ABDUCTIVE INFERENCE AND THE IDEOGRAPHIC MEANINGS OF UNCONVENTIONAL DRESS FORMS

• Sponsoring Institution: National Institute of Food and Agriculture
• Project Status: COMPLETE
• Funding Source: HATCH
• Reporting Frequency: Annual
• Accession No.: 0208912
• Project Start Date: Oct 15, 2006
• Project End Date: Sep 30, 2010
• Program Code: [(N/A)]- (N/A)

Recipient Organization
UNIV OF HAWAII
3190 MAILE WAY
HONOLULU,HI 96822

Performing Department
FAMILY AND CONSUMER SCIENCES

Non Technical Summary
The work addresses an understudied area of McCracken's theoretical construct (1986) regarding the generation and transfer of meanings consumers attach to marketing efforts in general and to fashion-related goods in particular. McCracken's thesis gives the primary role in generating and transferring meanings to the fashion system: designers, manufacturers, retailers, fashion journalists, and their advertising associates. Unaddressed in the construct is how individuals make sense of novel appearance forms prior to intervention by the fashion system. [McCracken, G. (1986). Culture and consumption: A theoretical account of the structure and movement of the cultural meaning of consumer goods. Journal of Consumer Research, 13 (1 June), 71-84.] The purpose of the proposed study is to explore the usefulness of abductive inference as a means of identifying components of meanings that are ascribed to novel subculture dress and appearance styles at the initiation stage of the fashion life cycle.

Animal Health Component

(N/A)

Research Effort Categories

Basic

50%

Applied

(N/A)

Developmental

50%

Classification

Knowledge Area (KA)	Subject of Investigation (SOI)	Field of Science (FOS)	Percent
604	5110	3030	90%
802	5110	3080	10%

Knowledge Area
604 - Marketing and Distribution Practices; 802 - Human Development and Family Well-Being;

Subject Of Investigation
5110 - Clothing/apparel;

Field Of Science
3080 - Sociology; 3030 - Information and communication;

Keywords

abduction

symbolic consumption

subculture dress

Goals / Objectives
1. Drawing on an existing written transcript of a heterogeneous group of individuals' interactions over issues related to a novel, controversial dress form, extract traces of meanings attributed to dress as these are voiced by participants in the interaction. [quantifiable: numbers of meaning traces extracted]; 2. Identify the specific dress and appearance elements to which meaning is attributed [quantifiable: numbers and assortment of signifiers identified]; 3. Identify the meanings of those dress and appearance elements [quantifiable: numbers of discrete meanings identified]; 4. Identify the bases (i.e., the rules, conventions, semiotic structures) on which the signifiers are connected with the signifieds (quantifiable: numbers of discrete rules/semiotic structures identified); 5. Draw connections from the ideographic (i.e., individual consumer) data to the cultural domains from which the rules are extracted (quantifiable: numbers connections and domains identified); 6. Draw implications for theory building (quantifiable: numbers of implications identified). 7. Draw implications for apparel marketers in Hawai`i (quantifiable: numbers of implications identified; 8. Suggest implications for family life educators in Hawai'i (quantifiable: numbers of implications identified).

Project Methods
The research relies on methods common to semiotic studies. All aspects of the study will be carried out by the PI. The data will be extracted from a written transcript of a televised talk show that contains a record of consumer arguments over appearance and fashion-related issues. Instances of attribution of meaning to the dress form will be identified through close reading - an interpretive method common to semiotic studies. Meaning attributions will be analyzed and interpreted by means of abduction, a form of logical inference through which data are explained on the basis of conjectures about probable cause. The abductions will break out the particular dress and appearance elements that are salient in ascriptions of meaning, the rules, codes, or conventions that are engaged in order to link those elements to meaning, and the meanings that are attributed to the various elements.

Progress 10/15/06 to 09/30/10

Outputs
OUTPUTS: Results were disseminated to academicians through 8 refereed and invited conference presentations, as follows: Hawaii International Conference on Arts & Humanities, Honolulu. January 2008; Conference on Dress & Culture, Hofstra University, NY. April 2007; Southwest/Texas Popular Culture/American Culture Assoc, Albuquerque, NM. February 2007; Semiotic Society of America, Lexington, KY. October 1997; Popular Culture Association, Honolulu, HI. January 1996; Post-conference workshop on Postmodern Images, International Textile and Apparel Association, Pasadena, CA. October 1995; International Popular Culture Association, Oxford University, Oxford, UK. July 1995; Society for the Study of Symbolic Interactions, Midwest Sociological Society, St. Louis, MO. March 1994. PARTICIPANTS: Not relevant to this project. TARGET AUDIENCES: In this study I proposed and applied a new theoretical framework for dealing with research and instruction relative to the meanings of dress. The conceptual tool involves a shift from traditional conceptions of appearance signs as aspects of social institutions to a concern with the role of individual cognition in generating appearance-related meanings. The target audience for the work is textiles and apparel scholars. Two papers describing the theoretical framework and demonstrating its applicability are currently in blind review. PROJECT MODIFICATIONS: Not relevant to this project.

