All in the best possible taste: Adam Smith and the leaders of fashion

Abstract

Adam Smith devotes a great deal of attention to the role of fashion in the relationship between the social classes. Smith's general account of fashion is grounded on the transmission of fashion from the rich to the poor. However, when it comes to accounting for the generation of fashion amongst the wealthy class, Smith's account moves away from wealth distinctions and focuses instead on more sophisticated forms of social judgement. This paper examines Smith's general account of fashion between the classes and then identifies the refinements to the account that he provides when he considers the operation of fashion amongst the rich. The paper suggests that the operative distinction among the wealthy is not relative wealth, but rather reputation for taste, and concludes with a discussion of the “man of taste” in Smith's account of fashion.

Keywords:

• Adam Smith
• fashion
• class
• taste
• political economy

Acknowledgements

The author wishes to thank the two anonymous referees whose comments greatly improved the paper.

Notes

¹ For a discussion of the “collateral inquiry” see Craig Smith (2013).

² Maria Pia Paganelli (2009) has drawn attention to a related argument in Smith where he seems to suggest that there are cases where the desire to better one's condition driven by the desire for approbation leads to negative consequences for both the individual and society through bankruptcy and social conflict.

³ For discussions of the important role of fashion in the relationship between the classes in Smith see, inter alia Winch (1978, p. 168), Reisman (1976, pp. 106–8), Young (1997, pp. 47–9), and Tegos (2013). There are clear connections here to the wider eighteenth century obsession with “taste” (Dickie 1996, Noggle 2012) and “luxury” (Berry 1994). There is also a clear link to the account of social differentiation found in Rousseau's Discourse on the Origin of Inequality. For a discussion of the relationship between Smith and Rousseau, see Rasmussen (2008).

⁴ Adam Ferguson, in a passage discussing fame and “celebrity” (Ferguson 1973, v2, pp. 76–7), notes this and suggests that it is the desire for fame and not wealth that drives the process. “The mere voluptuary is innocent, compared to those who are deeply infected with malice, envy, and pride; a generation of evils begot upon emulation, competition, or the apprehension of comparative advantages, whether precedence, titles, or wealth.”

⁵ “Fashion is different from custom, or rather is a particular species of it. That is not the fashion which every body wears, but which those wear who are of a high rank, or character. The graceful, the easy, and commanding manners of the great, joined to the usual richness and magnificence of their dress, give a grace to the very form which they happen to bestow upon it. As long as they continue to use this form, it is connected in our imagination with the idea of something that is genteel and magnificent, and though itself it should be indifferent, it seems, on account of this relation, to have something about it that is genteel and magnificent too. As soon as they drop it, it loses all the grace, which it had appeared to possess before, and being now used only be the inferior ranks of people, seems to have something of their meanness and awkwardness” (Smith 1976b, pp. 194–5).

⁶ Thorstein Veblen (1994, p. 84) uses the same example in his 1899 Theory of the Leisure Class arguing that elaborate hedge trimming was now a sign of status for the middle class. It is worth noting that Smith's class-based account of fashion is very similar to Veblen's celebrated analysis of “pecuniary decency” (Veblen 1994, p. 31) and “conspicuous consumption” (Veblen 1994, p. 43) which uses fashion as part of its analysis of the use of appearance to indicate comparative success between ranks. Although we should also note that Veblen does not acknowledge Smith as an influence in this respect.

⁷ Interestingly, when Smith comes to discuss the fashion in morals, he extends his observation that the poor emulate the rich into the realm of moral beliefs. Smith argues that there may in fact be two moral codes operating in society. One, practised by the rich being more licentious on account of their greater financial ability to indulge their whims, and another, more frugal, set of morals practised by the poor (Smith 1976b, p. 201). Should a poor man attempt to emulate the lifestyle of the rich the overindulgence will have potentially ruinous effects (Smith 1976b, p. 63). A similar appreciation of the distinction of ranks is found in Smith's discussion of education in the Wealth of Nations where he outlines different educational needs appropriate to the poor and the middle classes (Smith 1976, pp. 785–86).

⁸ For a discussion of the connection between the account of fashion and that of morality in the Moral Sentiments see Craig Smith (2013).