Fashion and the question of the symbolic: the ideology of value and its limits

In this construct, the image of fashion, which is often presented as an affirmation of the non-existent, seems debatable. No matter how frivolous the elements of the fashion system may seem, their meaning lies in the reflection of the real order of things, even in cases where the meaning of symbolic institutions is not clear to the percipient subject. Fashion is not groundless manipulation, but it turns out to be the establishment of an unclear meaning. Fashion in this sense is an advocacy for the social recognition of symbolic capital and symbolic meaning. Paraphrasing Bourdieu's words about symbolic power, we can say that fashion is the striving to arrive at an absolute vision of the world, one which has persuasive power [15, p. 160].

Symbolic Power and the Problem of Its Identification

One of Bourdieu's main ideas can be considered to be his thesis about the reliability of the Symbolic. The point of it is not only that a subject interprets the Symbolic as real, but that the symbolic system does have objective precedents in reality. The symbolic, which is founded upon pre-linguistic stage of thinking and cannot always be precisely articulated, is nonetheless absolutely real -- it can be correlated with the circumstances of reality. The Symbolic remains an important basis for social actions and can be determined to be the cause of certain decisions.

Pierre Bourdieu voiced these observations as early as 1973, during a lecture at the University of Chicago. The materials of that lecture were published in 1977, in a paper entitled On Symbolic Power [6]. In that work, he also speaks as a protagonist of Foucault's idea of diffuse power, calling symbolic power “invisible”. At the same time, he insists upon its absolute reliability. Furthermore, following the representatives of mythological schools, Bourdieu presents the Symbolic as a tool not so much for the cognition of the world as for its construction. That is to say, not only is the observation that “the authentic becomes the symbolic” true, but so is its converse -- “the symbolic becomes the authentic”. In this sense, one of the features of the fashion tool might be said to be the use of the Symbolic to indicate reliable distinctions or the acknowledgement of symbolic markers as reflecting the state of reality.

Symbolic power is the ability to construct reality by establishing the existing order. In this process, symbols not only become a tool of social integration, they are a tool for establishing and regulating the social world. Bourdieu presents the imposition of symbolic values as a form of symbolic violence. The process of establishing is not a matter of communication, but rather one of influence and power. The purpose of these efforts is to establish a priority picture of the world. The world in which a subject will live depends on what sort of symbolic regimen he or she manages to establish or accept. Ultimately, symbolic power belongs to those who successfully engage in the production of symbolic values.

Bourdieu describes symbolic power and the ability to institute symbolic values as a tool pf “class struggle”. In doing so, he was following the rules of academic debate in his day. In point of fact, the question of establishing symbolic power goes wider. It is not restricted to the dubious boundaries of the “class”, but rather extends to broad social strata or else, on the contrary, is confined to local social groups. Symbolic power is an infinite number of impositions that differ not only in character, but also in level.

Fashion is one of the indisputable forms of symbolic power. It focusses on setting values. And one of the most interesting aspects of the fashion system is the authenticity of symbolic directives, its connection with social and ideological realia. It is hard to impose or establish a fashion artificially: if a particular value has become established, then it did so by natural means. Fashion and marketing should not be confused here. Fashion as an instrument that establishes values and marketing as a mechanism for making money, which is far from always connected with the establishment of particular social norms. The main difficulty with fashion, as with symbolic power, is the problem of identification. We are far from always correctly determining the symbolic meaning of both fashion and relative power. And far from always in possession of the tool needed to define or identify the Symbolic. Its meaning often remains unclear, and its significance eludes calculation in monetary terms. The symbolic, while it remains the main social instrument and the main instrument of fashion, in the overwhelming majority of cases, still goes unrecognized.

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