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Fashion and status signaling happen in all kinds of ways, and always have. It doesn't have to be only the rich, just look at the status of sneakers amongst low-
by azinman2 6y ago
Fashion and status signaling happen in all kinds of ways, and always have. It doesn't have to be only the rich, just look at the status of sneakers amongst low-income Americans. People like to stand out just like animals might have ever bigger horns/peacocks/claws/colors to signal that they're a great mate.
The larger body of work here is called 'signaling theory' and you can see it apply equally between animal and human domains. Pineapples first started as honest signals because only the wealthy could afford them. But once people started renting pineapples they became a dishonest signal, until the economics finally made it crash into either a costly signal (you should know they're no longer in vogue) or a lack of information at all (today).
- ABCLAW 6y ago>the status of sneakers amongst low-income Americans. Not to discount your point, but there are a lot of very, very wealthy sneakerheads. It isn't low-income Americans that pick up 10k worth of limited designer run sneakers on launch day.
- WalterBright 6y agoIronically, those sneakers aren't made to last, and disintegrate after 10 or 20 years.
- budgi4 6y agoBeats a pineapple
- WalterBright 6y agoTouché
- nicoburns 6y ago10 or 20 years! Isn't that much longer than the average pair of shows lasts?
- azinman2 6y agoThat they’re not made to last is exactly what makes them an even better signal of status.
- kortilla 6y agoThere might be, but it doesn’t really change that it’s a big status signal amongst lower income groups. The wealthy might like them but 10k doesn’t even register as a wealthy signal.