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

[firecat]

There are at least three pieces to the notion of status symbol - the possessor of said objects deploying them as such, the way those objects are perceived by others, and the extent to which the producers of the objects deliberately craft a public image

This is an excellent point.

I have Apple stuff for several of the same reasons you do. It didn't ever occur to me before that someone would identify me as a brand-for-the-sake-of-brand consumer for using it in public.