Chinese Journal of Sociology

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Power and Fashion Reproduction：A Review of Bourdieu’s Cultural Consumption Theory

Author: Zhu Weijue，Department of Sociology，Tongji University.   

  1. Author: Zhu Weijue，Department of Sociology，Tongji University.
  • Online:2012-01-20 Published:2012-01-20
  • Contact: Zhu Weijue，Department of Sociology，Tongji University E-mail:wzhuj@hotmail.com
  • About author:Zhu Weijue，Department of Sociology，Tongji University.
  • Supported by:

    The thesis is the initial result of the project “Bourdieu’s Theory of Cultural Consumption” (2008JG008BSH904) supported by Shanghai Philosophy and Social Science Plan.

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Abstract:

 This paper discusses in great detail from the perspective of power and power relations about the fashion reproduction theory—one of the cores in Bourdieu’s cultural consumption theory. The fashion reproduction theory is based on Bourdieu’s political science concerning symbolic power. The political science of symbolic power insists that we combine the power struggle with the social field structure and its operational mechanism when we think holistically. Bourdieu argues that modern society is highly differentiated, consisting of a large number of fields full of power struggles. Fields adjust, evolve, or reconstruct in response to the changes in the power balance between classes. Bourdieu’s fashion reproduction theory is based on the following two claims: 1, Fashion is the result of the common "collaboration" between the two independent fields: the production field and the consumption field; 2, Power relations exist throughout every aspect of fashion reproduction. Clearly, Bourdieu’s theory of fashion reproduction is consistent with his position over the past years. In his view, whether the production field or the consumption field, each is a battlefield where all participants will engage in fierce competition for legitimacy and distinction. The field of fashion production, with its relative autonomy, is not a place for power struggle to be explicitly expressed as interclass antagonism but to function in an implicit way. In this, the competition usually occurs between the dominating senior designers and the dominated cuttingedge designers. The two camps produce fashion through distinguishing traditional from modern, highpriced tags from lowpriced tags, conventional from avantgarde, etc. But it must be noted that the autonomy of the fashion production field is a relative term; it is inevitably influenced by the power field. Likewise, the power relations in the production field are rooted in the social hierarchy. Fashion producers participate in a roundabout way to legitimize and to engage in the struggle for reproduction. On the other hand, the consumption field refers to the class field or the dominant class field. Here, consumers take part in an endless struggle of classification (class struggle). Power relations directly reflect class relations. And only the dominant class has the right to participate in the reproduction of fashion and vogue. The middle and lower classes are not able to join in such a distinctive game; they are present at most only as a contrast. Fashion, as an expression of the legitimate taste of the ruling class, has been widely used as the implementation of symbolic violence over the lower classes. Bourdieu’s cultural consumption theory provides us with a unique perspective to comprehensively understand the consuming phenomenon and its characteristics in the era with the richpoor divide.

Key words: Bourdieu, , cultural consumption, , fashion reproduction, , power relation, , the production field