Shrinking subcultures grow more extreme as core members chase escalating status
Evidence
The requirements on members can get more extreme when subcultures start to shrink in size. As ganguro scared away normal girls from the kogyaru style, the remaining members developed their own unique looks on the streets of Tokyo, incomprehensible to outsiders. This phenomenon echoes a principle seen in linguistics: languages of small Indigenous populations develop more complicated grammars and more difficult sounds than widely spoken tongues. When subcultures are small cults, the most dedicated members receive more status than hangers-on, which incentivizes the core members to indulge in even more extreme practices with higher signaling costs. — W. David Marx, Status and Culture, 426
Categorization
- recurring: this claim recurs 2 times within its source
- XREF: connects to: Imitation and distinction operate as complementary forces rather than opposites — W. David Marx, Status and Culture: How Our Desire for…, 165; Radical styles are stripped of transgression before mainstream diffusion — W. David Marx, Status and Culture: How Our Desire for…, 441; Status anxiety can delay adoption of well-known useful technologies by years — W. David Marx, Status and Culture: How Our Desire for…, 529 (+6 more)
Broader Connections
- Subcultures form new status hierarchies for those lacking global status
#expands(0.85) — W. David Marx, Status and Culture, 399 - Every marginal group-size change alters its sociological form
#corroborates(0.80)