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Journal of Education, Humanities and Social Sciences EPHHR 2022
Volume 8 (2023)
2548
Analysing the Changes of Social Psychology and the
Emancipation of Ideology from the Trend of Hoodie
Jiani Zhang*
Dalian Minzu University, Liaoning, China
*Corresponding author: 1693479295@qq.com
Abstract. Hoodies are a kind of common clothing in people's life, which is closely related to people's
life, as well as the fashion trend culture of clothing development. The reason why the hoodies can
be liked by the majority of people is not only related to its own characteristics, but also related to
social and cultural development. The hoodie is warm and comfortable, casual and convenient in
design, and suitable for wearing in most occasions. In addition, the hoodie has a variety of styles,
which can publicize personality, so it is also loved by teenagers and hip-hop actors. Through the
analysis of the development trend of the sanitary wear trend, we can see the change of social
people's psychological consciousness, because the various personalized elements integrated in the
sanitary wear, to a large extent, are also the portrayal of people's psychological consciousness. After
in-depth research and analysis, the results show that hooded sweater has been widely loved by
people. At the beginning, because the hat can play a role of shielding, later, with the popularity of
hip-hop culture, the sweater has become more popular. In the new era, with the constant
transformation of fashion trend factors, the diversified development of the style of the hoodies, its
personality characteristics become more prominent.
Key words: Hoodie; Social psychology; Costume Culture.
1. Introduction
Hoodie, as one of the most classic and basic clothing items in daily life, is favored by the general
public because of its unique versatility and fashion. That's why people of different ages will take
hoodies into consideration in their daily clothing choices.
Most hoodies are made of pure cotton hoodie cloth or terry cloth, which are comfortable, warm
and breathable. In 1902, a company named Russell Athletic began to produce crewneck hoodie, but
at that time, the hoodies were mainly designed for women and children. The reason why the hoodie
can be connected with sports comes from an occasional opportunity. Bennie Russell, the son of the
company's owner, at that time, happened to be on a college football team. Therefore, Bennie Russell
needed to wear sportswear every day to participate in training with the team members. Most
sportswear at that time was cardigans, which were very uncomfortable after a lot of exercises. So
Bennie used Dad's factory to modify the crewneck hoodie and make another practice uniform for his
football team. Because of the comfort and warmth of the hoodie, it quickly spread among football
teams and even became accepted in sports circles. In the 1960s, the development of the economy
made more people participate in sports, so this kind of round-neck hoodie became popular again, and
the design of clothes was more close to the casual style of the public. For teenagers, the loose and
comfortable hoodie can better meet their daily sports and leisure needs.
However, the hoodie's audience is not limited to teenagers. It has also attracted a host of business
people and entertainment stars, including Mark Zuckerberg, the founder of Facebook. He also wore
a hoodie to the company's first roadshow for its Initial Public Offering and told the press that choosing
a hoodie was also a way of showing his attitude to life. In today's society, wearing a suit is not the
only choice for business people or white-collar workers. Instead, comfortable and simple clothes have
become people's preferred choice.
In recent years, against the backdrop of the rapid development of the global economy, the
emancipation of human thought has ushered in another climax. More and more problems of historical
deposition have been put on the table and discussed in a wide range. In this reality, the hoodie has
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unexpectedly become a powerful voice. For example, the slogan "feminism" or "LGBT people" is
printed on their hoodies, so that they can go out and publicize their slogan around them.
The academic research on the hoodie is mostly on its history, development or design, fabric, and
other aspects. In this paper, starting from the audience of the hoodie, the author analyzes the social
and psychological changes reflected by this trend -- people gradually enjoy the identity, pursue a
comfortable and satisfying life attitude, and dare to fight for their own reasonable rights and interests,
and speak out for the vulnerable groups, thus gradually forming a social trend.
2. The Invention of the Hoodie
In 1902, a company called Russell Athletic began producing crewneck hoodies, but they were
designed primarily for women and children and were not designed with athletic needs in mind. Bennie
Russell, the son of the boss of this company, happened to be a member of a college football team. He
improved the sportswear at that time by taking advantage of his own factory based on the needs of
athletes. At that time, most sports clothes were woolen sweaters, which would make athletes very
uncomfortable due to sweat after a lot of exercises. So, Bennie used his father's factory to modify the
crewneck hoodie and made another training suit for his football team, which was the sweatshirt at
that time. Because of the comfort and warmth of the sweatshirt, it quickly spread among football
teams and even became accepted in sports circles.
The crewneck hoodie is only one of the most representative types of the sweater. There is another
type of sweater that is popular with the public, and that is the hoodie.
