6h 67 68 7O 71 72 75 79 82 Table Page XVIII. Association of the Fashion Typology with Occupational MObj-lity O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O 0 8h XIX. Association of the Fashion Typology with Inter~Situs MObilitY’o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o c o o o o o 88 XX. Association of the Fashion Typology with Relation of own Social Class Estimate to ISO Rating. . . . . . . . . 9O XXI. Association of the Fashion Typology with Cosmopolite- Localite Orientation o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o 93 XXII. Distribution of the Fashion Typology by Social Class and Cosmopolite-Localite Orientation . . . . . . . . . . 9h XXIII. Association of the Fashion Typology and Social Class Within the Localite Grouping o o o o o o o o o o o o o 0 9h XXIV. Association of the Fashion Typology and Social Class Within the cosmOPOlite Grouping o o o o o o o o o o o o 95 iv INTRODUCTION Fashion, in men's clothing, is of interest to a great many people who look at it from a great many different perspectiwa. For a career girl the attractiveness of her clothing is one pre- requisite to success. it all tines she met be conscious of how she looks and of the appropriateness of her attire. She must be an artist in the use of color, line and material, know the latest styles, and use then skillfully. For a housewife, on the other hand, fashion nay be less important. Her greatest concern may be for her family, her child- ren, or oomnity affairs. Keepdng up with the latest style depmds on her own inclination, the tine she wishes to give to it, the social life which she has, etc. For some people fashion is a livelihood. Fashion designers spud their working hours draping materials, consulting with clothing nann- faoturers, advising and counseling with their clients, and creating and producing new and ever-changing styles. Fashion models spend their working hours in front of cameras so that the creations of designers can be showntonarkets all over this countryand theworld. 'nlenenwhe photograph these latest creations strive constantly to lake thu appear as attractive md desirable as possible. lost large city newspapers have fashion editors whose business it is to describe, discuss, and criticise the new styles for a mass audience. Through other nedia such as magazines, movies, and television, the latest fashions are also made known to fashion consumers who, through a process of selection and the 1 2 convergence of choices, bring success or failure to any given style of gament. Producing the clothing, whether in small lots or in use production, are the clothing manufacmrers thelnselves. they are engaged in a risky business where guesses as to the fashion wants of many women noon the difference betwaen economic success or failure. lhatsver the actual style one season may be, they must constantly plan ahead to keep up with, or as some writers feel, create, an ever-changing demand. Also involved in this complex are the retail clothing outlets - from the large department stores to thosnall dress shops which aboundineverycityand town. Heroic the link between the manufacturer and the professional women or housewife. And on the completion of this link depends the livelihood not only of the business man but of all the others involved in the process. Fashion, 9; continuous changes in _t-1_1_e_ it'll! g_f_ wonen's M, as we know it today is a phenomenon made possible by certain conditions of modern civilisation. These would include at least the following. In the first place, lass production and specialisation are necessary. nthout fast, efficient and flexible methods of producing vast quantities of goods there would be nothing to distribute to the millions of consumers and no way of constantly changing the form of these goods. Second, there must be swift channels and a vast network of both transportation and con— mnication to enable the goods to be transported to the consumers and the consmers to be informed of what is available. However, information would be of no use if the consumers could not buy; therefore, and third, a stan- dard of living allowing sufficient leisure time and spending power is necessary. Fourth, keeping up with changes in fashion must mean something to consumers. It is probable that within a social class system consum- ers are motivated to buy and find satisfaction in fashionable clothing. There are othm' aspects to fashion besides production and consump- tion. '13:. consumers who buy do not buy and wear their cloths in a vacuum. They buy and wear within a social milieu, within social groups which are important to them. Not only is it of interest to know that this occurs, but also how it occurs. What part does fashion play in the lives of consumers; what is its function or meaning for then and for others with when they interact? Some researchers such as economists, historians, psychologists and sociologists have become concerned about what it is that keeps the process going. Such people have approached the problem from as many points of view as those functioning in the various positions described above. The orientation of this thesis is sociological. Moreover, its main aphasia is not on an attempt to describe or evaluate the whole process as such, but to focus on a specific sector of a specific American mid-Western community, that is, 107 housewives in Goldwater, Michigan. CHAPTER I PROBLEM AND HIPO’I'HESIB This study pew out of a larger study of consumer problems in the purchase of clothing and textiles which the Department of Soci- ology and Anthropolog has carried on in conjunction with the Depart- ment of Textiles, Clothing and Related Arts of mchigan State College since 191.8. The entire project has been supported by the Michigan State Agricultural Experiment Station. During the year 1951-1952 the writer and another graduate student were employed as graduate assistants to begin the job of classifying and analyzing the com- pleted schedules. it this time, the writer's interest in this area began to develop. Attitudes toward fashion comprised one minor segment of the larger study. In this respect the investigators were originally concerned with determining the factors underlying acceptance and rejection of new clothing styles. ktensive emandnation of the data smed that this dimension was not fruitful. Instead two dif- ferent kinds of attitude were revealed, having to do with the way in which the women interviewed explained their confonnity or lack of conformity to changes in style. One kind of explanation implied a desire to avoid conspicuousnoss in dress or a desire to dress as much like other people as possible. Another ld.nd of explanation defined fashionable clothing as a means of setting the informant apart from others or of attracting the attention of others. The original problem then was altered to include first the identi- fication of different kinds of orientations toward fashion as manifest- ed by such explanations. This required the development of a typology of fashion orientations. Second, an attanpt was made to ascertain. whether or not these orientations toward fashion were associated in any way with social class. Finally, there was a general problen of ascer- taining, since this was essentially a as}; Log study, whether or not the typolog was related to other social and economic characteristics such as income, education or religous affiliation. With tints perspective in mind the relevant sociological literature was examined. The general problem was one of isolating and explaining the data at hand. The question then arose of whether or not any a- pirical research concerned with a relationship betwoen fashion and social stratification had been done. Four studies were found, but only one had any real bearing on the emerging problem. Review of literature lhny people have speculated on the nature and scarring of fashion, but most of what has bean done has not been subjected to any kind of systaatic esmirical verification. We have attempted here to outline the main ideas of some of the best essays on fashion written from a sociological perspective. ‘me first section of this chapter deals with discussions of fashion by social psychologsts, sociologists and anthro- pologists; the second part describes four research projects; and the third part is a critical assessment of both the speculative and research literature. In order to keep the contributions of various authors re— latively intact and available here for reference the work of each author has been considered as a unit. Repetition and the over-lapping of ideas occur, but these have been retained in the interest of maintaining the clarity of each author's contribution, and also to demonstrate how basically similar ideas have been developed and expanded from different perspectives. necrotical and Speculative Contributions E- A. Ross. Ross, in his Social Pszgholog, defined the phenomenon of fashion as: (. . .) a series of recurring changes in the choices of a group of people which, though they may be accompanied by utility, are not determined by it (. . .) . Fashion is marked by rhythmic infation and innovation, by alternate uniformity and change. However, Ross continued, neither of these phases obeys the principle of utility. This fact differentiates change due to fashion from change due to progress which results in additional practical advantages and better technical adaptations. 'Fashion, on the other hand, moves in cycles.“ Although there may be uniform practice, Boss went on to say, there may or may not be psychic uniformity. That is, while many find a new or novel style attractive, others certainly wear it only to avoid being 1. Ross, Edward Alsworth, Social m Macmillan Company, New York, 1923, PO 91‘s 2- eel-es conspicuous. Pashions in the present may be considered beautiful, but this beauty is often transient. This can be illustrated by the fact that once fashionable things are often regarded as lacking beauty and nothing seems able to induce one to wear outmoded clothes for serious aesthetic reasons. The ultimate motivation to fashionable dress is construed as an eagerness for self-individualization, a passion for inequality, for distinction from one's fellows that is a part of human nature, an in- stinct deeply rooted within human beings. Ross, as did some other writers, made a value judgment in feeling that this tendency was all right for such things as intellect, character, achievement, etc., but that superficial characteristics such as apparel should not be the basis of social distinction. Fashion, Ross stated, involves two processes: imitation and dif- ferentiation. That is, the inferior man imitates his superior while the superior attempts to differentiate himself from his inferiors. The more prompt the imitation, the more rapid a new differentiation. There have existed in various societies sumptuary laws regulating the dress of various classes (for example, in old Japan), and in in- nobile or caste societies forms of dress have remained constant for long periods of time. losever, in our present day society, 'acquired social values prevail over hereditary social values."3 One's style of living (Veblen 's conspicuous consumption) merits the plaudits of dis- tinction rather than the leisurely life, E. 32, of feudal times. 3. Lee. 2.12.- Competition for distinction is served through the waste of wealth which is involved in repeated fashion changes. The present extensive knowledge and distribution of fashion is due both to the promptness of current means of communication and the ability of manufacturers to imitate expensive articles cheaply. The character- istics of modern fashion include the following: extension to many ob- Jects, uniformity over wide territory and various classes, and an increasing tempo of change. Yet, there are influences working to undermine this tyranny of dress. As men, who were slaves of fashion up until the nineteenth cen- tury, were liberated by a democratic movement so women may be freed through the developnent of rational costumes according to the purpose of the occasion for which it is worn - as in the increasing participa- tion in sports at the present time. There is ”a growing loathing for allotting social esteem according to purely factitious and superficial tests and an increasing respect for achievement and inner worth which will blunt the keeness of the struggle for external conformity.“ P. Clerget. According to Clerget, "Fashion is a form of luxury, luxury in ornamentationJ'S It is frivolous, changeable, dominating all classes of society; and thus a "democracy of fashion“ has appeared. Fashions are created by modistes in their establishments. These are then shown at great gatherings where public opinion is expressed. moss fashions chosen are modeled in many public places since today he Ibide’ Pe 1030 5. Cler et P. "The Economic and Social Role of Fashion," Annual Re- 8 s a .— part 2; the Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D, c.5313: p. 755. there is no monarchical court at which to show the fashions and to give them distinction. Any striking idea, literature, etc. may inspire a new fashion. A new style garment is a sign that some transformation is taking ”place in the intellect, customs, and business of a people."6 More- over, quoting from Louis Bourdeau's, Histoire gl_e_ l'habillement £3 23 3.3 933332: “far from being a custom of incurable frivolity the changes of fashions mark a high civilization, subject to change because it has wide latitude to refine its ideal in proportion as its productions are varied."7 A. L. Kroeber. In 1919 Kroeber wrote a well-known analysis of fashion change which he considered analogous to the rise and fall of art, literature, political institutions, and civilization, and in which he attempted to identify something approaching a cyclic law of social change. His data consisted of measurements (expressed as ratios of various parts of the figures in illustrations to each other) of such things as skirt length and width, minimum diameter of the waist,, etc. These he observed in fashion magazines over a period of seventy- five years. He commented himself that he had too few examples for each year, and that many of the ten kinds of measurenents he sought were missing because of the ways in which the garments were illustrated. 6. Ibid., p. 761:. 7- £2.2- £22- 10 However, he stated that "in the case of every dimension the ir- regularities are not so great as to prevent the recognition of the underlying drifts and tendencies."8 His results showed some tendencies toward large up and down fluctuations in the measurements over long periods of time with many irregularities from year to year. As he said, in spite of the con- spicuous constant change of such things as trimmings, ruffles, colors, Owe, underneath this glittering maze the major proportions of dress change with a slow majesty, in periods often exceed- ing the duration of human life, and at least sometimes with the even regularity of the swing of an enormous pendulum (. . .) . There is something in these phenomena, for all their reputed arbitrariness, that resembles what we call law: a schane, an order on a scale not without a certain grandeur. Yet he goes on to say this: Not that the fashion of a future date can be written now. Every style is a component of far too many elements, and in part uniquely entering elements, to make true predic- tion possible. But it does seem that some forecast can be made for any one basic element (one type of measurement) whosehistory has been sufficiently investigated; and that, when the event arrives, if the anticipation be proved to have been more or less erroneous, the source of the aber- ration may be clear, and the distrubingly injected sorces stand revealed as subject to an order of their own. Thus, since fashion is interrelated with other aspects of society it cannot be expected to vary independently from then. lbreover, dis- turbing influences serve not to nullify the findings but to illustrate the complexity involved. And, there is no reason to expect equal 8. Kroeber, A. L. , 'On the Principle of Order in Civilization as Exemplified in Changes in Fashion," American Anthropqlogist, VOle 21, P. 21‘2e 9. Ibid., pp. 258-259. ll periodicity; indeed, it was found that variations were more rapid during the last quarter-century than for the half century preceeding it. Kroeber concluded that "the fact of regularity in social change is the primary inference from our phenomena. '10 What causes the regularity cannot be identified at this point, but that this change is beyond the crucial influence of any single individual's personality is clear. At the same time it does not deny the validity of the dif- ference beheen superior and inferior minds, competence and incom- petence, but does state that such cannot change the course of history. For sucess an individual must go with the current of his times. Ihether human beings like it or not, he said, the following still holds: The super-organic or super-psychic or super-individual that we call civilization appears to have an existence, an order, and a causality as objective and as determinable as those of the subpsychic or inorganic. At any rate, no insis- tence on the subjective aspects of personality can refute this objectivity, nor hinder its ultimate recognition; just as no advance in objective understanding has ever cramped the activity of personalityon Kimball m. In his Social Psycholog, Young considered that fashion had many facets, and expressed many ideas similar to those of Ross except that he omitted much of Ross' emphasis on the process of imitation. Fashion, he said, is the prevailing style at any time. It is 'a phase of collective action which has much in common with crowd behavior, '12 though physical contiguity today depends on rapid communica- 10. Ride, pe 260s no Ibide, p0 2630 12. Young, Kimball, Social PsEhohfl, F. S. Crofts & Co., New York, 1930, p. 552. 