Impacts
(1) Two manuscripts were submitted to a peer-reviewed journal on September 27, 2010 and are in review: (a) How Dress Means: Abductive Inference and the Structure of Meanings. Part I: Semiotics and the Meanings of Dress; and (b) Abductive Inference and the Structure of Meanings: Part II: Making Sense of Intuition. (2) As a result of my conference papers and 2007 journal article on this topic, I was asked to chair the following discussion panels at professional association meetings: American Studies Panel, Hawaii International Conference on Arts & Humanities, Honolulu, HI. January 2008; Rap Music & Hip-Hop Culture Panel, SW/TX Popular Culture Association, Albuquerque, NM. February 2007. (3) The 2007 journal paper published on this work was discussed, argued and/or otherwise cited in: Hodges, D.W. 2010. The soul of hip hop: Rims, timbs and a cultural theology. Westmont, IL: Intervarsity Press; McFarlane, S. A. 2010. Toward an exploration of Earl "Biggy" Turner in the new regge/dancehall fashion aesthetic. Interdisciplinary.net; Purinton, E. F. 2009. Compensatory or conspicuous consumption: Bling it on. Proceedings of the American Society of Business & Behavioral Science, 16(1); Hancock, J. H. 2007 "These aren't the same pants your grandfather wore!" The evolution of Branding Pants. Doctoral dissertation. The Ohio State University; Rasband, J. 2007, Sept. 29. Teach the truth about modesty. Church News: Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. (4) Sage Publications reported that the 2007 journal article resulting from this work is #24 in its list of most read publications in October 2010.

Publications

• No publications reported this period

Progress 10/01/08 to 09/30/09

Outputs
OUTPUTS: (a) A referred conference paper describing the abductive methodology was presented at the Hawaii International Conference on Arts and Humanities in January 2008. (b) A report on analysis of the data underwent major revision as a result of interatction with professional colleagues. (c) A revised report on the methodology and outcomes of the study was submitted to blind review for journal publication in October 2009. PARTICIPANTS: Not relevant to this project. TARGET AUDIENCES: Nothing significant to report during this reporting period. PROJECT MODIFICATIONS: Nothing significant to report during this reporting period.

Impacts
Scholars from multiple disciplines drew from my reports on this project to assist in developing their own research in related areas: Purinton (2009)presented work on an aspect of hip-hop appearance to the American Society of Business & Behavorial Sciences; Evan (2008)reported work on American stereotypes in an on-line press; Lynxwiler & Gay (2000) published work on deviant behavior with regard to heavy metal and rap music; and Ames (2008) projected directions in fashion design as a response to subculture dress forms.

Publications

• No publications reported this period

Progress 10/01/07 to 09/30/08

Outputs
OUTPUTS: A journal article reporting results of the study was submitted to blind peer review 6/15/08. Reviewers requested major revision on 9/15/08 and asked that the revised paper be returned for second review by 3/08/09. The work is in revision at this time. PARTICIPANTS: Morgado, M.A., (PI). Prepared manuscript describing results of the study. Submitted manuscript to Textiles & Clothing Research Journal for blind peer review. Prepared substantive revisions on first submission. TARGET AUDIENCES: The target audience for this work is textiles and apparel scholars. Two blind reviewers and a journal editor read the first submission, were impressed with the study, and suggested that the work has considerable relevance for instruction and theory development in the field. PROJECT MODIFICATIONS: Not relevant to this project.

Impacts
No outcomes at this time.

Publications

• No publications reported this period

Progress 10/01/06 to 09/30/07

Outputs
1. A report based on the methodology was submitted to blind peer review for presentation at an interdisciplinary conference. 2. A report describing the results of a structural analysis of the data was submitted to peer review for presentation at an interdisciplinary conference. 3. A manuscript describing the results of Part I of the study was submitted to blind peer review for publication in the Clothing and Textiles Research Journal.

Impacts
1. A blind, peer-reviewed paper describing the abductive methodology was presented at an interdisciplinary conference on culture and dress. Colleagues in culture studies, marketing and consumer research, and textiles and apparel argued the merits and shortcomings of the methodology and its appropriateness to the research issues, and suggested avenues for further development of the research. 2. A peer-reviewed paper describing the results of a structural analysis of the data was presented at an interdisciplinary meeting of popular culture scholars. A network of scholars engaged in hip-hop research at Bowling Green State University, University of Texas, and Grimsby Institute, UK was established with researchers at those institutions and on-going dialogue has ensued. 3. Two previously published works developed from studies covered in an earlier HATCH project and based on a related methodology generated linkages with scholars concerned with issues of meaning in dress in other land grant institutions. 4. The thesis of a published paper on theoretical considerations related to the present study and covered in an earlier HATCH project was used as the basis for research reported by an Iowa State graduate student at the 2007 annual conference of the International Textile and Apparel Association. The student's work was recognized with an award as the best graduate paper submission.

Publications

• Morgado, M.A. (2007). The Semiotics of Extraordinary Dress: A Structural Analysis and Interpretation of Hip-Hop Style. Textiles & Clothing Research Journal, 25(2), 131-155.
• Morgado, M.A. (2005). Refashioning the Hawaiian shirt. In Damhorst, M.L., Michelman, S.O., & Miller-Stillman, K.A., Eds. The meanings of dress. New York: Fairchild Books. 415-420.
• Morgado, M.A. (2003). From kitsch to chic: The transformation of Hawaiian shirt aesthetics. Clothing & Textiles Research Journal, 21(2), 75-88.
• Morgado, M.A. (2007). The Semiotics of Hip-Hop Style: A Structural Analysis. Paper presented at a meeting of the Southwest/Texas Popular Culture Association, Albuquerque, NM. February, 2007.
• Morgado, M.A. (2007). Abductive Inference and the Meanings of Unconventional Dress: An Interpretive Study of Hip-Hop Style. Paper presented at a conference on Defining Culture Through Dress, Hofstra Cultural Center, Hofstra University, Hempstead, NY. April, 2007.