Tradition, Fashion, Borrowing and Syncretism

Abstract

Historian Paul Veyne claims that whatever predilection for the excellence they may chiefly cultivate, elites are sensitive to every means of distinction liable to ‘mark them off from ordinary mankind’.¹ Yet, one may wonder to what extent they are open to novelty. Do elites from various parts of the world really show interest in any potential options, or do they mostly adhere to stable, well-proven formulas? There are several ways of approaching this topic. One consists of considering the diffusion of superiority signs from one society to another, which often requires thinking in terms of adoption/adaptation and, increasingly, in terms of globalisation/local social meanings. At a more basic level, however (not necessarily including inter-societal dimensions), the question raised is that of the attitudes of elites toward ‘fashionability’.