Style usurpation and style reclamation

Abstract This paper examines two related phenomena: “style usurpation” and “style reclamation”. Style usurpation occurs when members of morally problematic groups use independently existing style items as identity markers, resulting in these style items becoming publicly connected to these groups. Style reclamation occurs when people who aren’t members of the respective morally problematic groups use these items to protest their usurpation, resulting in the public connection between these items and these groups getting sufficiently undermined, and without a public connection between these items and different morally problematic groups emerging. More specifically, the paper delineates the phenomenon of style usurpation, explores its underlying mechanisms, and highlights its effects. From this backdrop, it then explains how style reclamation can work and explores potential benefits, both on an individual and a societal level.