Fad

A fad, trend, or craze is any form of

Fads are

The specific nature of the behavior associated with a fad can be of any type including unusual language usage, distinctive clothing, fad diets or frauds such as pyramid schemes. Apart from general novelty, mass marketing, emotional blackmail, peer pressure, or the desire to "be hip" may drive fads.^[5] Popular celebrities can also drive fads, for example the highly popularizing effect of Oprah's Book Club.

Though some consider the term trend equivalent to fad, a fad is generally considered a quick and short behavior whereas a trend is one that evolves into a long term or even permanent change.^[6]

Economics

In

Many contemporary fads share similar patterns of social organization.[8] Several different models serve to examine fads and how they spread.

One way of looking at the spread of fads is through the top-down model, which argues that fashion is created for the elite, and from the elite, fashion spreads to lower classes.

Others may argue that not all fads begin with their adopters.[8] Social life already provides people with ideas that can help create a basis for new and innovative fads.^[8] Companies can look at what people are already interested in and create something from that information. The ideas behind fads are not always original; they might stem from what is already popular at the time. Recreation and style faddists may try out variations of a basic pattern or idea already in existence.^[9]

Another way of looking at the spread of fads is through a symbolic interaction view. People learn their behaviors from the people around them.^[2] When it comes to collective behavior, the emergence of these shared rules, meanings, and emotions are more dependent on the cues of the situation, rather than physiological arousal.^[2] This connection to symbolic interactionism, a theory that explains people's actions as being directed by shared meanings and assumptions, explains that fads are spread because people attach meaning and emotion to objects, and not because the object has practical use, for instance.^[10] People might adopt a fad because of the meanings and assumptions they share with the other people who have adopted that fad. People may join other adopters of the fad because they enjoy being a part of a group and what that symbolizes.^[1] Some people may join because they want to feel like an insider.^[1] When multiple people adopt the same fad, they may feel like they have made the right choice because other people have made that same choice.^[1]

Termination

Primarily, fads end because all innovative possibilities have been exhausted.^[9] Fads begin to fade when people no longer see them as new and unique. As more people follow the fad, some might start to see it as "overcrowded", and it no longer holds the same appeal.^[1] Many times, those who first adopt the fad also abandon it first.^[1] They begin to recognize that their preoccupation with the fad leads them to neglect some of their routine activities, and they realize the negative aspects of their behavior.^[9] Once the faddists are no longer producing new variations of the fad, people begin to realize their neglect of other activities, and the dangers of the fad. Not everyone completely abandons the fad, however, and parts may remain.^[1]

A study examined why certain fads die out quicker than others. A marketing professor at the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School of Business, Jonah Berger and his colleague, Gael Le Mens, studied baby names in the United States and France to help explore the termination of fads.^[11] According to their results, the faster the names became popular, the faster they lost their popularity.^[11] They also found that the least successful names overall were those that caught on most quickly.^[11] Fads, like baby names, often lose their appeal just as quickly as they gained it.

Collective behavior

Fads can fit under the broad umbrella of collective behavior, which are behaviors engaged in by a large but loosely connected group of people.^[9] Other than fads, collective behavior includes the activities of people in crowds, panics, fashions, crazes, and more.^[9]

Robert E. Park, the man who created the term collective behavior, defined it as "the behavior of individuals under the influence of an impulse that is common and collective, an impulse, in other words, that is the result of social interaction".^[9] Fads are seen as impulsive, driven by emotions; however, they can bring together groups of people who may not have much in common other than their investment in the fad.

Collective obsession

Fads can also fit under the umbrella of "collective obsessions". Collective obsessions have three main features in common.

See also

Notes

References

• Arena, Barbara (2001). The Complete Idiot's Guide to Making Money with Your Hobby. Alpha.
  ISBN 978-0-02-863825-6
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• Aguirre, B.E. Jorge L.; Mendoza, Jorge L.; Quarantelli, E.L. (1988). "The collective behavior of fads: The characteristics, effects, and career of streaking". American Sociological Review. 53 (4): 569–584.
  JSTOR 2095850
  .
• Best, Joel (2006). Flavor of the Month: Why Smart People Fall for Fads. University of California Press.
  ISBN 9780520246263
  .
• Burke, Sarah. "5 Marketing Strategies, 1 Question: Fad or Trend?". Spokal.
• Camerer, Colin (1989). "Bubbles and Fads in Asset Prices". Journal of Economic Surveys. 3 (1): 3–41.
  doi:10.1111/j.1467-6419.1989.tb00056.x
  .
• Conley, Dalton (2015). You may ask yourself: An introduction to thinking like a sociologist. New York: W.W. Norton & Co.
  ISBN 978-0-393-93773-2
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• Domanski, Andrzej (2004). "Collective fascinations (fads) and the idea of ephemeral culture". Kultura I Spoleczenstwo (Culture and Society). 48 (4). Archived from the original on 2011-07-18. (review/summary)
• Griffith, Benjamin (2013). "College Fads". St. James Encyclopedia of Popular Culture – via Gale Virtual Reference Library.
• Heussner, Ki Mae. "7 Fads You Won't Forget". ABC News.
• Issitt, Micah L. (2009). Hippies: A Guide to an American Subculture. Greenwood.
  ISBN 978-0-313-36572-0
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• Killian, Lewis M.; Smelser, Neil J.; Turner, Ralph H. "Collective behavior". Encyclopædia Britannica.
• Kornblum, William (2007). Sociology in a Changing World (8th ed.). Wadsworth Publishing.
  ISBN 978-0-495-09635-1
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• Sparks, Jared; Everett, Edward; Lowell, James Russell; Lodge, Henry Cabot (1899). The North American review. Vol. 168. New York: North American Review Publishing Co.
• Suzuki, Tadashi; Best, Joel (2003). "The Emergence of Trendsetters for Fashions and Fads". Sociological Quarterly. 44 (1): 61–79.
  S2CID 145052921
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External links

Look up fad, craze, or trend in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

• Media related to Fads at Wikimedia Commons

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