Some people don’t care about fashion. They roll out of bed with their messy hair and throw on a T-shirt or hoodie—whatever’s lying around. They don’t like the “game” of figuring out what’s in style and what isn’t, so they opt out of the game. Except they can’t. Nobody can. Opting out of the game is another move in the game. Not caring about fashion is a
The problem with these "everything is a status game, even things that claim /appear not to be" takes is they are unfalsifiable, so can be dismissed out of hand.
Also, we know that people differ in their degree of awareness of social cues and emotional signalling, as shown by conditions like Aspergers. So people likely truly *do* genuinely vary in their degree of signalling. Someone who disregards their appearance may well be just less socially aware and/or interested. Most offices have a few Aspergers type guys doing IT or something quantitative who dress badly and don't comb their hair. We can't prove it either way, but I strongly suspect that on no level (conscious or otherwise) is that some kind of power play move trying to show that they're above social conventions about appearance. It's all just less perceptible and salient to them. The "everything is status" takes try to sound like they're cutting through the BS but they are really just cheap and unfalsifiable cynicism.
>>Opting out of the game is another move in the game. Not caring about fashion is a fashion statement.
That might be true for urban people. But not in the countryside, where I live. People wear their work clothes in public. Not because it is a statement but because changing would be impractical. People wear yellow vests just to be visible in traffic. I sometimes pick my kids up with a bit of construction dust or soil on my clothes. I try not to, but that is still better than being late. Maybe urban environments are so controlled that people can always choose their looks and have the time to do so. But people who work with the physical world have less opportunity to choose - if they want to make statemtents, they need to get tattoos.
Again: great insights! Question: Couldn’t it be a meaningful way to say that certain issues are being politicized negatively? Take, for instance, behavior genetics. By politicizing these findings, one might argue that behavior genetics is a partisan endeavor, only supported by those on the political right. However, if one refrains from politicizing behavior genetics, the focus shifts to recognizing the significance of genetic differences among individuals and prompts the question of how best to address these differences?
The problem with these "everything is a status game, even things that claim /appear not to be" takes is they are unfalsifiable, so can be dismissed out of hand.
Also, we know that people differ in their degree of awareness of social cues and emotional signalling, as shown by conditions like Aspergers. So people likely truly *do* genuinely vary in their degree of signalling. Someone who disregards their appearance may well be just less socially aware and/or interested. Most offices have a few Aspergers type guys doing IT or something quantitative who dress badly and don't comb their hair. We can't prove it either way, but I strongly suspect that on no level (conscious or otherwise) is that some kind of power play move trying to show that they're above social conventions about appearance. It's all just less perceptible and salient to them. The "everything is status" takes try to sound like they're cutting through the BS but they are really just cheap and unfalsifiable cynicism.
>>Opting out of the game is another move in the game. Not caring about fashion is a fashion statement.
That might be true for urban people. But not in the countryside, where I live. People wear their work clothes in public. Not because it is a statement but because changing would be impractical. People wear yellow vests just to be visible in traffic. I sometimes pick my kids up with a bit of construction dust or soil on my clothes. I try not to, but that is still better than being late. Maybe urban environments are so controlled that people can always choose their looks and have the time to do so. But people who work with the physical world have less opportunity to choose - if they want to make statemtents, they need to get tattoos.
Again: great insights! Question: Couldn’t it be a meaningful way to say that certain issues are being politicized negatively? Take, for instance, behavior genetics. By politicizing these findings, one might argue that behavior genetics is a partisan endeavor, only supported by those on the political right. However, if one refrains from politicizing behavior genetics, the focus shifts to recognizing the significance of genetic differences among individuals and prompts the question of how best to address these differences?
Maybe you can’t stop caring what others think, but you can fight it. You can stop making choices because what others think.
Is the same thing that happens with sugar. You can’t stop liking it, you evolve to love it. But you can stop eating it.