Reflection week 5

Looking back at the week, the class discussion that really stood out to me was the one on Tuesday regarding clothing and authority. In the world today, clothing completely influences the mentality of both the person wearing the clothes and the mentality of those forming opinions about the person wearing the clothes. Authority and power can be communicated purely through the way someone dresses. If, for example, someone consistently dresses in formal wear, such as a suit and tie, they are subsequently perceived a certain way by society. PTJ is a professor, and as such, garners almost immediate respect. But would he have the same amount of instant respect and image of authority if he dressed in sweatpants each day for class? I don’t think he would. First impressions are essential, as most people learn through business interviews and other interactions. The way you dress is especially crucial to this first impression others form. PTJ came to class the first day fully dressed in a suit and tie, and continued doing so throughout the following classes. This cemented his persona in our minds, and now, if he were to come to class in sweatpants, we would first assume it was a teaching mechanism, simply because the image the suit presented is still firmly entrenched in our brain. The cultural impression of a suit is one of power, responsibility, intelligence, and authority. Individuals wearing suits inevitably command respect from those they interact with. The fact is, it is very difficult, as we discussed in class, to shed that respect and authority associated with the suit. If PTJ were to come to class without his suit, rather than losing his authority, it would be assumed that he was using it as a way to educate us. Even when another student took over the traditional role of authority by playing teacher, the eyes of all the students automatically flicked to PTJ, signifying the degree of respect that could not be lost, even with a sort of coup. The role of a suit directly parallels that of certain countries in the world, Europe for example. Although it has been decades since Europe has had a formidable army or been the leading economic power in the global economy, they still hold onto the past authority gained from the World Wars.