穿衣自由的社会学:日常习惯、避免个性与抽象平等
You are who you wear it’s true
A girl’s just as hot as the shoes she choose
Fashion put it all on meI am anyone you want me to be
——Lady Gaga, Fashion歌词
从《中国女孩没有穿衣自由》与祝中国男人早日穿衣自由之间,是新制度主义的一个简单的提问:
如果按照韦伯的理性化逻辑,那么每个公司都应该拼命想让自己的管理形式不一样,但为什么还是大多公司都是类似的科层制呢?
同样的,这个问题到服装消费社会学里:
如果按照服饰作为后现代时代个性的表达,那么每个人都应该拼命想穿得有所不同,但为什么走在大街上、看看抖音和直播,还是穿得类似呢?
来自河南的阿姆斯特丹大学的两位社会学家van der Laan and Velthuis将前一种想法(我穿故我在),称为the construction-through-consumption paradigm,因为这种研究范式关注的生活方式消费、商品的符号价值连接起来。
van der Laan and Velthuis认为,这种倾向于自我认建构的取向,忽视了另一种可能性:强调服装的日常面向、非反思性取向(to stress the mundane, ordinary aspects of consumption and the routine-like, non-reflexive and non-conspicuous aspects )。
这种问题,一旦遇到《北京大爷》问题,就更明显了。早在1930年代,心理学家John Carl Flugel出版的《服装心理学》就提出了著名的【The Great Masculine Renunciation】,大意是说:社会越发展、男性越会抛弃对服饰的关注。因为广大普通的男性同胞到底怎么对穿衣服怎么想,也就没人去研究去管了。在男性的服饰社会学里,更关注的是gender,而非cloth,因而在乎的是gay群体、男性气质建构罢了。
最后难怪有的学者感叹:
Men have little invested in their appearance’ and have shown how men ‘deliberately and strategically use clothing to manipulate their appearance to meet cultural ideals of masculinity’
这两位作者显然反对这种说法。到底咱们北京大爷们,穿衣服时都啥整呢?
van der Laan and Velthuis除了一般的访谈法,也用了【衣橱研究法】wardrobe study,就是跟你去你家,看你衣柜里都有啥,你对衣服怎么分类,和你讨论你是怎么分类的。比如,有一项研究就发现,他的访谈对象里,最多只有38%的衣服是常穿的~
根据Velthuis等人研究,荷兰的城市青年男子,在穿着方面,基本上是有五点:
1. Behaving as satisficers rather than maximizers
2. They see their wardrobe as a collection of safe options that likewise facilitate rapid decision-making.
3. identity and the materiality of clothing are hard to separate: material comfort should not only be understood as a fit with the body, but also with the self.
4. our respondents emphasize that they wear clothes that correspond in a coherent way with their overall image of self, even if they wear different clothes from day to day.
首先,不要高乎青年男性同胞每天穿着的犹豫时间。最多5分钟
As Michael, a 27-year-old chef says: ‘I get dressed in less than 5 minutes. . .most of my clothing combines easily er. . . . hoodies, t shirts, jeans. You can’t go wrong
功能性经常也比时尚性更被在乎,尤其是这么短时间内,比如天气、舒适、干净。
不过,如果只注意功能性,就容易只看body,而忽视self了。确实,越body,越self,这才是吊诡的地方。一方面,大街上最终还是穿得差不多,而每个人又感觉自己还是在表达自己个性。另一方面,self的表达上,突显个性是件有风险的事情,还不如穿得老实,因为可以免于被负面评价。所以Their respondents negatively evaluated clothing behaviour。因此,也有位学者Hill做伦敦街头的着装研究,发现原来:Hill is surprised to find that the majority is dressed in the ‘indistinct’ style of casual wear。一位25岁的荷兰小伙这样说:
Mark, a 25-year-old chef, likes clothes that are comfortable and not too prominent, since ‘I am like that
too: easy going and not attracting too much attention.
对了,还有项研究指出,女性喜欢穿粉红色,男生喜欢穿蓝色,是20世纪20年代以来现象~。
最后,回到这两天争什么《穿衣自由》的事情。还真有一项研究讨论穿衣【自由】。
大名鼎鼎的法国革命史学家、历史社会学家William H. Sewell 2014. “Connecting Capitalism to the French Revolution: The Parisian Promenade and the Origins of Civic Equality in Eighteenth-Century France.” Critical Historical Studies 1(1):5–46.
这篇文章里提出一个问题:为什么1789年法国大革命之后,自由平等博爱成为想当然的新社会的政治方案?Sewell认为,这是要把法国大革命和法国当时的商业资本主义联系起来(政治—经济学解释)。
他在另一篇文章Sewell, William H. 2010. “The Empire of Fashion and the Rise of Capitalism in Eighteenth-Century France.” Past & Present (206):81–120. 提出了一种解释:
由于法国中世纪晚期开放了皇家公园,又新建林荫大道等,导致大家都能走在一起,不再以等级制度,而是以着装作为交换的信号。伴随着马赛—印度的时尚—纺织业的兴起,你可能不知道你身边穿着颇佳的是公主还是资产阶级还是小市民。现代意义的抽象平等,诞生于时尚的帝国。
(Sociological理论大缸第317期)
编译文献:
Aspers, Patrik and Frédéric Godart. 2013. “Sociology of Fashion: Order and Change.” Annual Review of Sociology 39(1):171–92.
van der Laan, Elise and Olav Velthuis. 2016. “Inconspicuous Dressing: A Critique of the Construction-through-Consumption Paradigm in the Sociology of Clothing.” Journal of Consumer Culture 16(1):22–42.
Sewell, William H. 2010. “The Empire of Fashion and the Rise of Capitalism in Eighteenth-Century France.” Past & Present (206):81–120.
Sewell, William H. Jr. 2014. “Connecting Capitalism to the French Revolution: The Parisian Promenade and the Origins of Civic Equality in Eighteenth-Century France.” Critical Historical Studies 1(1):5–46.