12 tion and transportation. It is not in the mores, but is related to the non-moral folkways. It is a type of common thought and action, moved by relatively impermanent and superficial currents, characterized by a state of flux. Nevertheless it seems important and significant and has a ceremonial aspect as a part of social ritual. Moreover, in a static society or where there are rigid class or caste lines fashion hardly mats. Ioung then considered fashion under twa headings. The first is what he called a psychology of fashion. He felt that there is both in- dividualism and conformity manifest in fashion; that it is an outgrowth of emotions and irrational. tendencies; and that it is not utilitarian but appeals to our fancy. It is, at the same time, both an agent of: individualism and of socialization, of social. solidarity and differentia- tion. Psychologically, fashion is also an expression of a desire for change and ego-expansion, though it is hard to say how much of the desire for change is due to boredom and how much to an outgrowth. of the very culture pattern of fashion. It is related to wishes for social ap- proval. As a part of ”social ritual (it) is related to mobility, to specialization, and to the rise of modern secondary groups.e13 Where status is fixed, where there is group isolation and little flexibility in manners, there is no fashion. Fashion is to be understood in terms of rapidity and method of change. There is a folkway of change and it 13. Ibid., p. 558. 13 is part of one's folkways to be up with the fashion of one '8 group. ”To be in the fashion is to be noticed by others."1h Moreover, fashion as a result of a desire to gain attention leads to emulation by others who consider the innovators as prestige bearers; emulation aids the spread of fashion in any group. It also compensates for a sense of in- feriority. As Simmel has said, the imitation of fashion makes one a representative of the elite. Women's interest in clothes is a com- pensation for lack of position “in a class based on a calling or pre- fession."l5 Secondly, Young considered fashion and group behavior. Follow- ing Veblen's idea of conspicuous consumption and leisure he stated that the upper classes have played the largest ”role in establishing the folkway of frequent changes in fashion. '16 As prestige bearers they establish the importance of reputability in changes in fashion. Yet, (again following Simmel) as soon as a fashion is universally adopted, it is no longer a fashion. J There is a close connection between fashion and business. Clothing manufacturers strive desperately to go with the currents of public fads but are rarely successful in inaugurating fashions. It is financially risky to predict their rise and fall, and instability is one of the dominant characteristics of fashion. In spite of attempts by Christian churches to control the wearing of clothing which is considered indecent or taboo fashion thrives. As us Ibide , p. 560e 15. Ibide ’ p. 5600 16. Ride , Po 56]” 1h Sumner said tersely, "Whatever is, is right."17 Simmel was again quoted as concluding that fashion was going beyond personal externals to "an in- creasing influence over taste, over theoretical convictions and even over the moral foundations of life."18 Edward Sapir. According to Sapir fashion is group compulsion, not the individual 's choice or taste. It is not as fleeting a phenomenon as a fad, but less stable than a custom.19 “Just’as the weakness of [fashion leads to fads, so its strength comes from custom (. . .) . Fashion is custom in the guise of departure from custom.'20 Fashion safely satis- fies the individual '3 desire to break away from custom since others have set the precedent. It is a means of “reconciling individual freedom Iith social conformityfl'a Thus, while Ross postulated the conflicting process of imitation and differentiation as applying to differing segnents of the population, both Young and Sapir postulated these as conflicting, or at least co-existent, processes within the individual. Sapir postulated sources of motivation in saying that boredom, leisure, too much routine and specialization, plus a desire to adorn the self are fundamental drives "leading to the creation and acceptance of fashion."22 It is the phenomenon of a ”functionally powerful society” where a person needs to keep reaffirming his individuality. 17o Ibido, Po 5670 18. Ibid., p. 568. 19. 51123., p. 90 20. Sapir, Edward, "Fashion," Encyclopedia of the Social Science, 1930, 21. Ibid., p. 1&0. 22. Ibid., p. 1hh. 15 inother source of motivation is the desire for prestige, for symbols of distinction or membership in a desired group. But, as Young also noted, imitation results in the negation of a fashion, and a new style begins again. A historical perspective is necessary to understand fashion since in essence it must be seen as a variation within a known sequence. Changes follow the prevailing and underlying "psychological drifts" in a given society. Implicit in all fashion is "functional irrelevance as contrasted with symbolic significance for the expressiveness of the ego."23 There is much difficulty in trying to understand these be- cause of a lack of a knowledge of the unconscious symbolism attached to such things as color, textiles, etc. Those fashions, however, which are not consistent with the unconscious systems of meaning are relative- ly insecure. Rapid changes of the present day are partly due to the stimla— tion of the Renaissance, but mostly to such things as the industrial revolution, the rise of the common people, increased facilities for transportation and communication, the varied activities of modern life, the greater leisure and spending power of the bourgeois, and the economic liberation of women. There has been a psychological leveling of classes in so far as wealth is the basis of class position rather than birth. 'mis necessitates more rapid change in order to keep the symbolism of the upper classes distinct from those of the 10'”. 23- 29°.- 22::- 16 In reference to business the increased facilities for the exten- sive distribution of fashion have led to greater investments. Iigh initial profits lead to the commercial encouragement of changes. At the same time that vested interests encourage they also dread the change. Since they are not dictators they most sense the psychological and unconscious desires of the people in order to attain the success they seek. % Women are now allowed greater changes (not so in other times or cultures). A woman, in many cases, pleases by how she looks, not by what she does. In the upper classes she is a symbol of the social and economic status of her husband. Sapir added that fashion may be an ex- pression of unconscious revolt against expressed modesty, morals, etc., or class distinctions. Robert HacIver. NacIver defined fashion as the 'socially approved sequence of variation on a cultural theme." It is and-traditional, and involves 'free variations of an accepted fom'z" "the range of fashion is, in short, the limit of variation made possible by cultural indifference."25 Further, Ithver said: It deals with those observances which can be changed with- out affecting the things we hold dear, the associations we cherish, the practical aim we pursue - this being the nega- tive condition of the strong tyranny which it exercises. It promises no utility, it makes no direct appeal to our reason.26 2h. llacIver, Robert 11., Society, Parrar and mnehart, Ihc., New York, 1937, P0 2611. 25s Dido, Do 2650 26s Ibide, Pe 266e 17 It harmonises two contradictory aspects of our nature - the desire for novelty and for conformity (see Young and Sapir). Fashion leader- ship usually radiates from the elite, the prestige-owning groups and thus accomodates the desire for distinction as well as for conformity. Fashion is encouraged by such factors as the character of our class structure, the development of ccmumnication, the increase of prosperity and leisure, the diminishing of the area defined through custom developing from the intermingling of peoples from all over the world, and the fact of industrialisation which has disturbed customary ways of doing things. There has been an increase in the area of moral indifference, and, where a civilization is decadent, fashions usurp the area of morals. Fashion provides a meeting ground for people of diverse interests and dispositions. lowaver, its rule is shallow and inconse- quent, for it is concerned only with the form and is devoid of the sub- stance of living, conviction or stability. Fashion does, he said, have prestigeful leaders, but they must be responsive to the mood or taper of the times. In conclusion MacIver stated that small changes of fashion may be simply bridges from one custom to another. Richard LaPiere. In 1938 LaPiere said that it is the element of prestige attached to a style which gives a purchaser assurance that it will last long enough to be north investing in. The style must be ”authentic,” it must be offered under a name which vouches for the worth of the style. Paris creations for many years were at the center of the fashion world. losever, such centers cannot dictate the styles 3 they can only offer a choice, and it is the convergence of countless indivi- dual choices that ultimately decides the success or failure of a fashion. 18 Attempts to dictate a new style arbitrarily or to turn back a trend have been notoriously unsuccessful. In spite of this statement, LaPiere vigorously criticized Kroeber's thesis of twenty years before. The fashion changes in women's dress are ceaseless, a fact which has led some students to the conclusion that there are laws of fashion. Because the styles of today bear a strong resemblance to the styles of a previous generation, the theory of fashion cycles has been advanced. Many stu- dents of the subject believe in the existence of cyclical laws of fashion change and have gone so far as to predict future trends on the basis of past styles. The cyclical theory is, however, no more than a rational- ization of irrational impulses in the field of style leader- ship. It is true that past styles often serve a the basis for those of the present. But the illusion of cyclical trends can best be explained as a result of the limitations upon style creativeness. A dress may or may not have sleeves. If it does, the possible variety of sleeves is finite. Skirts can grow only so short before ceasing to be skirts and only so long before becoming an intolerable nuisance to the wearer and to others. Repetition in dress styling simply must occur if styles are to change frequently. The fashion leader is in much the same position as is the composer of popular music - limited in the number of elements and combinations thereof, but expfited to make a new creation every few weeks or months. Herbert Blumer. Blumer classified fashion as a special kind of collective behavior. It may, he said, he found in any area of group life apart from the technological, utilitarian or sacred. It requires a class society and cannot operate in either a homogeneous or caste society. Fashion as an expressive movement is based on differentiation on the part of the upper classes and emulation of them on the part of the 27. LaPiere, Richart T., Collective Behavior McGraw-h‘lll Book Company, Inc. , New York and Endon, 153$, p. 198. 19 lower classes. And it is the imitation of the class above it by each class that marks it as a kind of collective behavior though other characteristics of other kinds of collective behavior are lacking. Specifically, it lacks the mechanisms of a social movement. here is no agitation, ideolog, esprit de corps, etc. It does not develop into a society and does not have symbols, nths, values, etc. But in spite of this, it is important in that it is an expression of certain fundamental impulses and tendencies, such as an in- clination toward novel experience, 3 desire for distinction, and an urge to conform. Fastion is important especially in providing a meanszgor the expression of developing tastes and dispositions. It is in this last aspect of fashion that its real signficance lies, and which gives some clue to the part that fashion plays in the 'formation of a new social order."29 That is, in a changing society, which the very existence of fashion presupposes, the subjective lives of the people are continuously upset. Fashion serves as an outlet for newly developing tastes and dispositions. This is shown by the fact that prestige alone does not insure the success of a fashion but that it is as these subjective demands are met that a fashion is successful. Fashion crystallizes new often vaguely felt tastes and dispositions, and it is in this way that it helps to construct a “common subjective life, and in doing so, helps to lay the foundation for a new social order. '30 28. Blumer, Herbert, "Collective Behavior,' New Outline 9_f_ the Prin- cigles of Sociolo ed., Alfred lelunEIee, mes and NOBIB O, 9' 0r ’ O, p. 132. 29. 1.22- 2.1.2. 30~ 229.. 2:2. 20 Sumery of 'lheoretical and Speculative Contributions the various ideas presented by these writers can be summarised Hon the point of view of one staining the behavior of the individual, the culture and the society. Various writers postulated innate sources of stimulation or motiva- tion for the individual. Some maintained that the individual has a passion for inequality, that he has a desire for individualism (or free- dom, or novelty) and for conformity, that he has a desire for change or for security, that he needs to keep reaffirming his individuality, that he has a desire for prestige and distinction, or that he has a need for ego-expansion or expressiveness of the ego. Other writers attempted to describe the cultural patterns involved. They said that fashion belongs to the non-moral folkways; that it is part of social ritual; that fashion is neither a fad nor a custom but is more persistut than the former and less persistent than the latter; that fashion is related to unconscious antes: of meaning; or that it is formed of variations on a common theme. In considering society, E 53, fashion has been considered witMn the perspecflve of social groups or categories such as social classes or secondary groups. It may be also considered from the perspective of certain overall characteristics of the structure or function of a society. Fashion may be related to the predominance of secondary groups in which Judgments are made according to first appearances or in which people of diverse backgrounds come together and need a comon denominator to facilitate interaction among than lost writers have agreed that what occurs is a process of differentia- tion and emulation. That is, a given style of clothing is adopted by the 21 upper classes, the leaders, the prestige bearers , or their representa- tives. his style is then produced in a less costly version to be worn by the middle classes in their attempts to be like higher status group- ings. By the time a given style is universally worn it no longer has either an value for differentiating higher status groups from lower status groups or for providing a vehicle for the emulation of the higher status groups. Thus, new styles are necessary, and the cycle begins over again. lbst writers also agreed that fashion can exist only within an open system of social stratification rather than a caste system or a state of homogeneity. There must be a state of flux, or mobility. Fashion cannot exist within a static or completely traditional society. They also set certain prerequisites for the existence of fashion such as industrialization and rapid transportation and communication. Some writers also mphasized the non-moral aspects of fashion and its re- placasent of moral and ethical traditions. At this point the question arises concerning the extent to which these ideas have been put to use in empirical research. Four studies were found and are reported in the next section. The last study so. to have the most direct bearing on the thesis problem. Elmirical Contributions J. E. Jamey. Janney undertook a study of fad and fashion leader- ship among college women in 19141. As he wrote, "The purpose of this exploratory study is to test the tacit assumption found in many text- books of social psychology that fads occur in a random manner."31 31. Janney, J. E., "Fad and Fashion Leadership Among Under-Graduate women,“ Journal 9i Abnormal and Social m 22 During the course of the study he attempted to answer such questions as: lhat is the social position of fad initiators? Are different types of fads initiated by different persons? Can those who follow be differentiated from those who lead? What is the social. position of those who are insensitive to fashion? For two academic years (1936-1938) 279 undergraduates in a ”small residential college for women were observed independently by seven of their number for their responses to clothing fads.32 A fad was defined as a short-lived deviation in dress in distinction from fashion which is a less striking and longer lasting change in style. The observers also reported on the social groupings of their class mates. And, in addition the following sources were utilized: 1. Dormitory sign-out books. 