Leibenstein (1950: 199-202) outlined what he called the “Snob Effect” within conspicuous consumption, dictating that, as the demand for a 'luxury' product increases (particularly among lower income brackets), the demand among those with larger wealth can decrease, with the wealthier consumers behaving 'snobbishly'. Alongside this argument, in the same paper, Leibenstein (1950: 190-198) described the “Bandwagon Effect”, proposing that demand generally rises as other people consume a commodity, with followers repeating the consumption for some kind of in-group cohesion, mirroring the psychological theory of normative conformity (Kahle and Kim 2006: 314-317).
The element of luxury within a commodity, then, if it is identified with elite snob demand, lasts only when detached from the market majority by distinct factors, but can perhaps continue to grow when subjected to minimal increases in the market, and is ephemeral and self-destructive when potentially open to a wider market. At its demise, it gives way to the mass appeal and mass consumption of followers.
Evidence from antiquity
The trickling down of demand for luxury goods from the elite to the wider population is the essential fragment of evidence necessary to find examples of both the Snob Effect and the Bandwagon Effect in antiquity. This is unfortunately difficult due to the limitation of evidence relating to the activities of lower economic groups. Arguably, the modern world makes both effects easier to see for posterity, with communication technology increasing the communicability and reach of bandwagons, and hypertrophying the luxury value of less accessible commodities. Perspectives from the elite about the trickle down effect are implicit in the ancient world, however, and thus demonstrate something akin to the 'snob' perspective.
Cultural significance and luxury value of the Roman toga
The toga was the dress of choice for the Roman elite in nearly all depictions, adopted from the Etruscans, from the earliest history of Rome until its decline. In the classical world, the toga was identifiably Roman, and the Romans were in turn identifiably toga-wearers. Virgil refers to Romans as “clad in togas” in the same breath as “masters of the whole round world” (Aeneid 1.281-282). Togas were directly associated with Roman citizenship (e.g. Suetonius Life of Claudius 15.2), and even denied to exiles (Pliny Letters 43).
Variations were reserved for special ranks, for example the bright white toga for electoral candidates (Polybius Histories 10.4.8), and the purple-rimmed toga for magistrates (e.g. Seneca On Firmness 2.2-3.1). Togas, therefore, were status symbols both for Romans as distinct from the rest of the world, and for important Romans as distinct from less important Romans. This conscious control of the accessibility of a luxury is reminiscent of snobbish behaviour as identified above.
Practicality of the toga
The toga was acknowledged as cumbersome even in antiquity (Tertullian De Pallio 5.2.1), and probably not worn every day. The poor preservation of materials in the archaeological record provides no surviving togas (Vout 1996: 209-211), while the clothing evidence that does survive favours cloaks, tunics and trousers. The Edict on Maximum Prices (19, cited in Caputo et al. 1955: 112), issued by Diocletian, mentions only cloaks and tunics in its discussion of clothes, which are themselves extremely expensive. There is an absence of togas, which must have been even more expensive.
The luxury of the toga, then, was in its symbolic value, and not its practicality. It was presumably not a very common sight in imperial Rome, just as the kilt is not in modern Edinburgh, but it was the chosen dress for the Roman elite in depictions simply for its association with the 'luxury' of being Roman. The emperor Severus Alexander, for example, preferred a cloak, but wore a toga whenever he addressed the people of Rome or another Italian city (Augustan History Life of Severus Alexander 40.7).
Bandwagon Effect
The expansion of the Roman empire brought an introduction of Roman lifestyles to subjugated territories. The toga is described in a passage of Tacitus' Agricola (21) as adopted by subjugated local elites in order to seem more Roman. While, superficially, this might be a disappointment to those Romans who wished to maintain the luxurious exclusiveness of their self-identity, alternatively, as Tacitus demonstrates, there was some Roman pride in being imitated, but maintaining an original 'superiority'.
The copies, which created a limited bandwagon, appeared inadequate and desperate to the Roman elite. This is appropriate to the theory that a weak Bandwagon Effect can actually maintain or encourage snob demand, as proposed by Amaldoss and Jain (2005: 1449-1466).
Sources
- Amaldoss, W. and Jain, S., 2005, "Conspicuous Consumption and Sophisticated Thinking", Management Science 51: 1449-1466
- Augustan History, Life of Severus Alexander, tr. D. Magie (London 1932)
- Caputo, G., Goodchild, R. and Richmond, I. A., "Diocletian's Price-Edict at Ptolemais (Cyrenaica)", Journal of Roman Studies 45: 106-115
- Kahle, L. R. and Kim, C., 2006, Creating Images and the Psychology of Marketing Communication, London
- Leibenstein, H., 1950, "Bandwagon, Snob and Veblen Effects in the Theory of Consumers' Demand", Quarterly Journal of Economics 64: 183-207
- Pliny, Letters, tr. W. Melmoth (London 1915)
- Polybius, Histories, tr. W. R. Paton (London 1927)
- Seneca, On Firmness, tr. J. W. Basore (London 1928)
- Suetonius, Life of Claudius, tr. A. Thomson (New York 1883)
- Tacitus, Agricola, tr. A. J. Church and W. J. Brodribb (London 1899)
- Tertullian, De Pallio, tr. V. Hunink (Amsterdam 2005)
- Virgil, Aeneid, tr. T. C. Williams (Boston 1910)
- Vout, C., 1996, "The Myth of the Toga: Understanding the History of Roman Dress", Greece & Rome 43: 204-220
Kevin Stoba - Kevin Stoba is a careful-thinking contrarian with a boldly radical bent and an indefatigable tendency to doubt.
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