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Monday, Mar 14, 2011 - 23:38 SGT
Posted By: Gilbert

Remedial Class (Interlude)

"As long as there are rich people in the world, they will be desirous of distinguishing themselves from the poor."
- Rousseau, Jean Jacques


Several telepathic anonymous readers have been kind enough to request clarifications, and furthermore proposed locations in which certain appendages might be positioned, suggestions which I must gratefully decline.

So what makes a class signal, and why does the author hold Jags and BMWs over Mercs?

To the first, Rousseau has a ready answer, though it relates to wealth and not directly class per se - a class signal is that which makes exclusive; that upper-class signals are frequently expensive is for reliability in this regard, such that other classes cannot easily mimic them. However, as we have seen, many nuances exist which make it unlikely that merely obtaining the tangibles will engender full acceptance.

For the case of Mercs, Fussell quotes Joseph Epstein of The American Scholar: "...a sign of high vulgarity, a car of the kind owned by Beverly Hills dentists or African cabinet ministers." This assumes that one does not wish to be placed in the same bracket as purveyors of cosmetic procedures, or subordinate despots-in-training (apologies to proper dentists and African cabinet ministers), or status-seeking businessmen in the local context, by dint of car choice.

Note that this has next to nothing to do with the quality of the product itself! As a method of getting from point A to point B, Jaguars, Mercs and Hondas mostly do perfectly fine, and in fact the more common makes often have better fuel economy, in the same way that a S$20 digital Casio tells more accurate time than a S$20000 Rolex automatic.

It's all a matter of association, and perceived classiness can be easily lost by accessibility. It was mentioned here that British football louts would often adopt (stolen or fake) luxury wear to bypass police screening. One of the brands brought down to earth this way was Burberry, which has become near-indelibly synonymous with chavs (think British Ah Bengs). Another example given in the book are Tiffany lamps, which lost class once they began to be mass-reproduced instead of individually crafted.


This knocked three class points off Burberry all by itself
(Source: filmshaft.com)


To avoid this so-called prole drift, luxury goods are often destroyed rather than given away or even price-discounted, so as not to dilute the brand name; it's hard for a wannabe fashionista to be hip when the neighbourhood aunty totes the same LV handbag around the wet market, no?

It must be remembered that a class signal is hardly forever - the Wikipedia article on prole drift hints that BMWs may be beginning to be hit by the hick stick. Readers of Freakonomics may have a lightbulb going off inside their heads at this juncture, concerning the chapter on baby names.

What the Freakonomics authors found was that names tend to work their way down the socioeconomic ladder. They noted that Amber started life as a classy name for girls (due to a sudden interest in archaeology among upper-class circles? who knows?), but over time, middle- and working-class parents increasingly aped their supposed social superiors, to the point that it became "devalued".

Names are likely especially vulnerable to this effect, since they are free to adopt, and cannot be hogged. Eventually, the name becomes so passé that it is discarded by even the working class, and it settles into obscurity, waiting for its next day in the sun. [N.B. Freakonomics projects Aviva as one of the go-to girl names of 2015; unfortunately for trendy Singaporeans, an insurance company got there first]

This urge to associate doesn't only happen along the major class lines, certainly. Observe non-conformist counterculture punks looking virtually identical in huddles of black, leather and spiky hair, or high-school cliques accepting only those with the correct "look". Imitation is sincere flattery, and it is not unknown for people to adopt, consciously or not, the interests and preferences of those they might wish to befriend or maintain friendships with (Psych students might recall the Asch conformity experiments).

Bonus Song of the Week:




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Next: In Another Class (Part Two)


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In Another Class (Part One)
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4 comments

anonymous said...
now i know why u dowan d'evelyn liao, your cock must be stuck up jennifer aniston's ass


March 16, 2011 - 08:09 SGT     
anonymous said...
oops, should be jennifer lopez

anyway u can combine: aniston's front + lopez behind i think you steam 10 year cannot come down


March 16, 2011 - 08:10 SGT     
gilbert said...
why does that sound like a solution to the world's energy crisis?


March 16, 2011 - 13:10 SGT     
anonymous said...
depends on the size of the engine leh, if u say your steam engine damn big then yah can


March 17, 2011 - 05:09 SGT     

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