2. Physical education department records. 3. Office of the dean of women - records of disciplinary action, election to office or achievement of honors. h. Registrar's office - records of grades and scores on intelligmce tests. Early in the study it sealed that certain cliques were responsible for the majority of locally initiated fads; that the cliques were sharply differentiated according to types of fads initiated; and that the types of fads initiated were congruent with and closely resembled the clique's social activities. Janney developed a typology of different chnds of faddists. the names of the types which give some clue to the further description and are sufficient for present purposes are as follows: 320 Dido, Po 275s 23 bizarre faddists, distinun faddists, oscillating faddists, egregious faddists, obsolescent faddists, and conforming faddists. Janney's conclusions were as follows: 1. Fads are not random. 2. the fads which are followed are originated by the . young women of the prestige-bearing cliques who _ are also leaders in other types of activities. 3. Different types of fads are tried out in different types of cliques. ’4. 'me overwhelming majority of students did not originate fads, and followed them several weeks after they were originated. 5. Those girls who were insensitive to fads were also insensitive and unskillful in other social situa— tions. 6. Such things as academic standing, intelligence, athletic participation, financial income or health failed to differentiate any of the above patterns. Jack and Schiffer. Jack and Schiffer's problem concerned whether or not and to what extent fashions established by leading fashion magazines are followed without resistance by what they call the 'waman on the street.” ‘lhey took three series of measuranents of skirt length from 1929 to 191;? using one photograph each per month from Vogue magazine, the Women's Home ComE’ on, either the Review of; Reviews, Literary Digest, or Out-look Independent betwoen 1926 through 1936, and Life between 1936 through 19W. Only photographs, rather than drawings, were used, and a total of three pictures per month were chosen. 'Ihey were limited to those which showed street clothes and were photographed so that figure was measureable. A method of measuring and arriving at a ratio 2h suitable for comparison was worked out and presented in detail. The measurement was based on the distance from the 'v' at the throat to the lowest point of the weight-bearing foot. 'lhe ratios for 170 e, the Women's $19.92 Ganglion, and the ”woman on the street' (name for the photograph taken from the _Iii_f_e_ group which was considered to be an approximation of what the public in general was wearing) were then plotted in three different ways. he first was in terms of length by years, the second was a frequency distribution, and the third was a bar chart showing amounts of deviation of each from the style standard in terms of a standard unit which they developed. With all three kinds of representation it was found that the more extreme the hemline dictated by 172.25. or the “.23.: "short or long, the greater the non-conformity of the 'woman on the street."33 lithin what sewed to be a preferred range there was almost complete conformity to the pattern set by the magazines, but beyond this range the 'wonan on the street' resisted. ‘rhe authors concluded that the fashion dictator must ranain within certain bounds or he won't be followed. Through inertia the followers circumscribe his power. They then generalized from this by speculating about whether or not there could be some similar way of measuring the limits of propaganda, legal control, ad- vertising, etc. W. Godfrey Cobliner. Cobliner conducted what he called an analysis of group psychology by submitting questionnaires to eighteen college 33. Jack, Nancy Coplin and Schiffer, Betty, "The limits of Fashion Control," The American Sociologcal Review, Vol. 13, December, 25 girls at Hunter College in New York.3h I-fis purpose in undertaking the study was to uncover the forces which influence women to comply with fashion. He tried to isolate such factors as status, prestige, leader- ship, and norms in relation to fashion. He stated that his method of investigation included the following aspects: a projective technique consisting of indirect questions, an attempt to get at a 'teleoloacal' aspect of motivation, replies suggested to questions when necessary, and a slant towards 'group psycholog.‘ Cobliner then conducted what he called a content analysis and categorized his comments under various headings as follows: Fashion as a group standard. The girls felt satisfied with the uniformity and periodic change of fashion, and said they would feel uneasy and self—conscious if they didn't comply. There was no resentment of fashion as such. They said they would dislike having afashion disappear as a standard regulating device."35 Leadership. The girls felt envy towardsomeone who wore the latest style sooner than others if she had an establish- ed role as fashion leader. Otherwise such a girl was considered to be showing off. They did not think that men noticed style leaders. Attitude toward those who do not comply. ‘Ihose who did not comply were considered to have no positive attributes. They were "dated." A com- munity not accepting the ”New Look" was 3gonsidered "conservative, stubborn or rebellious." 3h. Cobliner, w, Godfrey, "Feminine Fashion as. an Analysis of Group Psychology: Analysis of Written Replies Received by Means of a Queggijonnaire,‘ Journal of Social Ps holo , Vol. 31, May, 1950, p. e 35. Ibid., p. 286. 36. Ibide’ P. 2890 26 Fashion and men's style stability. The girls found men's stability of style unfortunate and not progressive. They did not think it explainable by the absence of competition. Incentive for change. Changes were thought to be brought about by the clothing industry or by the dress-makers. They said that they felt elated when putting on a new dress - regardless of style. In a further discussion Cobliner noted that: the outstanding motivations within the framework of fashion seem to be the desire to be ‘ conspicuous and admired; and that fashion clearly makes women look more feminine - a goal aimed at man. From his study Cobliner outlined a hypothesis. He believed that men were attracted by the most successful women of their own in-groups. “Thus, the actual motivation, competition in terms of attractiveness, is successfully replaced by the more controllable and less friction- loaded competition for status by means of fashion."37 Clothes can cover the body, he said, but fashion conceals the mind. This functional aspect, he went on to say, is the chief clue to unconscious motivation. In con- clusion, Cobliner stated that the desire for prestige and status is the most important single factor producing compliance. Barber and Lobel. Barber and lobel tried to show that fashion is not socially irrational (in terms of Merton's concept of latent function) in relationship to the American class structure, age-sex roles, and the economic system. Their source of data was women 's fashion magazines. Fashion, according to Barber and Label, has three functions (nixed latent and manifest) in all societies: utilitarian, esthetic and symbolic. 37. _I-°_°.o 2.1.2- 27 Their primary concern was with the independent role-symbolic functions of clothing. This aspect of fashion is a specific example of the more general social fact relative to all consumption ewhich, as Parsons em- phasized, was the symbolic significance of the standard of living. Some clothing is appropriate for one standard of living but not for another. They defined fashion as having, in clothes, ”to do with the styles of cut, color, silhouette, stuffs, etc., that are socially prescribed and socially accepted as the appropriate for certain social roles, and especially with the recurring changes in those roles."38 They the: dis- cussed at some length the relationship of fashion in women's clothes to the American class system. To make their first main point they stated that in the U. S. we have a close approximation to an ideal-type of open-class structure. There is moral approval of upward social mobility, and the primary criterion for position is occupation. In practice we all apply the following equivalences. Consumption equals wealth or income. Health or income equals occupational position. Occupational position equals social class position. Therefore consumption equals social class position. Women take their occupational position from their husbands so that her consumption is evidence of his position to pay. This, the authors said, is not a passive function. Good taste, skill in budgeting, cleverness in sung, etc., all count. There is evidence that husbands as well as wives know this function of wifely consumption. 38. Barber, Bernard, and Lobel, Lyle 5., "Fashions in Women's Clothes and the American Social System," Social Forces, Vol. 31, December, 1952, p. 126. "" “'- 28 Writers of fashion copy take this class-symbolic function of women's dress for granted as can be seen from the vast amount of material in newspapers, women's magazines, Elie, etc. In American society all but a few groups are oriented to social mobility and therefore also to the function of women's clothes fashions for mobility. Their second main point pertaining to the relationship of fashion to the economic system concerned the dilemma of equality and difference in the class systm. Since there is mobility and since the barriers be- twun adjacent classes are vague there are continuua of strata. Fashion is one means of resolving the dilemma of an ideology of equality and actual difference. (be tendency of fashion writers is to stress the similarity of all class levels. The fashion industry is founded on what Enter and Label called the "trickle down" pattern. Openings in Paris are attended by industrial representatives plus Anerican women who serve as style leaders. me chosen styles are then produced in the high-priced ready to wear market. Then designers in each lower-prived range include new fashion lines as best they can in their own lines. They attempt to avoid complete uni- formity in any given place since manufacturers distribute over a wide geographical area and send only a few of a kind to a given place or a given retailer. When universal a new change is necessary since there is no more symbolic value. This process is perpetuated because our class system makes women seek symbols of their difference from those Just below them, and others seek for equality with those Just above thm. 29 Their third point is that fashion means different things to dif- ferent social classes. They demonstrated this by showing that the ad- vertising media which supposedly reaches the different classes is different. For the "old families" with established position there is no need for status competition through consumption. They can stress esthetic values. Their taste is more British than French. Their con- corn is with distinction and heredity. Just below them are those con- cerned with "high fashion," those who are the Paris-conscious style leaders. Their clothes symbols are related to wealth and high living; they are cosmopolitan but with “quiet elegance.” They read 29m and m 3:233 which caution them of the nouveau £9.29. sin of over- ostentation. 'me middle and lower middle classes read the M 11922 ngal and the Compggon. The emphasis here is different. There is a distaste for high style or for what is daring or unusual. They want clothes that are suitable for the P. T. A. and community activities. Paris is too extrem for their comunities. Their clothes are conservative but smart - smart but what everybody else is wearing. The Journal stresses the popularity of clothes. Hollywood is an appropriate model for them because Hollywood doesn't set fashions. However, the middle and lower middle class women consider glamor to be what is 'fendninely pretty" not 'slinkily sexy.” As illustrations of the age-sex role structuring of American fashion the authors discussed college girls and teen-agers. For the college girls the emphasis of fashion copy is on casuals and classics. This, they said, is a reflection of the college girl '3 temporary removal 30 from the need to display her class stutus. It is no accident that the extremes of casualness are in the Eastern women's colleges. For the teen-ager the fashion copiest campaigns against too much sophisti- cation. What is youthfully pretty is most appropriate. As far as the relationship of women 's fashions and the American economic system is concerned they felt that there is no one-way cause between mass production and the availability of new fashions. me "class-structured and pervasive desire to stay 'in fashion' has en- couraged the 'fast industry' to develop its technical and organiza- tional virtuosity."39 The need to get the most for one '8 money leads to the presentation of budget advice in magazines, the "shopping pattern" (so named by Firey) of comparing prices in differing stores which are conveniently placed for such comparison in a central location, low-cost stores, the buying of seconds, etc. Thus, they said, this demonstrates that the pattern of 'conspicuous consumption' is not a wholly passive one. In conclusion they made four statments. Fashion is not socially irrational. It can mean different things in regard to clothes. Its different meanings are socially and culturally structured. And, thus, fashion has latent as well as manifest functions for different aspects of the American social system. Assessment of Enpirical Studies Four fashion studies have been outlined. The first, by Janney, concerned the relationship between clique membership and fashion 39. Ibid., p. 130. 31 leadership; the second, by Jack and Schiffer, tried to determine the limits of fashion conformity; the third, by Cobliner, tried to dis- cover what factors influenced women 's compliance with fashion; and the fourth, by Barber and Lobel, emphasized the symbolic functions of clothing. At this point the question arises of the possible bearing of these studies on the present thesis problem. It is thought that the Jack and Schiffer article has little or no relevance for a qualitative study such as this. It has been includ- ed here mainly because it is one of the few studies on fashion that have been done. Nevertheless, a notion that women till resist fashion changes at a certain point contributes no information as to how and why fashion as a phenomenon exists and what it means in social interaction. The other three articles make a number of helpful contributions to a study of fashion. 'L'ne basic finding of Janney's study was that fads are not random, and that fashion leadership is related to prestige and leadership in other types of activities. He found no relationship with other social characteristics except that those who are insensitive to fads are, in his opinion, also insensitive to other aspects of social situations. Janney's typology of kinds of faddists was based mainly on observations of behavior within a relatively closed college commnity. He made little attempt to try to relate the girls' behavior to the larger society, but concentrated on fads which arose from within this group (essentially ignoring the sources of ideas for the fads) and which were or were not followed by others within that same group. His results could probably be verified by a similar study in other small colleges, 32 but certainly on a larger campus or in a city or town there is not room or opportunity.for such a large proportion of style or fad creators to exist. In this case about six per cent of the school population origi- nated fads which were followed. Cobliner's study does not seem as adequate as Janney's. In the first place, from his report it is not clear Just what he did, and the only thing he said was that he administered a questionnaire to 18 girls at Hunter College. One possible inference consistent with Janney's study is that fashion is not random. Otherwise the sum total of his study'seems ' to indicate that college girls like fashion, that new styles ought to be introduced (in their opinion) by established style leaders, and that those who don't.follew aren't progressive or up to date. He drew two conclusions which don't seem to follow from his previ- ous discussion. One is that the desire to be conspicuous and admired is the chief motivation within the framework of fashion. This, as will be shown later in this thesis, is characteristic of one sort of orienta- tion to fashion, but it seems to be characteristic of only a minority of the population. If Cobliner had consulted the fashion literature he might have at least modified this generalization. In addition he used such a very small sample that any generalization is tenuous. Finally, and again without any basis in his previous discussion, Cobliner hypothesized that there is alrelationship between fashion con~ formity and a desire for prestige and status. 