2025 Theses Doctoral

How Cultural Change Shapes Consumers, Products, and Trends over Time

Hoff, Maren

This dissertation combines large-scale datasets with experimental methods to explore how cultural change shapes consumers, products, and trends over time.

The first essay, The Asymmetry of Gender-fluid Trends, traces how cultural norms around gender expression have shifted over the past century, leading to a skewness in gender-fluid trends. I show that, over time, traditionally male tastes and styles (e.g., the name Blake and suit vests) are more likely to gain fluid connotations than traditionally female ones (e.g., the name Jamie and pearl necklaces). The adoption of these gender-fluid markers is primarily driven by women due to their higher awareness of male advantages and lower fear of negative evaluation.

The second essay, Defining and Understanding Vintage in Consumption, explores how products gain symbolic value as ‘vintage’ over time. I identify three defining dimensions—moderately old, iconic, and scarce—and distinguish vintage from related constructs such as retro, secondhand, and antique. I further demonstrate that vintage generates personal, social, and environmental value for consumers. Finally, I outline ongoing work that examines consumer responses to aging representations, the motivations behind vintage consumption, and fashion comebacks.

Together, my dissertation offers a unified perspective on how cultural change shapes consumers’ identities, product meanings, and marketplace trends over time.