In 1930, hoodies were for people doing rough work. Champion, an American sportswear company,
pioneered the modern version of the hoodie, mostly made of pure cotton hoodie or wool. Both two
fabrics are comfortable and warm and breathable. It was given to workers as a benefit at that time.
The hooded design is favored by ice warehouse workers and construction workers who often have to
work in cold conditions. At the same time, to overcome the problem of shrinking clothes, the
Champion invented Reverse Weave, a technology they are proud of to solve the problem of shrinking
clothes. This kind of wearable, comfortable and functional sweater has naturally entered the public's
view and become a daily garment.
In the 1960s, the development of the economy made more people participate in sports, so this kind
of sweatshirt became popular again, and the design of clothes was more close to the casual style of
the public. Sweaters are comfortable, warm, durable, and cheap, making them popular among
teenagers. For teenagers, the looseness of the hoodie can better meet their daily sports and leisure
needs.
When skateboarding started on the streets of California in the mid-1970s, however, like hip-hop,
it was a subculture that was not recognized by the mainstream culture and was labeled as
unprofessional and childish. In the summer of 1976, because of the heat, the California government
imposed a ban on water storage in private pools to protect the water supply. This provided the
opportunity for skateboarding to become an extreme sport, where they would sneak into someone
else's dry private pool to ride a skateboard, which was probably the beginning of the "danger" of
skateboarding. However, skateboarders should not only avoid being found by the householder but
also avoid being chased by the police, so they mostly wear hoodies and cover their faces with big hats
to avoid being seen. The hoodie hides their identity. Therefore, the hoodie at this time gradually has
the additional property of being "off the table".
3. The Popularity of Hoodie among Criminals
The hoodie has strong concealment, easy camouflage, convenient action and easy self-protection.
It has a high "concealment", so it was once associated with a negative image.
In the 1990s, most criminals chose to wear hooded hoodies when committing crimes [1]. They
covered their faces with hats to avoid people's sight, and the loose and simple hoodie was also
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convenient for movement and escape. According to the data, the violent crime rate in the United
States peaked in the early 1990s, then began to decline, and then began to rise again after 2014.
Around 1985, the violent crime rate reached 550 cases per 100,000 people and increased year by year.
In the 1990s, there were 750 violent crimes per 100,000 people, and most of the perpetrators were
black. With the widening gap between the rich and the poor in society, people in order to survive,
began to take the road of desperate crimes [2]. When they participated in criminal cases, in order to
escape legal sanctions, they would choose to hide their faces in the process of committing crimes. At
this time, hoodies became the clothes that criminals often wear in crimes.
Later, in a crime incident, an African-American boy who was wearing a hoodie was shot and killed
by co-policemen who were pursuing a criminal. However, the co-policemen embellish the verdict on
the grounds that the boy was wearing a hoodie to cover his face and confuse their eyes, which leads
to errors. This has triggered discontent from all walks of life, and the public has staged a strong protest
campaign. Now, however, hoodies have become a popular choice for men, women and children. They
are comfortable, warm and ornamental. If hoodies really are defined by crime, there must be a
hundred streets full of potentially dangerous people, wouldn't the police be too busy [3]?
4. The Popularity of Hoodie in Hip-hop Circle
Later, as hip-hop culture took off in the 1970s, clothing like hoodie became a symbol of subculture.
The hooded sweatshirt, which has been at the top of fashion for years, has become one of the most
popular items for fashionable men and women around the world, compared to the plaid shirt, which
has fallen out of favor. At the beginning of the design of this style of clothes, in order to quickly seize
the market, in the marketing process, the price is low, suitable for the middle class below the social
group. So for a long time, whether it was a crewneck hoodie or a hoodie, the hoodie belonged to
"students, blue-collar, athletes, soldiers" and other groups that had nothing to do with money or power.
Hip-hop culture originated in the 1960s in Brooklyn, Manhattan. Hip hop means having fun as
much as people like, hip hop means the mind can jump at will. Brooklyn is a famous slum in the
United States. In this kind of living environment, people can't find jobs and don't have enough money
to study. Black teenagers, in particular, spend their days singing, dancing and playing basketball in
the streets. They gradually formed their own form of life.
They don't have enough money to buy fashionable clothes, so they have to accept their parents'
clothes. The clothes are larger than their bodies, in keeping with hip-hop culture and the movement.
Due to financial constraints, hooded sweatshirts are ideal for long-term use, and their unique styles
are not surprising even in size. As a result, hooded sweatshirts have become a unique fashion culture
in hip hop culture. As a typical representative of the non-mainstream culture, the rise of black Hip-
Hop culture expresses a kind of "rebellious" thought to the "white" mainstream, and can also be seen
as a violation of "dressing well and properly". In retrospect, the original spirit of Hip-Hop deviates
from, repels or even confronts the "mainstream culture", which is characterized by social marginality,
subversion and criticality. Such a subculture is easy to have an impact on young people who are
inexperienced, so the hoodie has gradually become a symbol of subculture rebellion.
