Steven Pinker -- How the Mind Works - Hampshire High Italian ...

Family Values 501mate with. Theoretical biologists were initially skeptical, but one ofthem, Alan Grafen, later proved that the theory was sound.Conspicuous consumption works when only the richest can affordluxuries. When the class structure loosens, or sumptuous goods (or goodimitations) become widely available, the upper middle class can emulatethe upper class, the middle class can emulate the upper middle class,and so on down the ladder. The upper class cannot very well stand by asthey begin to resemble the hoi polloi; they must adopt a new look. Butthen the look is emulated once again by the upper middle class andbegins to trickle down again, prompting the upper class to leap to yet adifferent look, and so on. The result is fashion. The chaotic cycles ofstyle, in which the chic look of one decade becomes dowdy or slutty,nerdy or foppish in the next, has been explained as a conspiracy of clothingmakers, an expression of nationalism, a reflection of the economy,and much else. But Quentin Bell, in his classic analysis of fashion, OnHuman Finery, showed that only one explanation works: people followthe rule, "Try to look like the people above you; if you're at the top, try tolook different from the people below you."Once again animals discovered the trick first. The other dandies ofthe animal kingdom, butterflies, did not evolve their colors to impressthe females. Some species evolved to be poisonous or distasteful, andwarned their predators with gaudy colors. Other poisonous kinds copiedthe colors, taking advantage of the fear already sown. But then somenowpoisonous butterflies copied the colors, too, enjoying the protectionwhile avoiding the expense of making themselves distasteful. When themimics become too plentiful, the colors no longer conveyed informationand no longer deterred the predators. The distasteful butterflies evolvednew colors, which were then mimicked by the palatable ones, and so on.Wealth is not the only asset that people flaunt and covet. In a complicatedsociety, people compete in many leagues, not all of them dominatedby plutocrats. Bell added a fourth canon to Veblen's list: conspicuous outrage.Most of us depend on the approval of others. We need the favor ofbosses, teachers, parents, clients, customers, or prospective in-laws, andthat requires a certain measure of respect and unobtrusiveness. Aggressivenonconformity is an advertisement that one is so confident in one's stationor abilities that one can jeopardize the good will of others without endingup ostracized and destitute. It says, "I'm so talented, wealthy, popular, orwell-connected that I can afford to offend you." The nineteenth centuryhad the baroness George Sand smoking a cigar in trousers and Oscar