'What this was based upon is not.indicated, but of course this is a basic conclusion of most fashion theorists. 33 Barber and Lobel contributed the most to the theoretical frame- work of this thesis. The main criticism of their work is the possibili- ty that the class concepts of fashion copyists do not exactly approxi- mate what actually exists. Of course, again, there is the possibility that they may see the situation more clearly than someone immersed in the community life of a small town or busy in the active round of city life. At any rate, they concluded that fashionable clothes are aspects of and symbolic of patterns of consumption of certain styles of living which characterize different social classes. The function of fashion, they felt, is to facilitate identification with upper status groups by those who are socially mobile. Fashion is also a means of resolving the dilemma of ideological equality and actual difference. They felt that they demonstrated this when they found that fashion copy for dif- ferent magazines, which presumably go to people of different social classes, presented different perspectives of fashion, or rather almost different lcinds of fashion. Conclusion ‘Ihere have been two general ldnds of analyses of fashion. (he perspective is that of conformity to changing styles; the other is a more functional analysis of fashion which tries to qualify and define what fashion is, what part it plays in contemporary life, etc. In the review of the theoretical literature and in the outline of four empirical studies there was one writer and one study which emphasized the element of conformity in fashion. The first, of course, was Kroeber, and the second was the Jack and Schiffer article. This aspect of fashion is 3h one which has not proven useful in the present thesis as will be explained in more detail in Chapter II. Within the second general category of kinds of analysis of fashion there were, as has already been indicated, three general levels of approach - that which considers the motivation of the individual, the description of fashion as a culture pattern, and the function of fashion in a system of social organization. It is the latter perspective which has been adopted in this thesis with specific emphasis on the relationship between fashion and social stratification. The basic assertion of this study is that fashion is related to the system of social stratification, that fashion has a function within that system which is meaningful md not capricious or irrational. Practically all of the writers reviewed previously stree especially the mutual and reciprocal relationship between fashion and a system of social stratification; that is, the function of fashion within a system of stratification and such a system as a prerequisite for the the existence of the phenomenon of fashion. The main thesis developed by most of the writers is that members of the upper classes desire to differentiate themselves from others. (he was of doing so is to wear fashionable clothes. Since the upper classes have prestige and the esteem of others, fashionable clothes become symbols of that status which receives honor and esteem. There- fore lower status groups, also desiring honor and esteem and wanting to be like the upper classes, if they cannot be them, try to emulate them wherever possible. One way of doing this is by wearing similar 35 clothes - hence they copy the latest fashions of the upper classes; and in such manner a new style spreads throughout the society. And in this way also a new style becomes necessary if the original purpose of differentiation is to be served. Some writers spell out this process in much more detail, some in less. But most have agreed that the is the essential characteristic of the phenomenon of fashion. It is the women of the upper status groups who wear the fashion- able clothes and serve as symbols of their husbands' social and economic status. This idea of fashion as a symbol was made explicit by only a few of the writers previously reviewed but seem implicit in the writings of many others. After all, when one is trying to look like a person of an upper status group, he is trying to dress so that those who view him will make a reference to a style of living or level of consumption or some similar value that carries prestige and thus be encouraged to accord the wearer the prestige appropriate to the referent. Thorstein Veblen was among the first to note the importance of patterns of consumption as symbols of social status. He was able to show that: the economic position of an individual determines his group membership, establishes his ideological perspective, and in- fluences his entire style of living (. . .) . (He) dramati- cally analyzed the nature of these symbols as directed to- ward invidious and conspicuous display. Frequently, then, personal economic security is considered less impo tant than the ability to display superior economic position. 0 1:0. Lfiller, Delbert C., and Form, William, Industrial Sociology, Harper and Bros., New York, 1951, p. 28. 36 With continuing development, our society has become increasing- 1y consumer oriented. David Riesmann, in his smdy of social character, repeatedly describes, illustrates and relates the danands of and the effects of such an orientation on other aspects of society and per- sonality. Leisure time is greatly expanded as the result of urbanization and industrialization. (. . .) One of the consumables on which money is spent is education, which in turn provides the peer group with its opportunity to train people for their role in the consumers' union. People must be taught to spend. For industry to be able to pull people from the farms into the cities, people usually must learn to want some of the consumables for which the city stands. (. . .) It is, in fact, new wide- -ly accepted that the American econony depends on opening up internal frontiers of consumption as the fifontiers of production and land use begin to close down. Fashion is a pattern of consumption peculiarly characteristic of and dependent in its existence upon a class system, and a class system there there is at least some mobility. Blumer stated this explicitly in saying that fashion cannot operate in either a homogeneous or a caste society, but rather requires a class society, a society that is changing. Others, as previously described, accept this implicitly in depicting fashion change as a process of imitation and differentiation. That is, there could be no possibility of emulation in a caste society where the style of living of each caste is rigidly proscribed and where each stratum is insulated from the others. Moreover, if people could not aspire to be like those above them in a status hierarchy, if there were no chance at all of their achieving the greater honor or social hl. Riesmann, David, The Lone Crowd, New Haven, Yale University Press, 1950, p. TEE. Incidentally, one of the unexpected re- lationships found in this study supports this idea. That is, the typology later developed differentiated between those who seemed to identify themselves more with the local community or with metropolitan areas. Illllll Ill!" allll.|lll|llv ll I‘lllli'l II I: II" 37 prestige that would accompany higher status, there would be no values and no reward or punishment to give such behavior continuing meaning and motivation. People are constatnhy bombarded with fashion news. Radios, news- papers, movies, friends all are constantly keeping people aware of fashion. In their study of fashions presented by‘women's magazines Barber and Lobel attempted to define the 'role-symbolic' functions of clothes from.an examination of fashion copy. People are constantly stimulated to think of themselves and their lives as portrayed in the media of communication. Moreover, Barber and Lobel show that the images people of various social classes see in this fashion copy are different. If Barber and Lobel are correct and if social classes are defined by characteristic styles of living and patterns of consumption then it would follow that fashion as a part of one style of living might have different connotations as a part of different styles of living. People in one position might have entirely different perspec- tives from people in any other position regarding the whole system or part of it. And, thus, individuals might very well have different orientations toward fashion. Restatement of Thesis Problem The thesis problem, then, is one of isolating various orienta- tions to fashion and of discerning the ways in which such orientations are related to other aspects of social life, with emphasis on social stratification. Goldwater's system of social stratification was somewhat ‘l..ll'lclllll!’|llll‘1tllllll ‘lll-ll'llll‘lllll 38 unique in that it had a vertical split at the top composed of local up- per clsss people (long time residents) as opposed to a group of new» camera from large cities who had come in to manage newly developing in- dustrial plants. These two groups had different values, belonged to different associations, etc., and the members of the lower status groups tended to identify with one or the other of the two. The long- time residents are called "localites' and the newcomers, 'cosmopolites," and since they represent, in one sense, differing styles of living‘we would expect to find some differences among their orientations to fashion as well as among various social classes. In addition, in.regard to stratification, a basic assumption of our democratic ideology is the belief in individual self-determination and the possibility of improving one's position, of moving onto a higher level within the system. Those who do aspire to hold or identify with higher positions than those they actually hold would be expected to behave like those with whom they identify. This would include the wearing of clothes - so that the typology of fashion orientations ought to be also related to upward aspirations. In the analysis the typology is also compared to a number of con— ventionally used sociological characteristics. At least two assumptions are made. Since fashion is so predominant in the media of communication there is no doubt but that the concept fashion was meaningful for most people. Moreover, it is thought that not only were the women in our sample aware of fashion but that they accepted it as a legitimate end toward which their own behavior in 39 regard to clothing was oriented. This was not tested directly, but if the first hypothesis next outlined seems to be valid than it would seen that these assumptions are warranted. Statement of Hypotheses 1. There are different orientations toward fashion. 2. In general it is felt that different orientations to fashion are related to other social and economic characteristics. Demographic characteristics ‘e be ce do .e to Age Education Size of place of birth Years in present residence Number of children. Income Social participation ‘e be 0e d. e. f. 8e Religious affiliation Church attendance Kinds of organizations belonged to (other than church) Number of organizations belonged to Number of officerships in organizations Kinds of recreation Number of different kinds of recreation to mass media Newspapers read Kinds of magazines read Number of magazines read 3. Three focal hypotheses are as follows: b. Different orientations toward fashion are characteristic of people in different social class positions. Different orientations toward fashion are differentiated by'those who are mobile; and by those who identify with a social class position higher than their own. to c. Different orientations toward fashion are differentiated by "localite" and "cos- mopolite" orientations. The data, as has been stated, was secured from the clothing study which the Michigan State College Department of Sociology and Anthropology has been carrying on supported by a grant from the Michigan Agricultural Experiment Station and in conjunction with the Department of Textiles, Clothing and Related Arts. Questions relating specifically to fashion were utilised plus a number of ”controls.“ The respondents were 10? married women living in Goldwater, Michigan, who were interviewed inp tensively during 1950 and 1951. Most of the interviewing was done be- fore this analysis was started. uany ideas of fashion have been developed, but relatively few empirical studies have been done. This is an attempt to add to a beginning made in this direction. CHAPTER II A TYPOLOGY OF ORIENTATIONS T0 FASHION Preliminary Considerations One-hundred and seven married women composed the sample from which the typology of orientations to fashion was developed. They came from every walk of life in Goldwater and represented a stratified ran- dom sample drawn according to the representation of the occupations of their husbands in the occupational structure of the town. The typology was developed in order to test the basic hypothesis of this study, namely that: There were differences _i_n the orientations M fashion among the women interviewed in the clothing project. The fashion questions composing the concluding section of the Clothing In- ventory of the larger study were utilized. In order to begin to understand the significance of the questions used it is necessary to know something about the fashion situation at the time the study was done. it that time the "new look" - that is, skirts longer than the knee—length ones worn all during the war - had become an accepted thing. Shorter, tighter skirts were being in- troduced but had not as yet been widely accepted. Thus, longer skirts, the result of a recent successful style chm ge were readily remembered by all of the respondents while at the same time a possible new change of style was in the offing. The following six questions in regard to skirt length were ultimately the basis for the typolog. hl 142 How soon after the advent of the "new look" did you get longer skirts? Why did you get longer skirts? Do you like this new style (shorter, tighter) skirts? .13. 