Reading Blog -- Nov. 12th

The first time I got a pair of blue jeans was a long time ago. I can’t even remember the feeling of getting my first pair of jeans. Actually, wearing jeans is so common that it even becomes a must own clothing in our everyday life. It is really hard to imagine how a pair of pant design for miners now comes in various fits, including skinny, tapered, straight, boot cut and flare. You can also get different colors rather than the original deep blue jeans. Jeans are now a very popular article of casual dress around the world.

This week’s reading is Blue Jeans by Daniel Miller and Sophie Woodward. It talks about an ordinary object, Jeans through series of interviews with people. They try to explain the social changes of British society by tracking the people’s thoughts about jeans through the years. The research raised the value of jean further into a normative of the British society.

Almost everyone in today’s society has a pair of jeans. Wearing jeans can make anybody virtually become an ordinary people on the street.

For immigrants, trying to blend in to a new society is a tough thing to do. They wear jeans to look like the locals. Sometimes they will wear certain outfits to show specific identities in different conditions. The struggle of the immigrants is, they are used to wear traditional outfit but knowing those kinds of outfits will only capture attentions from the public. Immigrants want to keep their original identity and also successfully merge into the new community.

What does the social meaning of wearing a pair of blue jeans? One of the reason people wear jeans is because it is more comfortable than other clothing. And this might be the reason why teenagers are more likely to wear jeans. Jeans are more fitted their identity and needs as a teenager.

In this reading, the argument is not about the functionality of the jeans. Wearing jeans is an action of seeking ones social identity. People want to be in the society or group they are familiar with. Wearing jeans is the easiest way to achieve this goal. But people also want to be unique in the society, trying not to be exactly the same as the others. Jeans is the perfect clothing for blend in but also standing out. You can wear blue jeans when you want to be impersonal. You can wear special designed red jeans to be outstanding and unique.