Trickle-down preferences: Preferential conformity to high status peers in fashion choices

12Citations
Citations of this article
73Readers
Mendeley users who have this article in their library.

Abstract

How much do our choices represent stable inner preferences versus social conformity? We examine conformity and consistency in sartorial choices surrounding a common life event of new norm exposure: relocation. A large-scale dataset of individual purchases of women’s shoes (16,236 transactions) across five years and 2,007 women reveals a balance of conformity and consistency, moderated by changes in location socioeconomic status. Women conform to new local norms (i.e., average heel size) when moving to relatively higher status locations, but mostly ignore new local norms when moving to relatively lower status locations. In short, at periods of transition, it is the fashion norms of the rich that trickle down to consumers. These analyses provide the first naturalistic large-scale demonstration of the tension between psychological conformity and consistency, with real decisions in a highly visible context.

Cite

CITATION STYLE

APA

Galak, J., Gray, K., Elbert, I., & Strohminger, N. (2016). Trickle-down preferences: Preferential conformity to high status peers in fashion choices. PLoS ONE, 11(5). https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0153448

Register to see more suggestions

Mendeley helps you to discover research relevant for your work.

Already have an account?

Save time finding and organizing research with Mendeley

Sign up for free