MAR 4503 Lecture Notes - Lecture 15: Roland Barthes, Opinion Leadership, Reference Group
Document Summary
Megaphone effect through internet, ordinary people have access to large audiences. People become leaders: without being born into it, without holding certain institutional positions. Two meanings of taste: a device for affiliation, a standard for differentiating between hip and ordinary. Includes all people and organization that create symbolic meanings and transfer them to cultural goods. Fashion: process of social diffusion by which some group of consumers adopts a new style. A fashion: a type of style, a particular combination of attributes. In fashion: when a reference group has given its stamp of approval for a certain combination of elements. Fashion products reflect a culture"s artistic traditions and history. Desire to be in fashion motivates consumer behavior. Objects in limited supply have high value. Subordinate groups adopt status symbols from upper class. Upper class changes symbols when imitation from lower groups. Consumers: influenced by others who are similar to them. Some trends can originate from lower classes trickle up effect.
