Occupational appearance codes stay confined to insider word-of-mouth networks

Evidence

Restricted coding schemes such as this one are available to only a few people, not only because their usefulness to a wider populace is limited, but also because they are created and perpetuated by word of mouth among networks of persons who know one another personally. Unless learned by someone who has a reason and the means to publicize them more widely (as in this case), they remain the exclusive property of whatever little world gave them birth. — Lyn H. Lofland, World of Strangers_ Order and Action in…, 570

Categorization

• DEFINE: Clarifies why restricted appearance coding schemes do not diffuse to the general public — a mechanism of how insider knowledge is gated.