Social Distinctions

Pastimes and Social Status

Sports and pastimes, like modes of dress, foodways, and other social customs, have long been understood as [Page 657]markers of social status. In the late 19th century, Veblen observed that the leisure activities of the upper class took on a structure that was incompatible with physical labor. He theorized that play among the elite is guided by a social desire to distinguish them from groups with inferior status. Veblen's time was characterized by increased social mobility. Social classes once separated by long-established barriers were being thrust together by life in the growing cities.

In this environment, Veblen saw progressively more pecuniary power being directed toward conspicuous displays of leisure. As members of the ascendant classes emulated the wealthy by taking on what they considered to be the honorific customs ofthe rich, the wealthy were compelled to employ more exorbitant status symbols to maintain class boundaries. The upper class developed extravagant forms of play, such as fox hunting or polo, in order to showcase their wealth and thereby reinforce a boundary between classes.

Norbert Elias (1897–1990) saw the lower-status group practice of adopting high-status manners or leisure activities as part of a civilizing process. Not only did engaging in elite forms of play positively mark the social position of the player but such engagement helped to shape new social positions, while legitimating elite models of social distinction.

British historian E.P. Thompson (1924–93) documented a different dynamic in his study of the making ofthe English working class. Working-class play was not seen as an imitation of bourgeois forms of play. Play was instead shown to develop in relation to the social historical forces operating in communities. As local and traditional pastimes met with the disciplinary effects of the industrial revolution, play became a site where working-class conditions were both expressed and contested. As such, the leisure activities were not only shown to take on the class characteristics, but were understood to inform class-consciousness. Thompson's study is foun-dational in the field of cultural studies, which continues to look at forms of play, and the performances enacted during play, as texts capable of revealing and defining social distinctions.

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