2.8.: “v? If 92: W not? Do you intend to buy anything with a shorter skirt? If Leg: W? E 93: Why not? If skirts go up to the knees again will you wear yours that length or not? If as: W? E 22 Why not? Do you like to wear the very latest fashions or do you prefer to wait until a lot of other people wear them? Why? - Have you ever worn a dress or suit because it was in style, even though you really didn't like the styles at the time? fly? or Why not? is can be seen from an examination of the questions they are worded so as to find out whether a person followed an old style, does follow present styles or would follow new styles. Then they ask for rationalizations of stated choices, i.e., the reasons for conforming (r not conforming. Thus, the conformity, non-conformity dimension of the social-psychological study of fashion was essentially what the questions were trying to get at. Two sorts of results, however, made this seemingly clear-cut frame—work impossible to use. First of all, from the responses it was not clear which style the subject was referring to and whether the subject was actually following the style once it had been determined. For example, in response to the question about liking the new style of shorter and tighter skirts, some peeple answered not so much in terms ’43 of liking or disliking that style, but in terms of liking or disliking longer skirts. Second, when asked reasons for their past, present or future behavior, they gave the same kinds of reasons whether they had answered the question affirmatively or negatively. For example, in regard to the question about wearing knee—length skirts some people who stated that they would wear them said they would wear them if everybody else did. But some people who stated that they would not wear them said that they would not wear them unless everybody else did. Another problem in regard to fashion conformity areas when it became clear that such conformity or lack of conformity is not in- variable for an individual or group. Thus, calf-length skirts are now nearly universal; therefore, nearly everybody conforms. There are styles which fashion designers or clothing manufacturers attempted to introduce which were unsuccessful; therefore nobody conformed. And, when calf-length skirts were being introduced and becoming pOpular, there undoubtedly was a succession of different degrees of conformity by different groups of people. There was an attempt to get at this time dimension in the Clothing Inventory, but since many respondents could not remember when they had changed their styles of clothing it was not successful. Hence, there was no way of knowing how much time had to do with attitude towards a new style. Moreover, the interviewing was done over a period of months, a period sufficiently long for the popularity of a given style to change a great deal. Floyd Allport has outlined three factors or elements that must be recognizable in order for the concept of conformity to fit the situation NJ and to be susceptible to meaningful analysis.h2 The first element is some clear and unequivocable purpose which is to be achieved by the be- havior in question. The behavior must involve coherent adjustments to definite situations. Secondly, there must be a regulation, code, or standard means of achieving the behavior recognized as universally ac- cepted and proper behavior. Thirdly, a fairly large proportion of the population in question.must actually'conform to the given standard. Confermity‘oy definition, requires this. It can be seen at once that behavior in reapect to fashion changes only partially meets these requirements. However, it seems that since time is a crucial factor both in determining whether an individual 's behavior can be said to be fashionable a study could be done best by means of a panel in which people were systematically interviewed over a period of time regarding their reactions and observations of behavior in regard to specific styles. Such a method was not employed in the larger study, and will not be considered further here. In sum, then, the conformity dimension of fashion was not applicable to the available data and was not used in the subsequent anaysis. In returning to further consideration of the original data another preliminary problem presented itself. Sociology is an abstract science which often deals with concepts of behavior that cannot be directly ob- served. One result of this process is the achievement of a perspective in which much behavior can be seen to have consequences of which the h2. Allport, Floyd H., "The JeCurve Hypothesis of Conforming Behavior," in Swanson, Cw 3., Newcomb, Theodore 1L, and Hartley, Eugene L. , Readings in Social Psychology, New York, Henry Holt and Company, 9 a PPo-52fi53. 1:5 individual is unaware for the larger social system within which an individual behaves. For example, early missionaries felt that they were bringing religion to savage peoples to save their souls. Whether souls were saved or not, the missionaries served as a vangard possibly to a whole process of colonization and Westernization. Such an example some to show that what a person says he is doing may not be what he is "actually" doing. The question then arises of the use of going out with interviewing schedules and directly asking people questions about fashion, for example. This question can be answered by saying that verbal behavior is important in itself whatever the behavior it may rationalize. Mills has discussed this problem and began by stating unequivocally that, "The differing reasons men give for their actions are not themselves with- out reasons.“3 He called these reasons "motives," ad in this discussion of his work we will use his term (motive) in the sane sense as the term rationalization is used in this thesis. To Mills a motive is not the result of fixed imar and private states of men. It consists, rather, primarily of words. It is consistent with the speech form known as the question, and can be considered as an answer to a question, spoken or unspoken, interpreting a given act or pregam. Further, it involves the anticipated situational consequences of questioned conduct. "Hen discern situations with particular vocabularies, and it is in terms of some delimited vocabulary that they anticipate consequences and specific 1.3. Hills, c. Wright, "Situated Actions and Vocabularies of Motive," Amrican Sociological Review, Vol. 5, December, 1910, p. 901;. he actions."hh There is no need, he states, for concepts such.as desire or wish since they have ultimately to be explained socially. lb went on to say that when one names consequences he elicits the behavior for which this is a cue - an interpretation consistent, according to Mills, with Head's situational anaysis. Motives and actions are part of a situation, and a motive is that which conventionally accompanies a type situation and functions as a cue and justification for normative actions within it. Motives, moreover, are often.more than justifications for an act; they are strategies of action and manipulation - ways of bringing about action. They influence the self and others. Action, Mills said, is not discrepant from its verbalization; verbalization is a new act. There is no discrepancy between the two things, but "two disparate actions, motor-social and verbal."h5 If both members of a situation agree with a motive it may function as an integrative factor, it may resolve conflicts and make acts possible. Shifts in the use of motives by an individual may be a clue to his identification with various groups. Hills noted incidentally that men do not always verbalize motives and that not all actions pivot around language. He then observed that in asking for motives for behavior one can only ask for the controlling speech form, and that "individualistic, sexual, hedonistic, and pecuniary vocabularies are apparently now dominant in many sectors of twentiethp century urban America.h6 Religious motives, for example, which were hh. Ibid., p. 906. us. Ibid., p. 907. 1:6. Ibid., p. 910. h? dominant for so many centuries in Western culture are now debunked. People accepting certain motives accuse others of lying if they appear to have different or to them unacceptable motives. The variable is the accepted vocabulary of each man's dominant group about whose opinion he cares. Deter- mination of such on s their location and character, would enable deIim a on and methodoIOgIE'a'ii control 2_ assiflnt 2_ met ves fispsc f c acts. Motives vary according to personalities and societies, Mills states, but the "motivational structures of individuals and the patterns of their purposes are relative to societal frames. Us might study mo- tives along stratified or occupational lines.“48 This is one thing which this thesis attempts to demonstrate. The responses to the interview questions which were quoted in the first part of this section were considered rationalizations for behavior. These in turn were considered indicative of the respondents' orientations toward fashion, or of their normative frame of reference - the things they used to explain their behavior, the things they considered acceptable as explanations for their behavior. And this is essentially similar to what Hills called motives. After the various kinds of rationalizations were established and described these rational izations were compared with the respondents' social class positions and other indices of their general style of living. In concluding his analysis Mills stated that, Motives are of no value apart from the delimited societal situations for which they are the appropriate vocabularies. 1.7. Ibid., p. 911. 1‘80 Ibid., P0 9130 h8 Rather than interpreting actions and language as external manifestations of subjective and deeper lying elements in individuals, the research task is the locating of particu- lar types of action within typal frames of normatiw actions and socially situated clusters of motives. Again, this is approximately what has been attempted in this study. And, on tin basis of such considerations, it would seem that the responses of the women interviewed on the subject of fashion are useful for achieving an understanding of one kind of behavior. Development of the Typoloy Upon re-examination the data seemed to fall into natural groupings of responses according to the reason given by a woman for her behavior, whether she answered yes or no to any given question. At the same time it was suggested to the writer that a typolog based on Parsons' con- cept of the unit act might be possible.50 Parsons' concept of the unit act involves four elements. The first is the 291.93. The second element is the 199.! or the state of affairs toward which the process of action is oriented. The third element is the present situation which differs from the desired end. There are two aspects of the situation: those which are not controllable by the actor, called conditions, and those controllable by the actor, called 3923. And the fourth elemnt, where there are alternative means available fcr the actor to use in a given situation directed towards a desired and is called a normative orientation. It is a kind of independent selec- h9e 92.2. fie 50. In a conversation with Gregory P. Stone. h? tive factor which guides an individual's choice among alternative means in the light of the anticipated cnd.51 In this study, the respondents to the questionnaires were regarded as "actors" oriented to the "end" of fashionable behavior. Fashionable behavior, of course, is accomplished by wearing stylish clothing, but, since not all the respondents were able to purchase or use stylish clothing, this was a "means" of the situation only for some of the housewives studied. Its use was precluded to others. 'lhere stylish clothing was a means to fashionable behavior, two types of normative orientation, indicated by responses to the six questions cited at the beginning of this chapter, dictated its selection: mimetic and‘ig- dividualizigg. The main characteristic of the responses of the mimetic type was a feeling of compulsion or desire to be 1252.2392EE: or to escape being conspicuous. They were what their friends were wearing in order to es- cape notice. .A feeling for moderation was also included in this category - that is, a desire to avoid extremes of style. Examples of responses included in this category are as follows:52 I wouldn't doubt that if’everybody also wears shorter skirts, I'll be doing it too. I think everybody follows the style. If everybody also wears knee-length skirts I will too. I never wear the latest fashions when they first come out. I don't want to feel conspicuous. 51. Persons, Talcott, The Structure of Social Action, McGraw—Hill Book 00., New Yerk, 1957j‘5tifisifla. 52. In all cases the examples are actual responses. Some have been modified in order to make the context clear. SO I wouldn't wear knee-length skirts unless I felt like a hack number. If it looked as though I were a hick, if I didn't wear shorter skirts, I would wear them. Otherwise not. I suppose I'll have to wear shorter skirts, but I certainly hate to. I were longer skirts to keep up with the Romans again. Funm, we hate it, but we keep following. The individualising orientation emphasized the importance of dif- ferentiating and attracting attention to one's self, or wearing ”be- coming” clothing. Judgments about the attractiveness of clothes were the main criteria of choice. The individualising oriented person re- Jeoted clothes that were "unbecoming" even if they were in style, or modified "unbecoming" styles to suit herself. Examples of responses included in this category are as follows: loll, you should wear what's becoming. If it didn't look good on In I wouldn't like it. To me you should wear clothes you look halfway decent in and to wear something you don't look good in just because it's in style isn't right Other respondents did not perceive stylish clothing as means to be manipulated for the achievemnt of fashionable behavior. These seemed to include two types: condition-inhibited and non-rationalizing. The condition-inhibited type included those respondents who felt themselves somehow prevented from achieving their fashion goals by certain aspects of their situation. Responses included in this category indicated that such things as economic limitations, appropriateness of certain clothing for age or physical peculiarities, or practical aspects of comfort and convenience took precedence over the demands of fashion. Sl Included in this category were those responses indicating that a par- ticular style was purchased because that was all that was available and that a person purchased an its: because conditions were such that sb couldn't obtain anything else. Examples of responses included in this category are as follows: I didn't have the money to by longer skirts. tell, for one reason I can't afford a suit. They are too high for n to consider. I'm too old to wear skirts that short. Eavens! I don't think they sell the latest fashions in Goldwater. I'm too short and broad to wear short skirts. Iell, if I were 16 or 17 years old I might wear shorter skirts. Right now I'm married with three children. The non-rationalising type included those responses from which no rationalization of fashionable behavior could be inferred. A very characteristic response which was classified here was an explanation for behavior simply because, "It was the style.“ This category also included those who arbitrarily liked or disliked some style without an explanation of win they liked or disliked it. Examples of responses involved in this category are as follows: I like than long on me. I like the length I'm wearing now. I don't like it, that's all. I wore the shorter length because it was in fashion. During the process of classification a residual category was developed for responses which were considered indeterminate, irrelevant or ambiguous and which did not fit any of the above categories. In- 52 cluded in this were references to what other people liked or considered “becoming" or attractive, since what was wanted were statements of per- sonal preference or judgnent. It was felt that it was not safe to as- sume that such statements were projections of a respondent's own preference. hamples of some responses included in this category are as follows: I can't remember that I have ever worn a dress or suit that was in style even though I didn't like it. I like shorter skirts on son people. is has been said, the first step in the analysis was to classify all of the responses to the six questions from the schedule on the basis of this typology. It should be stated, however, that this typolog was evolved m the basis of an examination of those sane Repel)”. e Conunicability of the Typolog In order to make sure that the classification was fairly objective a samle list of questions was made, composed of an eight percent sam- ple of the total number of responses. They were taken at random from the original data. This list of responses, together with a description of each type, was given to three judges who were asked to classify each response. The following per cents of agreement were reached on the fifty-four sample responses: four agreements, 72%; three agreements, 21$; and two agreements, 71. Hone were split four ways. In all cases except two, including one where the split was two and two, the agreement was with the writer. Such a crude seasure is by no means positive proof, but at least it indicated that there was no reason to reject the feasibility of using such a classification. 53 In order to check the reliability of the original ratings by the writer a random sample of about 12% of the original data was re-classi- ' fied by the writer achieving a 90% agreement with the previous classifi- cation. Classification of Individuals After all the responses had been classified a list was made of each individual's score for responses of each type. Since some indivi- duals expressed more than one idea in response to a single question and since some questions were not answered, the total number of responses per individual varied - from three to thirteen with a mean of 7.16 responses per individual. The distribution was as follows: TABEE I DISTRIBUTION OF RESPONSES Classifiable answers Number of per individual such cases 3 l h 3 S 7 5 37 7 23 8 13 9 ll 10 6 ll 3 12 2 13 l Thenion.the basis of the total.number of responses of each type an expected number of responses of each type for each individual was cal- culated. For example, out of a total of 765 responses there were 17h Sh of the mismtic type. This was 22.7% of the total. Therefore, if a person made a total of nine responses it would be expected that if her responses were randomly distributed ammg the various possible types that she would have 22.7% or 2.07 respmses of the mimetic type. In this man- ner the expected mmber of responses for each type of orientation for each individual were fomd. Then all the positive deviations from ex- pected were found by subtracting the expected frequency from the actual frequency. (he completed case is shown in Table II. TABLE II DEVIATION OF RESPQISES 1"le ERECTED FOR AN INDIVIDUAL — --—-..