| New media technologies and the global exchange of goods have dramatically expanded opportunities for identity signaling. Previously hidden or distant populations are now seen through online search engines, and images of American culture are being exported to far reaching corners of the developed and developing world. Despite these significant social changes, however, familiar patterns of identity signaling persist. These developments raise questions of how cultures and subcultures are maintained in an ever more complex social landscape. Using the hipster subculture as a case study, this paper will examine the role of taste and of consumption in allowing subgroups to maintain internal cohesion and social distinction. Using theoretical and empirical analyses, including a survey to a mixed sample, the creation of a taste scale, and statistical analyses of the relationship between consumption preferences and attitudes about conformity and divergence, this paper examines how identity status is reified through collective expressions of taste. |
