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

[xiphias.livejournal.com]

A "status marker" isn't something that's tied to any particular status. Torn jeans are a status marker. Stained t-shirts with funny statements about cats are status markers. T-shirts with the names of science fiction conventions, rock bands, sports teams, brands of beer, webcomics are status markers.

A Macbook Pro is a status marker. That doesn't mean that it's not often also the right tool for the job -- but it's a marker that you have a job or life such that a Macbook Pro is the right tool for you.

A Ford F350 is a status symbol, and is often the right tool for the job, and thereby sends the message that your job is one for which a Ford F350 is the right tool.

Very few status symbols are purely status symbols. The ones that are actually good status symbols are that way because they're good at exemplifying some thing about the status they're symbolizing.