CLOTHING AND COMMUNICATION

Clothing And Communication: A Socio-Cultural Investigation

Anissa Larouci

Thames Valley University

Abstract

This study will seek to provide an insight into the media's attitude toward certain types of clothing, namely 'hoodies', mainly in contemporary Britain and internationally, as a means of exploring the role the media plays in the influencing of public opinion. More broadly, this study will also seek to explore this field of clothing and identity as a means of providing a commentary and analysis of the social and cultural composition of contemporary Britain, and how media attitudes perhaps influence the process of social and cultural 'assimilation'.

Table of Contents

Abstract2

Table of Contents3

Chapter I: Introduction5

Background of the Study5

Hypothesis6

Limitations And Concluding Remarks6

CHAPTER II: Literature Review7

Introduction7

United Kingdom8

Hijab And Hoodies Purchase Decisions And Social Participation29

Teens and hijab and hoodies30

United States30

Japan31

China32

CHAPTER III34

CHAPTER IV35

CHAPTER V36

References37

(Journal) Title: A hoodie is not just for Christmas…. Personnel Today, Personnel Today, 12/12/2006, p56-56, 1/4p; Abstract:46

Chapter I: Introduction

Around the world today, the clothes we wear - traditional costume, military uniforms, street fashion, haute-couture or prêt a porter - made by hand or mass-manufactured - are the result of appropriated styles and the constant evolution of meaning and diverse identities. Clothing, whether one-of-a-kind or mass-manufactured, whether it is conceived as a form of expression by the maker or whether it becomes a form of expression through shifting uses and contexts, is a form of communication that is too important to ignore.

Background of the Study

The issues of migration, assimilation and conflicts in identity are all-pervasive into today's media and press; no wonder, considering the scale of cultural and social diversity in modern-day Britain. In a cultural context and over the last fifty years, there has been a sharp increase in the numbers of people immigrating into the UK, figures which themselves indicate a radical transplantation of cultures and the ideologies by which they are underpinned from one context to the next. Though the UK has opened its borders to diverse range of peoples from differing religious persuasions, such as Buddhism, Sikhism and Islam, it is with the latter that the process of cultural assimilation is shown to be one which can be fraught with difficulty. The role played by the media in the process of this is assimilation is perhaps crucial and to this end, it is the intention of this study to highlight how far the media may influence integration by focusing on one issue which, in particular, has caught the imagination of the public; that of the Hijab, or veil, which is worn by Muslim women according to the doctrines of their faith and an article which, during recent years, has provoked a great deal of controversy.

Hypothesis

The purpose of the present research is to address these questions by exploring the clothing and communication: a socio-cultural investigation. Comparisons are made between teens in these three countries UK, America and China. The global teenager hypothesis, as it pertains to attitudes towards hijab and hoodies clothing in general will thus be supported to the degree that cross-cultural similarities in such brand attitudes ...