A Matter of Taste: How Names, Fashions, and Culture Change

by Stanley Lieberson

What accounts for our tastes? Why and how do they change over time? In this innovative book Stanley Lieberson analyzes children's first names to develop an original theory of fashion. Children's names provide an opportunity to view the pure mechanisms of fashion, unaffected by commercial interests that influence many fashions and tastes, says Lieberson. He disputes the commonly held notion that tastes in names (and other fashions) simply reflect societal shifts. There exist also "internal taste mechanisms" that drive changes in fashion even in the absence of social change, Lieberson contends. He explores the intricate and subtle ways in which internal mechanisms operate in concert with social forces to determine our choices of names. And he applies these conclusions to classical music, the decline of the fedora, women's garments, and other examples of change in fashion.Examining extensive data on names over long periods of time, Lieberson discovers an orderly regularity to the process of change. He considers an array of naming practices -- how Rebecca became a popular name, why the names of certain important and attractive biblical characters are rarely chosen, and the influence of movie stars and characters in movies and novels. The book also inquires into name selection by specific ethnic and racial groups -- Mexicans' choices of names for their sons and daughters, African-American naming tastes from the time of slavery, changing names among American Jews throughout the twentieth century, and ethnic influences on naming in assimilated white groups. Lieberson concludes with a discussion of broader applications of internal mechanisms, suggesting that they operate widely in culture,across the entire "cultural surface".

Genres: Nonfiction, Sociology, History, Cultural, Social Science

350 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2000

Reviews

[Hussein Ebeid · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fashions are influenced by external events and the influence of media – but not as exclusively as we think. Internal influences that operate independently of external events let fashions and taste change over time. If we want to understand why a certain taste came about, we must thus always search for both types of influences.

[Andreasap Purwanto · Rating 4 out of 5]

Buku ini sempat terbaca saat dulu mau memilihkan nama untuk anak kami, kira-kira 6 tahun silam.

Stanley Lieberson, seorang sosiolog dari Harvard University itu dalam buku ini meneliti soal tren nama depan bayi. Ia mengumpulkan data dalam jumlah sangat luar biasa dari awal abad 20 untuk menghindari pengaruh iklan dan media dalam membentuk tren itu. Boleh jadi benar: ada pola di sana. Misalnya, nama dengan suku kata terakhir -ette berakhir popularitasnya dan berganti dengan -ine. Pun -a dan -ah yang juga makin populer.

[Vaughn · Rating 4 out of 5]

a nicely sophisticated analysis of fashions, laying out some proposed mechanisms by which they change. stan's writing is brilliantly crisp and unaffected, and is completely free of jargon; more sociologists should write like this.

[Peacegal · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book wasn't really what I was expecting. I had hoped for a book-length version of Freakonomics' fascinating chapter on the dynamics of first names. Instead, this was a rather dry exercise that reads like a textbook, with precious few personal stories to add color.

[Renee · Rating 3 out of 5]

http://blog.vcu.edu/bookremarks/2006/...
For the true baby name geek. All you would want to know. And then some.

[Emily · Rating 3 out of 5]

When I was named Emily, there were hardly any Emilys around. Now there are zillions and this book explains why.