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Originally Posted by lurkette
Even if we were to revert (evolve?) to a completely agrarian, egalitarian socialist society, our penchant for symbol use would almost certainly mean that some items would be seen as expressions of the self. Look at some tribes where fetishes or totems were first used to identify roles but gradually evolved into status symbols. Or someone finds a pretty rock, everyone wants the pretty rock. Suddenly it's not a "rock" anymore, it's a commodity, and possession of the rock is suddenly a symbol of something beyond having a hard piece of silica with which to bash things.
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I wonder if our ancient ancestors identified with their possessions regardless of their functional use, you know, "my clovis spear point is way cooler than yours" or "my shell necklace is the latest in design"? Maybe we are wired this way. "Let's not invite them, their cave drawings are old school".
I guess we also have some need to conform to the norm. Why else would we still wear something as useless as a tie.