Snobisme oblige…

According to William Thackeray, Snobs are a part of the Beautiful (with a large B!) and they pervade all classes. “An immense percentage of Snobs, I believe, is to be found in every rank of this mortal life. (…) If people can be convinced of this fact, an immense point is gained, surely.” (The Book of Snobs)

A century later, French intellectuals such as Marcel Aymé, claimed that one should respect snobs for they are able to recommend “good or bad” trends or currents to the crowd. Without their help these tendencies would go unnoticed. One author even claims, that “snobbism is necessary for the glory and the expansion of the enterprises of creative genius.”

According to the Theory of Human Motivation, snobbism is our fourth ‘need’: the need to be respected. However, snobbism can also be detected in our third need, the need for love, which is closely connected with the need for recognition and consideration. Or indeed with our second need, the need for security: social security (savoir-vivre, etiquette) and psychological security (the need to feel good thanks to the acquisition of a luxury product or brand).

So snobbism is universal and a snob can eventually become a trendsetter, a patron, an ambassador, or even sometimes King Midas. However, lots of ambiguities and contradictions jar his or her portrait: avant-gardism, ostentation and celebrity can be as snobbish as conformism, modesty and going incognito! Like his brother in arms, the dandy, the snob can be very ‘spiritual’ indeed! And snobbishness the opposite of a sin…