__—.- --..-q,-r...-ibfl V--~— -.... ___.-___...—-- Typology of Fashion Orientatims Operation _ w Mime tic Individual- Condition- Non-Ra- izing inhibited tionalizing Begun“ Actual respmses l 0 O 3 3 Expected responses 1.61 .93» 1.69 1.97 .80 Positive deviation 0 O O 1.03‘ 2.20 In the cases where there was a large deviation of one type with no other positive deviation or also very small deviations (under .50) an individual was assigned to that type. However, in cases where there was no such clear-cut grouping a number of statistically undefensible but logically defensible decisions were made. I'henever the residual category showed a high positive deviation it was throvn out if there was a positive deviation of approximately one in any other category. For example, the 55 case illustrated in Table II'would therefore be classified as HondRation- aliaing. Similarly the mimetic, individualising, and condition-inhibited categories took precedence over either the Non-Rationalizing or the residual categories if they both had positive deviations of approximately one or more. If both the mimetic and the individualizing categories had ap- proximately the saue positive deviation the case was ultimately thrown out. (Altogether nine cases were thrown out, but only two or three on this basis.) In a few cases where there were two or three small devia- tions (under .50) the cases were also omitted from the later analysis. After each case was classified the following distribution resulted. TABLE III DISTRIBUTION OF TIPOLOGI Types Cases Number Per cent mimetic 3h 31.8 Individualizing 18 16.8 Condition-inhibited 27 25.2 Nan-Rationalizing 19 17.8 Indeterminate 9 8.h Total 107 va 100.0 The indeterminate cases were eliminated and ninetyboight typed cases were used in the subsequent analysis. This process of developing a typology was very crude, but in the light of the degree of refinement of the original data, the exploratory S6 nature of the project, and the fact that this was essentially a post £199. study, it seemed needless and of little gain to refine the actual process of assigning individual respondents to a classification any further. If this process could give at least a suggestion that such a differentiatim could be found among women's orientatims to fashion, that is as much as could be expected at this stage. Any relationships which were found must be taken as suggestive and hypothetical. However, the discovery of relationships consistent with the theoretical frame- work previously outlined can be considered, in a sense, a confirmation of the legitimacy of the typolog. CHAPTER III SOCIAL CHARACTERISTICS OF TYPES OF ORIENTATIONS T0 FASHION In this chapter data on the association between general social and economic characteristics, and data pertinent to the three focal hypotheses (see Chapter I) are presented. The social and economic characteristics are sociological variables that are frequently found to be related to various aspects of behavior, and include demographic factors, indications of social participation, and exposm to mass media. This data had been previously coded and tabulated for the larger study, and for comparison with the typology was simply repunched on new cards. Such demographic factors as age or education are basic elements in aperson's life that limit or permit his participation in various social situations. For example, old people simply do not have the strength to do mam things young people can do; children cannot take a: the responsibilities of adults. Or, a women's income may limit her ability to keep buying new clothes. Indices of social participation give some idea of a person's part in the social system, of her values or of her interests. For example, a good church-goer might be expected to be a religious person who held to the values considered important by her church - which might include the prohibition of certain kinds of clothes. In additicn, the United States today is largely character- ized by mass culture. Mass society depends, among other things, on mass media, and the spread of fashion information and ideas depends a1 57 58 widespread communication. Therefore questions pertaining to the amount and kind of magazine reading done by the respondents have been included to give some indication of whether or not they received the impressions and ideas of the mass society, and along with them fashion information. In sum, then, all of these kinds of factors may have had some relation- ship with the respondents' orientations to fashion. The three focal hypotheses concerning the relationship between fashion and social class, mobility, aid localite-cosmopolite identification grew out of a consideration of the fashion literature as has been indicated. Existence of association between the typology and other characteristics was tested mainly by means of the chi square. Since the sample was so small, a correction factor was applied to all of the tables.53 In all cases a cor- rected coefficient of contingency (C) was used to indicate degree of as- sociation.5h Direction of association was discussed in the text. The 5% level of significance was arbitrarily chosen, though in some cases associa- tions significant up to the 10% level were considered at least to indicate trends. For most of the tables a chi square test was made for the existence of association not only between the four types aid the variable under con- sideration but also between the means-oriented types (the mimetic and the in- dividualizing types considered together) and the condition-inhibited type and the said variable. This was done because observation showed that the means—oriented types tended to vary in the same direction, and also be- cause the 10gic of the typology suggested that there could, in some cases, be a greater difference between the means-oriented and the 53. See Hagood, Margaret, and Price, Daniel 0., Statistics for Sociologists, Henry Holt and Company, New York, 1952, p. 370. Sh. See McCormick, Thomas 0., Elementary Social Statistigs, McGraw-Hill Company, 191:1, p. 207. 59 non-means oriented types than between the mimetic and individualizhng type 3 . Demographic Characteristics The demographic characteristics considered were age, education, size of place of birth, years at present residence, number of children and income. 553. Our respondents ranged in age from twenty to eighty with an average of hl.1 years. The frequencies were well spread out with little TABLE IV ASSOCIATION OF THE FASHION TYPOLOGY WITH AGE ‘86 Typology of Fashion Orientations in . , Mimetic Individuale Condition- Non-Ra- Yea” izing inhibited tionalizing“ ““13 Nump Per Nump Per Num- Per Nump Per Nump Per ber cent ber_ cent ber cent ber cent ber4_cent 20-29 8 23.5 t 23.5 5 18.5 6 35.3 23 2h.2 30-39 8 23.5 5- 29.h 8 29.6 5 29.h 26 27.h ho-h9 7 20.6 3 17.6 7 25.9 3 17.6 20 21.1 50-59 8 23.5 3 17.6 6 22.2 1 5.9 18 18.9 60-69 3 8.8 2 11.8 0 o. 2 11.8 7 7.h 70-79 0 o. 0 0. 1 3.7 0 o. 1 1.1 Totals 3h 99.9 17 99.9 27 99.9 17 100.0 958 100.1 Average h2.06 hl.h7 h1.67 39.93 h1.10 itiiiiiin 12.95 13.25 12.17 13.12 12.92 ‘Three respondents failed to answer this question. 60 clustering at any given age. There was no significant difference between the means of am of the types and no particular reason for expecting an age difference. Education. 'hile it was not shown in the following table all except one of the half dozen people in the sample who completed only between one and four grades of school were included in the cmdition—inhibited type 3 and half of those who completed college were included in the mimetic type. TABLE V ASSOCIATICN OF THE FASHIQ‘I TYPGLOGY WITH EDUCATION -_ a _ ‘1— -:__ t -—*A‘——o-—— “M 41.... Typology of Fashim Ch'ientationsA Grades c 111 Individual- Cmdition Ncn-Ra- Completed Kinetic 12.-1:139 mmmuaa tionalizing ““13 Num- Per Num- Per Num- Per Num- Per Num- wPer ber cent ber cent ber cent ber cent ber cent 8 or fewer 7 20.6 3' 17.6 8 29.6 )4 21.0 22 22.? 9 to 11‘ 7 20.6 1 5.9 2 7.11 8 1.2.1 18 18.5 12‘ 10 29.1. 10 50.3 12 mm. s 26.3. 37 38.1 13 or more 10 29.14 3 17.6 5 18.5 2 10.5 20 20.6 1.1-.21. 31. 100.0 17 99.9 27 99:9 19 99.9 97b 99.9 :2 3 10037 p<030 xzcd = .96 p<.7o ‘lhen these two rows compared: 12 3 7.11; p (.06; and 73': .117. bme informant neglected to answer this question. °These columns were collapsed and used in the computation of the second chi square. d’rhis colum was used in the computation of the second chi square. 61 There was no significant association between the fashion typology (broken down either four or two ways) and education when the respondents were classified according to whether or:not they had completed some grammar school, some high school, graduation from high school or any amount of college. If this were stated as a null hypothesis, it would have to be at least tentatively accepted. The fact that the existence of association neared the significant level when some attendance at high school was compared with graduation from high school, however, showed that there was a tendency for education to differentiate between the types in so far as the individualizing type, in this case, had the greatest relative positive association thh education. This is con- sistent with the later finding that this type has, the highest social class position, since education today is one of the avenues through which higher status may be achieved. 'Moreover, those coming from lower status groups tend to drop out of school sooner to go to work. However, this must be modified with the observation that the mimetic type had more people with some college education, and the condition-inhibited type had nearly as many graduating from high school as the individual- ieing type. Here was a possible source of feelings of frustration for the condition-inhibited type since they were exposed to the sane kinds of ideas and values as the individualising type but were not able to realise such aspirations as they had acquired in school.not only in re- gard to the wearing of fashionable clothing but also in regard to such things as occupation and income, as the data also showed. 62 Size 2; Birthplace. Originally this information was classified eight ways, but was regouped as in Table VI. As can be seen there was no difference between the types. TAKE VI ASSOCIATION OF THE FASHION TYPOLOGI WITH SIZE OF BIRTHPLACE Typolog of Fashion Orientations Place Mimstic Individual- Ccndition- Non-Re- Totals of icing inhibited tionalising Birth Num- Per Num- Per Num- Per Num- Per Num- Per ber cent ber cent ber cent ber cent ber cent Small Town Under 2,500 9 26.5 S 29.3 7 2h.1 0 o. 21 21.0 City 2, 500 to 25,000 10 29.h 8 h7.0 16 55.2 13 65.0 h? h7.0 City Over . 25,000 6 17.6 3 17.8 1 3.5 2 10.07 12 12.0 Totals 3t 100.0 17 100.0. 29 100.0 20 100.0 100a 100.0 :2 = 6.81 - p2. .10 ‘Two respondents were accidentally classified twice and could not be identified. Length 95 residence _i_n. present dwelling place. The data was classified as in Table VII. A null hypothesis asserting that-there was no association between the fashion typology and the length of residence in the present dwelling place would be substantiated. Further 63 collapsing of the columns was only slightly more significant. TABLE VII ASSOCIATION OF THE FASHION TYPOLOGI WITH LENGTH OF TIME IN PRESENT RESIDENCE ‘— w {231‘s Typology of Fashion Orientations ve “— in t d Individual- Condition- Non-Ra- T t Present Him 10 iZingd inhibitede tionalisini O 313 Residence Num- Per Num- Per Num- Per Num- Per Nun-:- Per ber cent bar cent ber cent bar cent ber cent 2 or fewer‘ 3 8.8 2 12.5 h 1h.8 1. 22.2 13 13.6 2-1.1‘ 6 17.6 1 6.2 7 25.9 5 27.7 19 2 20.0 10-11.b 7 20.8 2 12.5 2 7.1. 2 11.1 13 13.6 15 or more 10 29.17 h 25.0 5 18.5 1 5.5 20 21.0 T013818 31. 100.1 16 100.0 27 99.9 18 99.9 95° 100.0 :2 = 6.66 P ( .110 2 .. abThese rows were collapsed in the computation of the first chi .qme °Three respondents did not answer this question. e dThese rows were collapsed in the computation of the second chi squaree Number 93 children. As can be seen from Table VIII on the next page the condition-inhibited type contained the greatest number of families with three or more children, while the mimetic type was con- centrated more closely around the overall mean, 2.112 children, with some 6h tendency toward larger families. Since the ages of the women of the individualizing type are the same as the women of the other fashion-oriented types, their tendency toward fewer children cannot be explained in terms of their being younger people who had not started their families. However, at the time the schedules were taken, certainly more of them seem to have delayed having children. This may be a result of their interest in other things such as higher standard of living, or, conversely, the lack of children may have resulted in their having more time and energy to devote to other things such as keeping up with the latest fashions. TABLE III ASSOCIATION OF THE FASHION moms! 711m mmssa OF CHILDREN Typolog of Fashion Orientations Individual- Condition— Non-Ra- izingb inhibitedc tionalizing Num- Per Num- Ter Num- Per Nin- Per Num- For her cent ber cent ber cent ber cent ber cent Children Mimeticb Totals O to 1 5 111.7 6 37.5 8 29.6 5 27.8 2h 25.2 2 13 38.2 6 37.5 5 18.5 6 33.3 30 31.6 3 or more 16 117.0 h 25.0 114 51.8 7 38.9 ’41 113.2 TOTAL 3h 99.9 16 100.0 27 99.9 18 100.0 95‘ 100.0 x? = 11.18 p < .60 12 = 2.03 p L .110 3Answers to this question were not obtained for three respondents. bcThese rows were collapsed aid used in the canputation of the second chi square. 65 On the other hand the condition-inhibited respondents probably felt somewhat limited when oriented toward fashion because they had to devote their time, money, energy, etc., to their families. The mimetic type seemed to represent a kind of inbetween category here. Their responsibilities for their children probably prevented them from devoting a great of emery to fashionable clothing, but they did feel able to keep up enough to be as much in style as their friends. However, there was no significant association between the typology and the number of children so the foregoing are only tentative suggestions based on observation of the table. m. The C score for the association between income and the fashion typolog, as shown in the mxt table, was moderate. The relationship was not significant when the four-part typolog was caspared by income, but when the mimetic and individualizing types were collapsed and compared with the condition-inhibited type (with the non-rationaliflng type being dropped), the relationship was sig- nificant at the .011 level. Obviously those with more income find themselves more able to obtain and use such clothing as they desire, while those with less income find it much more difficult even to ob- tain clothing. Thus the means-oriented types find themselves more able than the condition-inhibited type to take the first step in the manipulation of clothing. 66 TABLE II ASSOCIATION OF THE FASHION TIPOLOGY WITH INCCME Typology of Fashion Orientations Ibarly c Individual- Condition- Noana- r Imam “Wt“ izingc inhibitedd 8167121121113 “313 Num- Per Num- Per Num- Per Num- Per Num- Per ber cent ber cent ber cent ber cent ber cent Over $10,000 5 15.2 2 11.8 1 3.7 1 5.9 9 9.6 $5,000 to 89,9998 h 12.1 3 17.6 2 7.u 3. 17.6 12 12.8 $3,0003to $17,999 18 517.5 9 52.9 11 140.7 6 35.3 hh 116.8 32,000th 82,999 5 15.2 3 17.6 5 18.5 6 35.3 19 20.2 $1 to 1999b 1 3.0 o 0. 8 29.6 1 5.9 10 10.6 18:21. 33 100.0 17 99.9 27 99.9 17 100.0 9h? 100.0 :2 = 6.05 p g .1.0 220d = 6e78 p < .0h .6. = e38 a“’These columns were collapsed in the computation of the first chi square. chhese columns were collapsed in the computation of the second chi square. °Four respondents failed to answer this question. Indications of Social Participation Religious affiliation. There was no significant association between the fashion typoloy and religious affiliation as can be seen from an examinatim of Table 1 on the next page. 67 TABLE I: ASSOCIATION OF THE FASHION TYPOLOGI WITH RELIGIOUS AFFILIATION Typology of Fashion Orientations Religious . . 3 Individual- Condition- Non-Ra- fifiua‘ Mmtm izinge inhibitedf tionalizing T°ta13 Num- Per Num- Per Nump Per Nump Per Nump Per ber cent ber cent ber cent ber cent ber cent Presbyter- ian, Epis- copal 11 37.9 h 28.6 h 15.h 3 18.8 222 25.9 Methodista 7 21..2 2 11..3 8 30.9 1 6.25 18 21.2 Congrega- tional, Christian Evangelical, United b Brethren O O. 2 1h.3 1 3.8 1 6.25 h h.7 Baptist 2 6.9 111.3 1 3.8 1 6.2.5 6 7.1 Adventistb o 0. 0. 0 0. o 0,. 0 0. Free Moths odistB les- leyan 3 10.3 o. 3 11.5 2 12.5 8 9.1. Holiness and re - ed sects 1 3.5 7.1 2 7.7 2 12.5 6 7.1 Catholicc 3 10.3 21.1. 3 11.5 1. 25.0 13 15.3 Ana p- tist O O. O. O 0. 1 6.25 l 1.2 None° 2 6.9 o. 1. 