Class signaling via Apple products

[firecat]

"A Macbook Pro is just as much of a status marker as a Louis Vuitton purse or a BMW."

I recoil at the notion because I think Vuitton purses and BMWs signal a different class than ones I identify with. (At least I tend to have prejudices about people who have those things—I'll assume "not like me" unless I get evidence to the contrary.) But I do think that, in California at least, there's a class I might call "hi-tech professionals" and having Mac products can signal identification with it.

FWIW, I think I'm kind of clueless about class.

Anyway, it's interesting to contemplate. What do you think?

Comments

[inkstone]

Yeah, I have to agree with the original comment. A certain type of person carries around a Macbook Pro, even around where I live.

[firecat]

It's funny, when I read "carries around a Macbook Pro," I think I might consider carrying one around and using it in public to be a status marker, more than having one you use mostly at home or in an office.

[inkstone]

Sure but the original post that quoted comment comes from also has this bit: Displaying your Apple stuff proudly is just yet another of our culture's myriad ways to engage in a little subtle classism. and to me, that implies carrying it around and using it in a coffee shop, library or cafe.

[firecat]

"If a status symbol falls in the forest...?"

[twisted_times]

...it gets eaten by the Rodents Of Unusual Size.