Unit 8 - Social Psychological Perspectives

Introduction

Perspectives from social psychology have also been applied to our understanding of fashion. This section will focus on the relationship between fashion and social psychology.

Social psychologists study the role of the individual within society, the influence of individuals on social institutions and processes, and the influence of social institutions and processes on the individual. When investigating the fashion phenomenon, we soon discover the importance of differentiation in individual fashion adoption. However, most fashion adopters also strive to be similar in their fashion choices to others in their social group. Thus, social psychological perspectives naturally lend themselves to the study of fashion. Some fashion scholars have noted the influence of social processes on individual fashion adoption. For example, Kurt Back comments in the reading for this section of the course "individual creativity is often absorbed in a collective process" (p. 3). Other scholars have noted the influence of the fashion innovator on social processes (see for example, Blumer and Rogers work).

I will leave the complete discussion of the social psychology of dress to two other courses -- the Department of Design and Human Environment offers DHE 585 "Human Behavior and the Near Environment" and DHE 685 "Advanced Topics in Human Behavior and the Near Environment" which specifically focus on social science theories, including social psychological theories, of dress. However, if you are interested in reading more in this area and may not be taking these courses, I would recommend Susan Kaiser's book:

The social psychology of clothing: Symbolic appearances in context

Kaiser, S. B. (1997). The social psychology of clothing: Symbolic appearances in context. (2nd ed. revised). New York: Fairchild.