AMT 417

Multicultural Perspectives on Dress and the Body

1

Essential

concepts: culture, self, identity, social role, meaning, individuality, diversity, fashion, stereotype, pluralism, and hegemony. hegemony centrality of diversity, pluralism, relativism, holism, and avoidance of ethnocentrism to understanding dress.

Establishes

Concepts of culture and society relative to the meaning of dress

Dress is what people do to their bodies to maintain, manage, and alter appearance; it is a behavior; intentional modification of appearance

Cultural perspective

This perspective is derived from anthropology, womens studies, consumer behavior, ethnic studies, sociology, and semiotics. i l d i ti The focus is on the symbolic realm of social life, linked to arts and literature, media, and ideologies (values systems).
4

Culture

is the beliefs, behaviors, attitudes and products of human activity of a particular population. It is shared, learned, integrated, symbolic, dynamic, and adaptive.

This perspective helps us understand dress using a holistic view in which all aspects of a culture are considered as shaping the meanings of dress and the choices people make when choosing forms of dress. Dress may reflect many aspects of cultures, including the way people think, organize themselves, behave toward others, and ways of making.
6

A stereotype is a network of meaning assigned on the basis of appearance. Appearance stereotypes can be shared by members of a cultural group. Hegemony is when a group dominates and leads minorities and less powerful groups in a society.

Prejudice when one holds a stereotype so strongly against a group and discriminates against the group regardless of information that the stereotype is untrue. Fashion a dynamic social process by which new styles are created, introduced to a consuming public and accepted by that public. As object it is the style accepted by a large group of people at a particular time.
9

10

The Self

Defined through interaction with others Dress defines self-identity to others by y y reflecting interests, personalities, roles, group membership, age, gender, socioeconomic status, and more.

11

Roles define an integral part of the self. This is a position we occupy in a group or society. The roles can be multiple (age, gender, ethnic, family, social, service) Performance of a role is guided by social expectations for the role players behavior including dress, knowledge, and attitudes. Adults have multiple roles that define parts of the self.
12

Diversity

The United States is a prime example of a society that incorporates people from many cultures within its borders. The United States is a multicultural society. Dress that is commonly accepted in ones own country may be considered immodest or inappropriate in another.
13

14

Ethnocentrism

is judging people from other cultures and backgrounds by ones own cultural standards and beliefs.

Pluralism

relates to persons accepting of differences in others while not wanting to adopt those differences for the self.
15

Understanding Dress

Interdisciplinary study Focus on meaning Contextualization Critical thinking

16

Interdisciplinary fields

Psychology, sociology, anthropology, material culture, history, communication, aesthetics, consumer behavior, marketing, business management, economics, popular culture, gender studies, feminist scholarship, and minority studies.

17

Focus on meaning

This involves the study of the processes influencing how individuals come to make symbolic associations with appearance cues, as well as the consequences of such associations for social interactions. Meanings of dress and appearance are created, maintained, and modified daily as individuals collectively deal with dress and the people wearing that form of dress.
18

Contextualization

Context includes social, psychological, and cultural dimensions; the interconnection among these dimensions p y is of primary concern. A social context includes the identities of, and relationships among the participants as well as any physical or situational parameters that set the stage for social interaction.
19

Critical thinking

Critical thinking about the meaning of dress involves THREE phases:

First, an ability to examine different meanings or ideas with the intent of discovering an underlying common meaning, so that conceptual categories may be identified; Second, the discovery of distinctions among apparently similar ideas and meanings; and Third, seeing appearance symbols in relation to the wholeness of social context.
20

21

22

Origins and Functions of Dress

There is general agreement on FIVE major theories to explain why clothes were first worn. A theory serves to organize ideas into an integrated plan to explain something unusual.

23

1. Modesty Theory

Is concerned with the concealment of parts of the body. It stems from the biblical version of why people wear clothes (Genesis 3:7). Shame i associated with an uncovered b d Sh is i t d ith d body part, particularly the genital areas for men and women, and upper body for women. This theory is not universal, what is concealed and what is not concealed varies among societies.
24

2. Immodesty Theory

States that clothing is used not to cover the body, but attract attention to it. This theory stated that the body was first covered as a sexual lure and clothes were used to call attention to the body parts that were covered.
25

3. Protection (or utility) Theory

Relates to the physical and psychological reasons clothing was worn. Physical includes protection of the body/body parts against the weather and harsh environment. Psychological includes protection of the body/body parts against evil, and/or for luck.
26

First garment: Rear apron

String apron worn in Paleolithic times (20,000 BC)

From Elizabeth Barbers book Womens Work: First 20,000 Years

27

4. Adornment Theory

Widely accepted to explain original purpose of clothing. To adorn means to make attractive or to lend beauty. In the case of clothing, the object of adornment becomes the self. Adornment comes in many forms and is practiced universally.

28

5. Group Identification Theory

Our dress (in industrialized societies) primarily shows group identification: it identifies:
Age and Gender Roles Lifestyle groups Occupational groups Ethnicity Religion
29

Identification to identify and distinguish people clothing is used. The symbolization of clothing can indicate the wearers status, occupation, religion, and group membership both formal and informal.

Extension of self is determined primarily within the individual by giving them a sense of size, power, movement, rigidity dependent on the characteristic of the clothing item.
30

10