Wearing Ideology

I’m excited by this idea, but still reaching for something formal. This same recipe led me to the Fashion System and look how that turned out. Still very interesting to me.

a symbolic interactionist approach

From the back cover:

[Uniforms] popularity suggests important linkages: material culture, politico-economic projects, bodily management, and the construction of subjectivity are all connected to the wearing of uniforms.

key socializing objects

uniforms can be viewed as material markers of a life cycle managed by powerful politico-economic institutions.

from the ‘micro’ fabric of uniforms to the ‘macro’ fabric of society.

Introduction: Approaches and Definitions

Skipping. Maybe I’ll come back. ‘Dramaturgical’. Sounds horrible.

Chapter 3 Learning to wear ideology: School uniforms

a long divided skirt

It is interesting to think how clothing might have evolved in different cultures in various parts of the world. We have categories like skirt and pants but other places maybe have different categories. Fascinating. I imagine these tempering and honing in on something “wearable” over the centuries.

even before a child begins school, he or she has already been woven into, and in turns starts to weave, a complex sociopsychological fabric.

Mead theorized that there are basically two socializing activities, “play” and “games”.

if the child “play-actor is costumed”, the more mature child and adult “team-[game] player is uniformed”

I have a feeling I’m not going to find a lot of quantities or models here. Maybe ethnographic is more the tone.

Wait, no there’s tables and tables of numbers.

What’s the significance of sailor uniforms for women and stand up collars for men?