A. Ebberbach(fgcu):Sociological Clothing

We as a society have adapted to wearing clothes everywhere we go.  We have workout clothes, sleeping clothes, going to the club clothes and even clothes we don’t want anymore that we give to other people so they can have clothes. Clothing represents specific social aspects in society; namely because it shows prosperity and cultural backgrounds of its wearers. If someone has a new pair of 100 dollar Nikes it shows that this individual is doing very well. On the other hand, if another person is wearing old, raggedy looking clothes, chances are that person is not as prosperous as the first individual. This is not to say that decrepit looking clothes promotes a negative picture of that person; that is totally up to the viewer. It could just mean that this person is from a different set of circumstances. For instance, in Muslim countries kids wear clothing that was passed down from his/her siblings. Of course those clothes would look old but that does not mean that the kid is worse off; it’s just the way the culture is. It is true that the Muslim culture is commonly perceived as a “poor” culture in financial terms so it is possible that this might be one reason why those kids get hand me downs. Still, passing down things is a social norm for that culture; even more so than ours. On another note, most clothes today involve name brands and logos to signify who makes what and where. Some brands and logos signify a higher quality than others thus being more expensive. This in turn promotes social inequality because not everyone can afford these pieces of apparel. The types of clothing that we wear in a sense set us up for all sorts of sociological circumstances. Who knew that clothing could have all these social factors?

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