The Mass-marketing of Working Class Culture :: Exploratory Essays Research Papers

The Mass-marketing of Working Class Culture The fads of the father argon visited on the son weve all seen how adult fads are given spile to children. Weve seen how freight rate pants have trickled down, thanks to the Gap, Baby Gap, and Old naval forces (all corporations owned by The Limited, Inc.). charge pants have always been a mystery to me. The attractive thing about them is storage (which Ill get to later), eloquence and personal appearance. I only considered wearing cargo pants because theyd embrace how chunky my thighs are. And theyre beige and boring--they thus go with anything. I also dont examine this fascination with looking working-class (In a recent copy of Vogue, in that location were ritzy, high-priced versions of lumberjack clothing). Theres absolutely nothing wrong with that and I dont fate to sound like an elitist, because Im by no means not working-class. I just wonder why this a trend, why white get word workers want to look like they work with their han ds. But this fascination with storage, with having so many products presents a problem. Cargo pants were designed so workers could basically wear their toolbox. Todays kids wearing cargo pants dont need that space for hammers and nails. To subdue acknowledging that cargo pants are a silly trend, wearers unconsciously adjudicate to fill their pockets. As Lacan might say, empty pockets remind us of our lacks. Cargo pants only encourage the reckless. The Gap, like any other capitalist corporation, wants consumers to spend oodles of money. Providing more storage space in a pair of pants allows for children and teens to spend even more money filling them. What the Gap has done is transformed the meaning of cargo pants. It is a redefinition todays cargo pants wearers arent laborers, theyre spenders. Isnt that a glorious thing, the Gap may ask us. Its a way of showing how the upper class has always stepped all everyplace the lower class, taking what aspects of its gardening it likes and discarding the individuals involved. Weve seen this over and over, but it usually has been a races culture that has been used while the individuals are considered meaningless by the control classes. This is happening again today with Latin culture. White culture takes what a few(prenominal) things it likes (namely Jennifer Lopez and Ricky Martin, maybe a salsa beat, and some Tex-Mex food), and celebrates it as all Latin culture has to offer, ignoring debates about the Latinness of such aspects anyway.