15.5 1 6.25 7 8.2 Totals 29 100.0 11. 100.0 26 100.0 16 99.9 85d 100.1 :2 = 1.51. p 4.70 1231': .89 P {090 abThese rows were collapsed in the computation of the first chi square. °This row was omitted in the computation of the chi square. dThirteen respondents did not answer this question. “These oolums were collapsed in the computation of the second chi square. 68 Church attendance. There was, however, a definite association when the four types (and also the twoaway breakdown) were compared according to the respondent's estimation of the percentage of Sundays she had TABLE II ASSOCIATION OF THE FASHION TYPOLOGY WITH CHURCH ATTENDANCE Sunday Typology of Fashion Orientations Church Attendance d Individual- Condition- Non-Ra- Last ”mu" 121.836 inhibited° tionalizing ““13 Six Nuns Per Num- Per Num— Per Num- Per Nuns Per Months ber cent ber cent ber cent ber cent ber cent 80% or morea 9 27.3 1. 28.6 s 20.0 5 35.7 23 26.7 50% to 8033 3 9.1 h 28.6 0 o. 2 111.3 9 10.5 20% to 50%8 2 6.1 3 21.h 1 h.0 2 1h.3 8 9.3 20% or lessb 7 21.2 1 7.1 8 32.0 2 11.3 18 20.9 Noneb 12 36.3 2 11..3 11 1.1..0 3 21.1. 28 32.5 Total 33 100.0 11. 100.0 25 100.0 11. 100.0 86° 99.9 :2 = 10.03 4 p < .02 '5 = .hl. 12¢: 8.12 p < .06 ab These rows were collapsed in the computation of the first chi square. cTwelve respondents did not answer this question. d'These columns were cellapsed in the computation of the second chi square. attended church during the previous six months. Such a result, as shown in Table II helps to explain the lack of differentiation between respondents according to religious affiliation. Only about a third of I 69 the women attended church more than half the time. So, as far as fashion is concerned, it becomes a question of whether one goes to church or not; and where one goes makes little difference. There was a positive relationship between the individualizing type and 20% or more attendance at Sunday services. The C was of moderate degree, and was about the level of the others so far considered. This result was probably indicative of a situation where attendance at church becomes an opportunity for showing off one's clothes, a chance for "conspicuous consumption.“ At any rate, church is one of the constantly recurring situations where good clothing is required. Moreover, perhaps those who do not, or cannot afford to, dress well, that is, the condition-inhibited group, feel that they do not look "respectable enough" to attend church, and therefore do not go. The mimetic type showed no clear—cut trend since it had the second- highest percentages of both those who attended church 80% of the time or more and those who attended not at all. Change in religious status. Religious denominations were ranked according to status in the larger study, and then each individual'was classified according to whether or not during her life-time so far she had changed upward or downward or had remained the same. The great majority of the respondents did not change their religious affiliation, though as Table X indicated, they have fallen away from actual participation in church services. There was a very positive relationship between upward religious mobility and the means- oriented types. These are probably the same people who attended church more regularly, and it certainly would seem logical that those who 70 TABLE XII ASSOCIATION OF THE FASHION TYPOLDGY WITH RELIGIOUB'MOBILITY Typology of Fashion Orientations Religious c Individual- Condition- Non-Ra- Mobility Mimetic 121n8c inhibitedd tionalizing Totals Num- Per Num- Per Num- Per Num- Per Num— Per ber cent ber cent ber cent ber cent ber cent UP 7 25.9 3 27.3 1 5.3 0 0. 11 16.2 Doma 1 3.7 1 9.1 1 5.3 0 0. 3 h.h None 19 7003 7 63 e6 1? 890,4 1]. 100.0 5h 79.11 Totals 27 99.9 11 100.0 19 100.0 11 100.0 68b x2 = 14.18 p < .20 C = .314 chd 3 6.76 p < .01 .5 . oh? aThis row was not used in any chi square computation. hFifteen responses were indeterminate; fifteen respondents did not provide sufficient information. attended church prompted by a desire for conspicuous consumption, or more generally, status sepirations, would try to maximize the effect of their effort to the extent of changing churches if possible. Membershipin organizations besides the church. Originally the respondents were classified according to membership in twenty different organizations 0r groups of very similar organizations. All but two of these categories have been arbitrarily included in the general titles given in Table XIII. These organizations were arranged roughly according to status, and the results were consistent with the theoretical framework outlined in 71 TABLE XIII ASSOCIATION OF THE FASHION TIPOLOGY WITH CLUB MEMBERSHIP Typology of Fashion Orientations Clubs Belonged Mimeticb Indivgdual- Condition- Non-Ra- izing inhibitedc tionalizing Totals To Nump ber Per Num- cent ber Per Num~ Per Nump Per Num Per cent ber cent ber cent ber cent Professioné- a1 or Special Interest Clubs, Coun- try Club 1h American Legion, Veterans' Associa- tions, Ser- vice Clubs, Union 10 Farm.or Church Groups, PTA, Lodges 32 25.0 17.8 57.1 17 36.6 2 5.7 6 27.2 33 23.1 6.7 7 20.0 8 36.h 27 18.9 56.6 26 7h.3 8 36.h 83 58.0 Totals 56 99.9 30 99.9 35 100.0 22 100.0 11.38 100.0 x? = 1h.23 2 x be : 603,4 — p<.03 0: .38 p<.Oh '5': .32 aIndividuals indicated more than one membership be second chi square. These columns were collapsed and used in the computation of the Chapter I and with the association of the typology with social class which will be presented later in this chapter. The individualizing type had the greatest positive association with professional and special interest 72 and the country club group. The mimetic type also had a positive as- sociation with this group. The means—oriented respondents tended to be- long to the higher status groups more frequently than the non-means- oriented respondents. The C score was moderate. Number 9_f_' memberships in organizations. The typology was classified as in the following table. The chi square tests showed little or no TABLE XIV ASSOCIATION OF THE FASHION TYPOLOGY WITH NIMBER OF CLUB MEMBERSHPS gmgr of Typology of Fashion Orientations __ an r- . . 33531;, W saga“ 22:23.: mgm we tions Num- Per Num- Per Num- Per Num- Per Num- Per ber cent ber cent ber cent ber cent ber cent None 10 29.11 3 17.6 8 29.6 8 112.1 29 29.9 1 to 2a 111 111.2 9 52.9 12 1111.11 6 31.6 111 142.3 3 to u‘ 3 8.8 2 11.8 7 25.9 h 21.0 16 16.5 5 to 6b 6 17.6 3 17.6 0. o. 0 0. 9 9.3 7 or more 1 2.9 0 0. 0 o. 1 5.3 .2 2.0 Totals 3h 99.9 17 99.9 27 99.9 19 100.0 97° 100.0 Average 2.31 2.12 1.12; 1.52 1.85 :2 = 6.65 P < .110 1266: 8.77 p 2 .10 ‘6 = .36 alense rows were collapsed in the computation of the chi square. °Che reapondent failed to answer this question. doThese columns were collapsed in the computation of the second chi square. 73 association, but there was a significant difference between the averages of the mimetic type and the condition—inhibited type. This, plus the greater significance of the second chi square, points up a tendency for there to be the greatest difference between the means-oriented and the condition-inhibited types, a difference between those who can manipulate clothing somehow and those who are prevented from doing so. Number 2f officerships in organizations. A chi square test was run on this item, but it showed no definite trend whatsoever and will not be presented here. There was a p of 4 .90 for the first chi square and a p of 4 .50 for the second. Differences between the means were also tested, but again there was nothing significant. Recreation. One question asked the respondents to list what they and their families did rather frequently for recreation. The responses were classified under the following headings: dancing, card playing, movies, shapping, athletic activities, visiting friends, reading, lis- tening to the radio or watching television, going to the tavern, and others. Examination of the data showed no consistent trends, and there seemed no way of logically collapsing the categories. Number of kinds of recreation. There was, however, a significant trend in the association of the number of different kinds of recreational activities with the fashion typology at the 11% level. There was a dif- ference between the means of the mimetic and the condition-inhibited types significant at the .02 level; and between the means of the mimetic and the individualizing types significant at the .03 level. Recreation is one area where clothing is often important. Some kinds of recreation such as sports, games, or camping require special 7h kinds of clothing; other recreational activities require dressing up for the occasion. Thus, it seems entirely logical that tre mimetic type should participate in more kinds of activities than the condition-inhibited type . Exposure to Mass Media Magazines read. Responses to the question concerning what magazines the informants read more or less regularly were classified according to a total of nineteen different types of magazines including popular women's magazines, movie magazines, children's magazines, professional, religious or farm Journals, etc. These nineteen have been condensed into the nine categories shown in Table XV. A chi square was run to test the existence of association between the fashion typolog and four arbitrarily chosen categories which might be expected to Present fashion copy. Fashion maga- zines themselves were not included since they were mentioned only twice by women in the means—oriented groups and twice by women in the non-means- oriented groups. There was no significant association between the four- way typology and magazines read, but the second chi square showed a more significant trend. Women's popular monthly magazines such as McCalls or the £832.23 £2112 Journal were found to be more the magazine of the means-oriented types. Such magazines not only set minimum standards in fashions but offer sug- gestions on how to achieve the desired results whether they are to be appropriate to community or neighborhood activities or attention-getting for parties, for example. Movie magazines were read mainly by the non-means-oriented types. It is known that the condition-inhibited women were frustrated in various l 75 TABLE XV ASSOCIATION OF THE FASHION TYPOLOGI WITH KINIB OF MAGAZINES READ ._-._- _-_.- ————-_-—-__-..'—-__-.--v~-—q— Typology of Fashion Orientations b Indi 'dual- Condition- Non-Ra- Magazines Mimetic izingB inhibitedc tionalizing Totals Read Nums Per Num- Per Num- Per Nump Per Num- Per ber cent ber cent ber cent ber cent ber cent Movie and Adventurea 2 2.0 3 5.0 6 10.3 5 11.1 16 6.1 Popular Women's 1h lh.0 12 20.0 10 17.2 h 3.9 h0 15.2 Other Pop- ular Weekly and Monthly 22 22.0 10 16.7 11 19.0 11 28.11 5h 20.5 Digests and Pocket Size8 16 16.0 10 16.7 h 6.9 3 6.7 33 12.6 News and Intellectual 8 8.0 h 6.7 3 5.2 h 8.9 19 7.2 Pictorial- Curran: Events 16 16.0 S 8.3 6 10.3 h 8.9 31 11.8 Home-planning and Home- making 9 9.0 9 15.0 h 6.9 6 13.3 28 10.6 Fashion 2 2.0 2 3.3 1 1.7 1 2.2 6 2.3 AllOthers n 11.0 5 8.3 13 22.11 7 15.5 36 13.7 Totals 100 100.0 60 100.0 58 99.9 115 100.0 263 100.0 23:10.01; 92.30 12bc=5.30 P4015 aThese four rows were run against each other in the computation of the chi squares. All other rows were omitted. b°These columns were collapsed and used in the computation of the second chi square. 76 ways, for example in the wearing of cloths which were fashionable. It is also known that they had the lowest income and the lowest education of all the types. Their lives, therefore, were characterized by marw frustrations and probably anxieties and insecurities. These women were the heaviest readers of movie magazines which probably provided for them a kind of escape into a day-dream world. ELIE magazine was read by more of the mimetic type than the others. The digests were read mainly by the means-oriented types. Perhaps these magazines set the standards for conformity. However, the low chi square indicated that a null hypothesis can not be rejected, and only the existence of trends can be noted. m 2f different kinds 2!: magazines read. There was relatively little difference between the number of different kinds of magazines read by the four types. The mimetic type read an average of 3.18 kinds of magazines, tin individualizing type read 3.29, tin condition-inhibited type read 2.52 kinds of magazines, and the nm-rationalizing type read 2.115. There was a difference between the means of the individualizing and the nm-rationalizing types significant at the .05 level with the individualizing type reading more magazines. These two had the highest and tin lowest averages. Here there seemed to be a tendency toward a: difference between the means-oriented and the non-means oriented types which might be explained on the basis of their status levels md their style of living. The purchasing and reading of magazines takes time, money and inclination. However, it did seem that many magazines reached all of our respon- dents in similar kind and quantity. Roughly similar proportions of each 77 type read the popular weekly and monthly magazines such as Colliers, Cosmgpolitan, or the digests. Few of ary type read news or intellectual magazines, or religious, professional or farm Journals. Three Focal Hypotheses At the end of Chapter I three specific protheses were proposed. The first such typothesis stated that: Different orientations m fashion _a_r_e_ characteristic 9_f_ 2192.319. £9393 in different aegis; alga positions. The definition of social class used in the larger study of clothing, and also here, is based on Warner's Index of Status Characteristics. Warner explains the class system in the'United States in terms of ‘what he calls a structural imperative. With a more complex society, he states, the need for co-ordination and integraticn increases. Those occupying strategic positions at points of co-ordination and integration possess power which in turn makes for a hierarctw of power. There is, he says, a proportional relationship between complexity of technology and the economic system, and the social structure. He then goes on to describe his by now very familiar truncated pyramid of classes - the upper uppers, the lower uppers, the upper middle class, the lower mid- dle class, the upper lowers, and the lower lowers. He notes in addition that in newer cities which have grown rapidly there may be only five classes, there being no differentiation between a group of upper uppers and lower uppers. In another work Warner says that though all‘people are physical organisms, "the values which dictated their choice of a house or of food for a meal were socially determined and also expressed the 78 demands, needs and limitations of their social personalities in a status system.55 Thus, although power and economic factors are important, they must be translated into intimate participation and acceptance in a given class. To be a member of a given class one must be accepted by the other members. Mereover class makes a difference in such things as the reading of magazines and newspapers, in the use of retail products such as furniture, dress, etc. Scientists, warner says, must "identify, describe, locate, inter- relate, and measure the facts about the structure of social interaction."56 To do this he developed two scales: the Evaluated Participation scale, with.which we shall not be concerned here, and the Index of Status Characteristics. The ISC is a scale developed for assigning people to one or another of the five social classes which it can distinguish.” Originally the ISC was a combination of weighted ratings of a person's or family's occupation, house type, dwelling area and source of incomeT‘ The.larger clothing study utilized house types,8 and source of income59 as outlined by'Warner. Dwelling area was not utilized at 55. Earner, W. Lloyd, and Lunt, Paul 8., Th; Social Life of a Modern Community, New Haven, Yale University Press, I9hI, .-287. 56. Warner, Lloyd 11., Meeker, Marchia, and Eells, Kenneth, Social Class i2 America, American Book-Stratford Press, Inc., New York, I95I, p. 3h. 57. Ibid., IOOtnOte p. 125. 58. £919... pp. 1113-150. 590 Ibid., P. 157. 79 all because, "The status arrangements of the comunity were not clearly reflected in its ecological composition."60 That is, the terrain of Goldwater was unusually regular and lacked the hills or other natural features which have often played a prominent part in the spatial ar- rangements of cities and towns. In Goldwater one area was not especial- ly more desirable than others though there were two or three areas which were more undesirable.61 Therefore, this criterion was not used in the index of social class position. For the occupational ratings a diverse group of local long-time residents were asked to rate the 88 occupations in our sample on a seven point scale.62 Each individual was then.rated, and this score also included in his ISC. With the combined ratings the distribution of the sample of Goldwater residents was as follows.63 TABLE XVI SOCIAL CLASS DISTRIBUTION OF SAMPLE W 4“ Social Class Percent Upper 5,8 Upper-middle 13.5 ' Lower-middle 26.9 Upper-lower 36.5 Loner-lower 17.3 60. Stone, Gregory P., and Form, William H., 'Instabilities in Status: The Problem of Hierarchy in the Community Study of Arrangements," American Sociological E33123, Vol. 18, April, 1953, p. 15h. 61. 