Activists must consciously perform respectable dress when no civic niche exists

Evidence

Volunteers’ political etiquette felt natural, part of their personalities, dovetailing nicely with the institutions surrounding the groups. But the activists’ etiquette did not feel natural at all; it was thus much harder to enforce, sometimes leading to incongruous mixes of styles. Donald, the unemployed actor from Europe who prided himself on being cosmopolitan, fitted the ‘‘radical’’ mode. He came to one outdoor picket in a hot pink shirt and tie, fluorescent green sunglasses tied to his head with a day-glo pink safety strap; behind him was the towering gray Plastico plant; underfoot was yellowish gray grass coated with forty years of chemicals and grease. Almost everyone else in the group dressed up, trying hard to look respectable and responsible: they were not portraying themselves as self-interested plain folks in plaid flannel, but as informed, responsible, and powerful citizens. — Nina Eliasoph, Avoiding politics, 1277

Categorization

• XREF: Parallels the immodesty article: dress as political signaling, here used self-consciously by activists rather than as moral panic. — connects to: Modest dress and veiling function as practical defenses of community — Saba Mahmood, Politics of Piety: The Islamic Revival…, 781; Women’s dress expresses social stance but is still constrained within the established order; Contempt for the public cannot be voiced politely even when activists privately feel it — Nina Eliasoph, Avoiding politics: how Americans…, 1316 (+2 more)
• ADDENDUM: The activists’ deliberate ‘respectability’ costuming echoes the complaints-about-immodesty piece’s theme that dress carries political weight.

Broader Connections

• Women’s dress expresses social stance but is still constrained within the established order #qualifies (0.82)
• Doing nothing is self-preservation in the activist sense, not indulgence #corroborates (0.80) — Jenny Odell, How to Do Nothing, 107
• Modest dress and veiling function as practical defenses of community #complicates (0.75) — Saba Mahmood, Politics of Piety, 781
• Conforming to dress conventions creates a sense of belonging in social settings. #complicates (0.75) — Hamlin Garland Munseys, A Daughter of the Middle Border, 462
• Contempt for the public cannot be voiced politely even when activists privately feel it #corroborates (0.72) — Nina Eliasoph, Avoiding politics, 1316