Taste Of Necessity Analysis

Fashion, taste, and class

Many people have different ideas as to what the role of fashion and taste is, perhaps the most common thought among people today is it functions to express “personal style” or “individuality”. However, four distinct sociologists claim it is has a different, more societal role. Thorstein Veblen in “Dress as an expression of the pecuniary culture” (1899), Pierre Bourdieu in “Taste of Luxury, Taste of Necessity” (1979), Georg Simmel in “Fashion” (1957), and Kate Fox in “Watching the English” (2004) have come to the conclusion that fashion or taste’s role is to express class strata. In this paper, I will synthesize their approaches, simultaneously identifying the reason they converge and diverge. The sociologists can

They all have different views on how class is structured, like by economic capital, power, or family, yet they all arrive at the same conclusion. That the role of fashion is to express class. The biggest limitation in their arguments is the time period and class system they write about. As we see from Fox’s argument, which observes a society more modern and closer to our time, the class boundaries are starting to fade in younger generations and, in her culture the role of fashion is veering towards expressing affiliations, like gothics or punks (2004, p. 400). However, other class systems that may be built on other values, beliefs and cultures are not explained. So we do not know what the role of fashion across cultures and modern societies where class systems are unstable. For example, in Arab societies where religion and tradition is a strong influence, the men and women are all dressed in a thob or abaya. The thob is typically a white dress for men, and the abaya is a typically loose fitting, black garment for women. Variances in these garments do not necessarily distinguish class but differentiate individuals from each other. As I mentioned before, the example of the Qatari society fits well as man families are well of and everyone seems to have the same opportunity, or at least achieve the same appearance. So what is the role of fashion today? And is it the same for all