In the social situation at that time, class opposition was also reflected in the cultural field.
Teenagers of the common class defined subculture as a fashion culture because they could not enter
the mainstream culture, which was full of symbolic meaning of resistance. Young people feel that by
wearing hoodies and hats to cover their faces, they can isolate their souls. However, Hip-Hop culture,
as a distinctive youth subculture, has the subjectivity, popular trend and personalized characteristics
of young people. Therefore, the hoodie trend driven by Hip-Hop culture mainly plays an impact and
role among young people. Since then, the life of the hoodie has been associated with Hip-Hop culture.
Considering the popularity of hip-hop cultural shows such as The Rap of China and This! This is
Street Dance, hoodies are often seen on the screen. It can even be said that the popularity of hoodies
today is largely attributed to Hip-Hop culture [4].
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Driven by hip-hop culture, some young people who love hip-hop songs would choose hoodies with
a sense of fashion to dress themselves up in order to better demonstrate their individuality. More
importantly, in order to keep pace with the evolution of social culture at that time, hoodies constantly
introduced new styles of clothes with various styles and low prices. It can satisfy the consumption
power level of hip-hop lovers at that time, and it can satisfy their desire to show and perform.
In the 1980s, hip-hop culture finally gained commercial value after unremitting efforts [5]. Hoodie
wearers, some of whom are still considered social underachievers, they have gradually gained the
preference of many fashion brands. Many high-end brands or designers start to look for new
inspirations, new groups, and a new blue ocean. The hoodie is a leap from sports equipment to fashion
clothing. There was a concerted effort to poach sports brands such as Champion. Later, with the
further rise of hip-hop culture, major mainstream hoodie brands emerged in the Fashion Festival.
These hoodie brands constantly adjusted the style design of hoodies according to the trend of hip hop
culture, thus making the design of the whole hoodie more match with the prevailing trend of hip hop
culture, which helped the spread and prosperity of hip hop culture, but also promoted the diversified
development of hoodie design styles.
5. Printing of Slogans on the Hoodie
With the progress and development of hip-hop culture and social ideological culture, many young
people like to wear clothes with slogans to express their personal attitudes. Designers then write what
they want to convey or influence the audience on their clothes, which becomes a slogan. Nowadays,
China also has some slogans with strong Chinese culture. Many young people like to use Internet
keywords as slogans to express their attitude towards life and sense of humor.
For people, there is a certain laziness in life, which is reflected in dressing up. When people choose
clothes, they not only need to keep warm, but also want to have a fashionable appearance. At this
time, the hoodie is a good choice of clothing collocation [6]. At the 2017 Shanghai Spring/Summer
Fashion Week, a very humorous designer appeared. Because of the theme of laziness, there are a lot
of long hoodies launched this season with a printed slogan that says "lazy", which looks simple and
straightforward, easy and smooth. Some may ask whether such clothes are inappropriate for work or
formal occasions. But such clothing, despite its straightforward slogan, is simple and elegant. Slogan
reflects not only the basic function of the clothes, but more is also the additional function of the
clothes, that is, the social properties of the clothes, let people's clothes carry your thoughts and
emotions, think about it is a very wonderful thing.
The use of slogan is not only in the field of expressing their own lives, but also in people's views
and appeals to the society. In recent years, the problem of gender antagonism between men and
women has become more and more serious in all countries [7]. Not only in the less developed areas,
but also in the developed areas, women suffer from the phenomenon of unequal treatment. Whether
in the workplace or in life, the public always has a stereotype of women. In order to change this social
situation, many people are speaking up for women. slogan printed on everyday clothes and displayed
to the public is one of the simplest and most straightforward ways to make a statement. In the women's
rights movement, a number of celebrities wore hoodies bearing the slogan of women's rights on the
streets, as a way of expressing their attitudes, and launched a social initiative to encourage and
mobilize people around them to join in. Therefore, the phenomenon of the slogan appearing on the
hoodies reflects the development and civilization of today's human society, as well as the progress of
people's courage to express themselves.
6. Psychological Changes Reflected by Clothing
Clothing is not only used for warmth or beauty, but also can directly reflect the user's personality
and psychological changes. People wear clothes to show their demeanor to the outside world, but also
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to reflect their own characteristics and personal characteristics. Small details, such as a person's style
of dress, color, style and accessories, and even shoes, can reflect subtle psychological changes.
