The fundamental human desire for status continues to direct imitation upward. All that has changed is that the cultural capital of urban, cosmopolitan groups includes knowledge of lower-status lifestyles. A conspicuous example is that middle-class white Americans must prove familiarity with Black culture, a phenomenon that drives multiple sectors of the creative economy. When Tommy Hilfiger wanted to sell his brand’s preppy clothing in the early 1990s, he took the advice of the rap impresario Russell Simmons and first targeted African Americans rather than the preppies themselves.
