Sage Journals: Discover world-class research

Abstract

The proposition that men dressed at least as elaborately as women in preindustrial cultures was investigated using data from the Human Relations Area Files. Content analyses of the materials listed under Trait 291 (normal garb—including ordinary dress and description of garments for men and women) and Trait 301 (ornament-including jewelry and hair ornaments) were performed. A global judgment was made for each culture regarding which sex wore the most complex or ornate clothing and ornament. A total of 161 cultures had sufficient information to form this judgment and also were coded for percentage of the subsistence economy dependent on gathering, hunting, fishing, animal husbandry and agriculture in Murdock's Ethnographic Atlas. Chi-square analyses, non-parametric correlations, comparison of means and multiple discriminant function analyses were used to analyze the data. Results indicated that the economic activities characteristic of agrarian societies (animal husbandry and agriculture) were associated with ornate females. Less advanced economic activities characteristic of folk societies were associated with ornate males and/or no sex differences in dress.

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Carney, T.F. (1972). Content analysis: A technique for systematic inferenre from communications. Winnipeg, Canada: University of Manitoba Press.

Cohen, J. (1960). A coefficient of agreement for nominal scales . Educational and Psychological Mensurement, 20, 37-46.

Cohen, J. (1968). Weighted kappa: Nominal scale agreement with provision for scaled disagreement or partial credit. Psyrlrological Bulletin, 70, 213-220.

Dichter, E. (1966). The peacock revolution. Department Store Eronornist, 29, 26-29.

Fleiss, J.L. (1971). Measuring nominal scale agreement among many raters . Psychological Bulletin, 76, 378-382.

Flugel, J.C. (1950). The psychology of clothes. London: Hogarth Press.

Forsythe, S.M. , Drake, M.F. , & Cox, C.A.Jr. (1984). Dress as an influence on the perceptions of management characteristics of women. Home Economics Research Journal, 13, 112-121.

Horn, M.J. , & Gurel, L.M. (1981). The second skin (3rd ed.). Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company.

Hurlock, E.B. (1976). The psychology of dress. New York: Arno Press.

10.

Jackson, C. (1984). Color for men. New York: Ballantine Books.

11.

Kaiser, S.B. (1985). The social psychology of clothing. New York: MacMillan.

12.

Klecka, W.R. (1980). Discriminant analysis. Beverly Hills: Sage Publications.

13.

Kunzle, D. (1977). Dress reform as antifeminism: A response to Helene E. Robert's "The exquisite slave: The role of clothes in the making of the victorian woman ." Signs, 2, 570-579.

14.

Molloy, J.T. (1977) The woman's dress for success book. New York: Warner Books.

15.

Murdock, G.P. (1967). Ethnographnic atlas. Pittsburgh : University of Pittsburgh Press.

16.

Naisbitt, J. (1982). Megatrends. New York: Warner Books.

17.

Nie, N.H. , Hull, C.H. , Jenkins, J.G. , Steinbrenner, K. , & Bent, D.H. (1970). Statistical package for the social sciences (2nd ed.). New York: McGraw-Hill.

18.

Paoletti, J.B. (1981). Changes in the masculine image in the United States 1880-1910: A content analysis of popular humor about dress. (Doctoral Dissertation, University of Maryland) Ann Arbor, MI: University Microfilms, No. 81-17362.

19.

Paoletti, J.B. (1982). Content analysis: Its application to the study of the history of costume. Clothing and Textiles Research Journal, 1, 14-17.

20.

Redfield, R. (1947). The folk society. American Journal of Sociology, 12, 293-308.

21.

Roach, M.E. , & Eicher, J.B. (1973). The visible self: Perspectives on dress. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.

22.

Roberts, H.E. (1977a). Reply to David Kunzle. Signs , 3, 518-519.

23.

Roberts, H.E. (1977b). The exquisite slave: The role of clothes in the making of the victorian woman. Signs, 2, 554-569.

24.

Russell, D.A. (1983). Costume history and style. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.

25.

Tonnies, F. (1940). Fundamental concepts of sociology. (C.P. Loomis, Trans.). New York: American Book Company.

26.

Veblen, T. (1931). The theory of the leisure class. New York: Modern Library.

27.

Workman, J.E. (1985). Effects of appropriate and inappropriate attire on attributions of personal dispositions. Clothing and Textiles Research Journal, 3, 20-23.

On Peacocks and Peahens: A Cross-Cultural Investigation of the Effects of Economic Development on Sex Differences in Dress

Abstract

Get full access to this article

References