The right clothes can make a downcast person sparkle instantly. Everyone has a different
personality and dress, and everyone has their own unique style of dress. What they are used to wearing,
what they are not used to wearing, what color suits them, what style looks good and so on, which is
determined by each person's different psychological characteristics. A person's psychological
characteristics can be evaluated by his clothing style [8].
Generally speaking, what kind of personality will have what kind of clothes, beautiful people's
clothing style will be very beautiful, and sunny people's clothing style will be very sunny. In fact, the
way a person dresses reflects the essence of his personality. Clothes cover 90% of the body, so clothes
represent a large part of people, colors, styles and even patterns can represent a person's life and
characteristics. Experts use unique research methods and understanding of the psychology of clothing.
They believe that clothing can study human psychological phenomena and rules of life, observe the
changes of human psychological activities through the changes of clothing, and reveal human
psychological characteristics and social life rules.
Dr. Peter Roffer, a famous American psychologist, once said: "A person's preference for clothing
color and clothing can often be inferred from his psychology [9]." At the same time, a Japanese
psychology professor also proposed that there are many psychological characteristics of individuation
hidden in a person's choice of clothing. Most psychological experts think that a slovenly dressed, no
attention to the person, his character is bound to be sloppy, and the lack of strict logical thinking, but
this person is very strong, they are very serious and responsible for the work and life, treat people are
also very enthusiastic, do things to finish, but this person is very face saving, narrow-minded. People
who wear more elegant and luxurious clothes have more desire for self-expression, vanity is strong,
and money worship is strong. This person has a unique sense of self and is prone to great
achievements. Experts have gleaned a lot of clues in academic surveys by looking at a person's
glamorous appearance and following them for long periods of time. They find that well-dressed
people tend to be self-centered and are likely to be the leader or second in command of the group [9].
In addition, there are a lot of people with changeable personalities, emotional instability, or
because of some things, some people often change their dress style, it is difficult to guess their
personality and inner world of the real idea, but this person will often show their inner changes in
other aspects, such as expression, action, language, etc. Other people often have their style and style
of dress, and suddenly one day, they completely change their old clothes. For example, a person is
usually very sloppy, often wearing the same plain jacket, or a velvet hat, suddenly one day, he wears
a gorgeous and regular suit, very smart, hair is smooth so that people cannot help but want to ask
whether he is rich [10]. But in the eyes of intelligence experts, it's not so simple as making a fortune.
The person must be getting some kind of benefit, or someone is helping him. Intelligence experts can
see that the inner world of this person is completely different from the old days -- very empty, full of
low self-esteem, and still waiting for the sun to come out. It must be that he found an organization or
gang to rely on in a short period of time or that he did something important in a short period of time
from then on. The agents who see this will not take it lightly and will keep an even closer eye on him
until he gives it away.
A hoodie is also a kind of clothing, but compared with other clothing, the design of hoodie has
more personality. Obviously, the design of the hoodie is mostly casual and loose style, which to some
extent expresses the wearer's yearning for a free and unrestrained life. However, in real life, those
who like to wear hoodie are really frank and free and easy. In addition, compared with other clothing,
hoodie is usually designed with a hoodie. This hoodie design can not only keep warm, but also better
hide oneself, keep a certain sense of distance from the surrounding people, and better integrate into
one's own spiritual world.
Of course, the design style of the hoodie is also diverse. In terms of style and color, generally
speaking, hoodie with bright colors and novel styles is popular among people who are optimistic and
cheerful and pursue individuality. While hoodie with dark colors and simple style is popular among
Journal of Education, Humanities and Social Sciences EPHHR 2022
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people who like this kind of hoodie, they are generally introverted and low-key. Thus, it can be seen
that there is a certain overlap between the observation of a person's mental changes from the
perspective of hoodie-wearing and the psychological changes reflected by general clothes wearing.
7. Conclusion
This research focuses on the popularity and development of the hoodie. The hoodie originated
from the improvement of a football game clothing. Later, with the better shielding characteristics of
hooded sweater, the sweater was deeply loved by criminals. Later, with the promotion of hip-hop
culture, the hoodie became a synonym for personality and fashion. The trend development and
transformation of the hoodie also show the changes in the society's mind to a certain extent. In
material life, clothing is an important necessity in people's daily life. It is the most significant and full
expression of people's status. It is precisely because of this symbolism that more and more people
regard the arrangement of clothing as an important part of life. Therefore, the fashion trend of an era
can effectively reflect the way of thinking of people at that time and the trend of the customs of the
whole society. As a projection of the continuous evolution of social psychological and cultural
consciousness, the change of clothing plays an irreplaceable role on the stage of history. In the future,
further research will be carried out around the common fashion elements in the design of the hoodie,
so as to further grasp the core influencing factors of the development of the hoodie.
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