523. Egg. 62. £33. 3;}, 63. gy;g., p. 153. 80 By social class position, then, is meant throughout this study a person's ranking in the above table according to criteria previously outlined. It is essentially a crude measure of level in a hierarchy of esteem. This classification is somewhat more than just a logical construct. That is, in warner's study it was found to be a short way of differentiat- ing something that could be empirically uncovered in the more laborious methods utilized in the Evaluated Participation technique,6h where ex- tensive inquires were made into the interactions of people living in the community studied, their evaluations of each other, their consciousness of status levels, etc. Hence, the assignment of prestige in terms of such objective characteristics differentiates a person from others and probably points to differences in his more general style of living. For example, a per- son with great prestige in the community and a large income is likely to see that his children are very well educated, and his wife is likely to be well-dressed. In short, one can postulate that a class is virtually a sub-culture. This concept of social class as approximating a sub-culture is more appropriate to smaller communities such as Goldwater, with its population of 10,000 people, than to large Metropolitan areas. As Stone and Form stated in an article, ”Probably, the smaller the community, the greater the proportion of its members included in status groups."65 Members of status groups not only manipulate similar symbols of social position but 6h. ‘Ierner, Meeker and Eells, gp.'gi§., Chaps. 2,3,h,5 and 7. 65. Stone and Form, 22. 335., p. 151. 81 enjoy the same amount of deference from others as well as a sense of per-9 sonal dignity and worth. "Such groups are communal in nature, and, con- sequently, their members are in relatively frequent social contact with one another."66 On the other hand, "A status aggregate is an inclusive category referring to a number of individuals enjoying approximately the same honor in a community, but who are only in pgtential, capgicious, occasional, 25 spgradig social contact."67 Members of status groups can consciously and deliberately exclude others from their circles, but members of status categories are not in a position to be able to coordinate their actions towards this end. It follows that it is much easier to pass oneself off as a member of a status aggregate than a status group. This is because, according to Stone and Form, they exercise characteristically different kinds of con- trol over status symbols. "Status aggregates may he (often imprecisely) recognized by the appropriate symbols, but have no effective means of restricting their use." (as status groups can) They went on to say that therefore, "as a result, status symbols are more often adequate 'tests of status' for status groups than for status aggregates where, on the contrary, status symbols are seldom adequate 'tests of status.”68 Although in relation to large cities Goldwater would be characterized by status groupings rather than status aggregates it seems, from the fashion data, that it may contain elements of both kinds of structures if the fashion typology can be taken as an index of the existence of these 66. Ibid., p. 150. 67. Ibid., p. 151. Underlinings mine. 68. £22. 212. 82 elements. That is, if fashionable clothing is a symbol of status, and there are lower status people utilizing fashionable clothes, it seems reasonable to suppose that there are status aggregates. Thirtybseven percent of the individualizing type were upper-middle class or better, a higher pr0portion than any other class; while 60% of both the non-means- oriented types were upper-lower or lower-lower class. These definitely TABLE XVII ASSOCIATION OF THE FASHION TYPGLOGY WITH SOCIAL CLASS Typology of Fashion Orientations Social d Indiv dual- Condition- Non-Ra- :— mmtic izing inhibitede tionalizing ““13 Class .__ Num- Per Numhg Per Num- Per Nump Per Num- Per ber cent ber cent ber cent ber cent ber cent Uppera 2 6.1 2 12.5 1 3.9 1 6.3 6 6.6 Upper a Middle 6 18.2 h 25.0 2 7.7 1 6.3 13 111.3 Lower Middle 11 33.3 1. 25.0 7 26.9 3 18.7 25 27.5 Upper Lowerb 11 33.3 S 31.2 11 142.3 6 37.5 33 36.3 ‘Lower Lowerb 3 9.1 l 6.3 5 19.2 5 31.2 lb 1§.h Total 33 100.0 16 100.0 26 100.0 16 100.0 91° 100.1 12 = 12.11 p { .06 .5: .113 :de Z 5.23 p 4 .08 B a .ho abThese rows were collapsed in the computation of the chi square. cSeven respondents could not be classified. d6These columns were collapsed and used in the computation of the second chi square. 83 were lower status groups. However, the individualizing type had 37% and the mimetic type h2% also upper-lower or lower-lower class. Hence there was a substantial group of lower class people able to manipulate cloth- ing in the sense of wearing fashionable clothes. It seems not unreason- able to suppose that this indicates some existence of a status aggregate structure or perhaps a weakening of the lines between status groupings. The direction of association in the table was positive for the means-oriented types and the upper status positions. The individualizing type, however, had only one individual in the upper-lower or lower-lower class while the mimetic type had fourteen individuals so classified. Both the non-means-oriented types, as was stated, had positive associations with the lower status positions. Thus, with the exception of the mimetic type, the association tends to confirm the whole emphasis on fashion and class in the literature. The newer concepts of social groups and social aggregates, however, go further and allow for inclusion or explanation of the mimetic type also, as above. While the fact that there were relatively few cases, in addition to the crudeness of the typology, makes such a conclusion only provisional, it at least tends to confirm what was expected and to suggest a very fertile area for future research. The second focal hypothesis as stated in Chapter I was as follows: Different_orientations toward fashion differentiate those who are mobilg; and those :23 identify with a social class position higher than their 232' This contains a number of elements and several kinds of data will be presented including indications of occupational and situs mobility 8h plus class identification. These all refer, it must be emphasized, to the husband's occupation. The occupational rating utilized in Table XVIII was based on the prestige ratings done for the ISC classification TABLE XVIII ASSOCIATION OF THE FASHION TYPOLOGY WITH OCCUPATIONALIMOBILITY Typology of Fashion Orientations Occupa- tional Mimeticd Indivéduale Condition~ Non-Raw Mobility izing inhibitede tionalizing Totals Num- Per Num- Per Num- Per Num- Per Num- Per ber cent ber cent ber cent ber cent ber cent None 6 18.2 6 37.5 3 12.0 6 37.5 21 23.3 up8 13 39.h 6 37.5 9 36.0 8 50.0 36 no.0 Irregular- 1y up8 8 21.2 h 25.0 3 12.0 1 6.3 16 17.0 Downb 0 0. 0 o. 1 1.0 0 0. 1 1.1 Irregular- 1y Downb 3 9.1 0 0. 2 8.0 1 6.3 6 6.6 Irregularb 3 9.1 0 0. 7 28.0 0 o. 10 11.1 Totals 33 100.0 16 100.0 25 100.0 16 100.0 90c 99.9 x2 = 11.28 p 4 .07 '5 - .112 ‘26. = 5.92 p 4.06 ‘c = .38 abThese rows were collapsed in the computation of the chi squares. cOccupational mobility could not be determined for eight respondents. d6These columns were collapsed and used in the computation of the second chi square. 85 in the larger study and each individual's job history - also taken from the larger study. Here the clearest distinction was between those who were means- oriented and those who were not, with a positive association between the means-oriented types and upward mobility. However, all of the types had nearly 50% or more people upwardly mobile - a clear indication that sta- tus mobility, at least in Goldwater, is not just a myth. The most posi- tive relationship was found for the individualizing type which had no downward or irregularly mobile people and a much larger than expected number of peOple having no mdbility. This may be explainable in terms of the fact that the individualizing type already contained most of the upper status people or the fewest lower status people. This seems to in dicate that these people have essentially only maintained themselves at their present level and have not lost ground. In regard to the fashion typology it would seem that people who already had success in terms of status therefore also had to worry less about the censure of neighbors and friends and could afford to be different or more conspicuous or out- standing in socially approved ways such as the wearing of fashionable clothing. The mimetic type had a few more, relatively speaking, upward mobile people than the individualizing type and a few downward mobile people. The condition-inhibited type had actually a few more upward mobile people, relatively speaking, than either of the means—oriented types, but it had an extremely larger than expected number of downward mobile people. Thi seemed to indicate again that the types are not distinctly differentiate by social class indices but cut across class lines to some extent. d 86 It cannot be said that the downward mobile people of the condition~ inhibited type were unsuccessful because they couldn't manipulate clothing, but it is certain that the sum total of their occupational experience was thus far unsuccessful. And one aspect of modern life is the emphasis on manipulation of the "right" symbols (Clothing is one of the symbols.) and of other people. This factor again is consistent with the other character— istics of the condition-inhibited type. * Another kind of mobility, situs mObility, was the basis of another classification of respondents in the larger study. Hatt's concept of situs69 grew out of work he did in attempting to scale occupations by prestige. When very dissimilar occupations received the same score the question arose of whether or not other people actually ranked those occupations in relation to each other. Three samples were tested by the Guttman technique, but not even a quasi-scale was obtained. Then Hatt devised a new hypothesis, namely that even though the whole series of occupations did not scale on a single continuum there were sub- groupings that did scale in this manner. Hatt stated that his idea was an extension of that of Benoit-Smyllyan, and went on to say: There are, therefore, types of occupations whose status system.may be considered as a unit. The clearest example, perhaps of this idea is seen in the separation of agricultural occupations from industrial pursuits. The hypothesis is pre— sented here that status judgments within such divisions are consistent whereas status judgments between them are not. Consequently, a series of agricultural or industrial occupa- 70. tions should prove scalable separately but not in combination. 69. Hatt, Paul K., "Occupation and Social Stratification," The American Journal‘s; Sociology, Vol. LN, May, 1950, pp. 538-539. 70. Ibid., p. 539. 87 His first step was the "construction of groups by logical assign- ment employing the criterion of similar relationship between occupation and the consuming public."71 These were analyzed by the Cornell technique and rearranged somewhat. Because of this rearrangement Hatt stated that no absolute claims may be made, but they appear reasonable. The nature of situses is not entirely clear, but Hatt felt that the most important known characteristic of situses is that they include only jobs and co- cupations which can be consistently compared by most people. Any further statement of characteristics would be only conjecture. For further de- tails of actual situses and their sub-divisions the article itself should be consulted. Hatt felt that the application of "prestige-situs analysis should simplify problems involving stratification."72 For one thing there is a great deal of difference between intra-situs mobility and inter—situs mobility. Intra-situs mobility upward involves less risk and greater prestige and security, while inter-situs mobility, horizontal movement, involves the risk of less security and prestige because of the proba- bility that the new job will be lower in the hierarchy of prestige, though membership in the situs may be more advantageous for the individual in the long run. Inter-situs movement is considered here. According to Hatt's hypothesis those who have moved are likely to be in positions of greater insecurity than those who have not. And further, in regard to fashion, those who are the most insecure should be those who are most anxious to 710 Ibid" p0 5390 720 Ibid., Po Shze 88 conform in such things as the wearing of clothes in order to be more secure by being more like other people. TABLE XIX ASSOCIATION OF THE FASHION TYPOLOGY WITH INTER-SITUS MOBILITY “‘”’»w wan—u. M“_..—— W o.” Typology of Fashion Orientations Inter- , , d Individual- Condition- Non-Ra- T tals situs Mimetlc izingd inhibitede tionalizing ° Mobility Num- Per Num- Per Num- Per Num-‘ Per Num- Per _ber cent ber cent ber cent ber cent ber cent None 9 27.3 9 56.2 3 11.6 8 50.0 29 31.9 One Change, No Return8 6 18.2 2 12.5 6 23.1 3 18.75 17 18.7 Two Changes, No Returna 11 33.3 5 31.3 9 3h.6 5 31.25 30 33.0 (he Change, Returnb 5 15.2 o 0. 1 3.8 0 0. 6 6.6 No Chgnges, Return 2 6.0 O O. 7 26.9 0 O. 9 9.9 Totals 33 100.0 16 100.0 26 100.0 16 100.0 91c100.0 x2 = 13.31 ‘ p < .011 c = .16 x2de = 14.65 p < .10 abThese rows were collapsed in the computation of the chi squares. cSeven respondents could not be classified. deThese columns were collapsed and used in the computation of the second chi square. Any change, according to Hatt's hypothesis, involves unfamiliar risks, skills, etc., and hence insecurity. No change would imply the 89 greatest possibility of security. Change and no return would imply little insecurity since the person apparently adjusted or was adjusting to the new situs. Moving out of one situs and returning again, however, could be interpreted to mean that the individual had not been able to adjust to the new situation and consequently might be characterized by relatively more insecurity and sense of failure than the first two types. _ The individualizing type tended, on this basis to be the most secure. That is, informants so classified had the least amount of inter-situs mobility, a finding which is quite consistent with the fact that they had also the least amount of occupational mobility., On both counts, then, those who were classified in this type had the greatest security of position and therefore could well afford (in terms of not having to fear some possible adverse criticism) to use fashion to draw attention to themselves. {’There was some evidence of insecurity among the respondents of the mimetic type. Perhaps this was the reason for their conforming orienta- tion.3 Not being sure of their position, not feeling certain that they had achieved success according to prevailing norms, they might not have had self-confidence enough to call attention to themselves through the clothes they wore - or, contrariwise, might have bolstered their self- confidence through dressing the way they did. 7The condition-inhibited type had the fewest with no change, the most with change of any kind, and the most changes with return. This last con- dition is thought, as has been stated, to be conducive to the development of feelings of insecurity.) This finding is consistent with other known elements of this type's general life situation. Such factors are specific 9O indications of the restrictions keeping women of the condition-inhibited type from.undertaking culturally expected activities such as the wearing of fashionable clothing. Part of the second focal hypothesis concerned personal identifica- tion with a social class position. In addition to the ISC scale which TABLE XX ASSOCIATION OF THE FASHION TYPOLOGY WITH RELATION OF 07W SOCIAL CLASS ESTIMATE TO ISC RATING W: W F hi ‘ ' Own Social Typology of as on Orientations Class Esti-I Mimetica Individual- Condition- Non-Ra- Totals mate in Re- izinga inhibitedb tionalizingb lation to ISC Rating Num- Per Num- Per Num- Per Num- Per Num- Per ber cent ber cent ber cent ber cent ber cent Same (Upper and Middle 0188883) 12 112.9 7 5308 7 300,4 3 20.0 29 3607 Same (Lower Classes) 8 28.6 h 30.8 8 3h.8 6 h0.0 26 32.9 [.4 Up 3 10.7 Down 5 17 . 9 7.7 7 3o.h h 26.7 15 19.0 7.7 1 h.3 2 13.3 9 11.8 |-‘ Totals 28 100.1 13 100.0 23 99.9 15 100.0 79° 100.0 :2 = 11.97 p < .90 2 -.. xab-a% p ‘ tard, ‘K;. 2 . _ . ._-i"_,.~v_ ..'-" ' l ‘ \ - e t I l I, I I I J O ' N ‘. J; e . ‘ r - C _4 I ‘ I i ' ‘ ,. \ a v 1 . . . , ‘ . Q I O \ , _ V e a I . . 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