Reference Groups

<-NARRATOR:-> Now listen to part of a lecture in a sociology class on this topic.
<-MALE PROFESSOR:-> I have an example from my own life that illustrates this.
When I first began my university studies, I became friends with a bunch of art students.
They were older and fun and very creative,
and I thought they were really cool.
And they all liked to dress really casually, in T-shirts and jeans and sneakers.
That's what they wore all the time¡ª
to class, to the library, to dinner, everywhere.
T-shirts and jeans and sneakers.
So that's what I started wearing, too.
And I fit right in, and I felt really cool.
But then I graduated, moved to Chicago, and got a job.
And I started working with some really bright young people
who'd already been working at the company for a few years,
who were already handling major responsibilities for the company.
Really impressive....
And sometimes some of us would get together on the weekends¡ª
maybe for a concert, or a baseball game, or something.
And at first,
I'd just wear a T-shirt and jeans and sneakers¡ªthat was, you know, how I was used to dressing....
But I soon noticed that my coworkers preferred to dress up a little bit¡ª
the men would wear a nice pair of pants, a button-up shirt;
the women might wear a fashionable dress and some nice shoes"
they dressed in clothes a lot nicer than what I was used to wearing.
And I started thinking,
"You know, that looks really classy, really sharp." ...
And so I started to dress the same way they did¡ª
you know, nicer,
a little more formal. ...
And I don't know,
somehow my T-shirt and jeans and sneakers didn't seem as cool to me anymore.