James William Gibson

The Design of Everyday LifeThe Design of Everyday Life, by ShoveElizabeth, WatsonMatthew, HandMartin, and IngramJack. New York, NY: Berg Publishers, 2007. 174 pp.

low ribbons for troop support, red for HIV and pink for breast cancer. Her critical examination of the timing of these movements and the political meaning of ribbon wearing shapes important research questions. One important point considered is the ambiguity in the meaning of ribbons being worn, because each color ribbon possesses multiple meanings. Combined with her argument that, at best, wearing these ribbons is a mildly oppositional act, Moore smartly questions whether wearing ribbons is in fact a meaningful statement or a safe performance of compassion. Moore also catalogues the successful commercialization of ribbons by the fashion and entertainment industries, considering whether showing awareness is fashionable self-promotion. Moore’s methodology is problematic and in more than one instance this compromises her analysis. While a combination of interview and participant observation seems appropriate for such a project, Moore’s use of these methods lacks rigor. The convenience sample is skewed toward women, is entirely white, and consists mostly of twenty-somethings from one part of England. The participant observation is limited (two events) and the attempt to compliment her data with questionnaires fails to overcome the general weakness of the methodology. Finally, Moore argues that secondary data is a major component of her research, however the fruits of this labor come across more as an indepth literature review than as data and analysis. These limitations negatively impact the analysis in Ribbon Culture. At various points throughout the book, Moore awkwardly breaks from the main focus of the chapter to discuss gender as a component of showing awareness, or as an important element of the history of ribbons. Moore speaks of her data in a generalizable manner but fails to fully explore how the dispersion of her sample might limit her analysis; this contributes to the disjointed sections on gender. Another example is in her categorization of four symbolic uses of ribbons: gay solidarity, community action, mourning symbol, and as a route to showing awareness. While the latter three themes are abstract ideas that can be applied to numerous contexts, gay solidarity is a content specific theme which contains elements of the other three. The decision to make gay solidarity an independent theme isn’t consistent with the historical research Moore presents and seems clearly to be guided by the limited nature of her data collection. In the end, Moore’s book demonstrates well how wearing awareness ribbons represents both a submission to uniform collective identities but also the creation and demonstration of unique, trendy forms of individual expression. While respondents actively describe ribbon wearing in terms of large scale external goals such as demonstrating awareness, public mourning and community activism, Moore’s research demonstrates the highly individualized performances involved in these symbolic gestures. Many respondents had trouble explaining why they wore ribbons, or actualizing what ribbon wearing meant. Most respondents take no active steps beyond ribbon wearing, indicating a very soft level of support. She also finds that many people wear ribbons to be trendy or for reasons that have nothing to do with the intent of those persons who made and distributed the ribbons. One of the more interesting findings in the book is in Chapter Seven where Moore reveals that worry and concern for the self is one of the major reasons people choose to wear ribbons, and that awareness becomes a step toward self-preservation. Overall, the results are quite limited but still nicely address Moore’s points concerning showing awareness in late modernity, making Ribbon Culture a book that will be enjoyed by a diverse set of academic audiences and occasional lay readers.