Neo-liberalism involves extending and disseminating market values to all institutions and social action. Not surprisingly in such times, this even encompasses our ideas of self-hood and identity.  It defines who we are, what are our tastes, and hence what we buy. This means that by choosing certain products over others, we are exercising our judgement of taste through which we identify ourselves in a particular class, background, etc. (Paterson 2006).[i] Lifestyles express our identity and social location. Hence, our choice of consumption is connected with the paradox of ‘need’ and ‘desire’.

According to Collin Campbell, although individuals in everyday conversations use both the terms interchangeably, the distinction is clear among consumers. Consumers in modern societies expect continuous change, consequently trying to improve one’s lifestyle (Campbell 1998).[ii] As such, with consumption being an uttermost priority, commodities are considered to have their symbolic meaning. Commodities in a consumer period are not just mere objects of production or exchange. They are also markers of nationalism, cultural identities, social solidarity, and class distinctions.

Amidst the ongoing COVID-19 crisis, new terminologies, practices, and products have entered our lives. As the news of pandemic spread out, medical stores ran out of hand sanitizers and face masks. Websites, WhatsApp messages, news channels, and advertisements began sharing information on the different kinds of masks that can be useful. While masks were used earlier in few metropolitan cities in India due to pollution, they were not household items until the pandemic. In the early days of the crisis, people were not fully aware of the function of masks. But they bought masks.

In the fourth phase of lock down, people have started believing it to be a part of the ‘new normal’. As people slowly get back to work, the idea has seeped in that the new rules of social distancing, hygiene, and permanent usage of a mask will define the new ‘normal’.

Life has changed. Each person one meets is a possible COVID-19 positive suspect. While one has been trying to adapt to these new circumstances, it is significant to locate how the pandemic crisis brought a new product – the face mask to the consumer market and the fashion world.

Mask that was sold as an essential product in the very beginning of the pandemic now has turned into a fashion statement and a symbol of collective identity. After India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi called for ‘Local to Global’ in the wake of Aatmanirbhar Bharat Abhiyan[iii], the Khadi and Village Industries Commission (KVIC) announced the decision to export Khadi face masks in different colors.[iv]

Similarly, in Assam the traditional Gamosa which is a decorative cotton towel evolved from being a memento to mask. With the crisis of masks, few NGOs as well as women from different parts of Assam took the initiative to design masks that looks traditional, affordable as well as become a marker of cultural identity. Here, one can examine how classical sociologist Emile Durkheim in his work Division of Labor underlined the new forms of social solidarity that emerges to restore social order in modern society.

Durkheim posits a level of social solidarity that underpins capitalist markets, allowing them to function. There had to be a social element that stood behind individual contracts consisting of ‘common sets of rules, of moral obligations, [and] of institutions, governing the actions of men in the community. Social solidarity is the moral glue that binds individuals to their places in modern society rather than naked self-interest (Allen and O’Boyle 2017).[v]

Khadi has always been a visual symbol of nationalism or Swadeshi.  Since India’s National Movement, Khadi was used a mark of opposition towards foreign goods. Being a hallmark of India’s identity, Khadi fabric masks were made to be distributed among soldiers fighting in the border, in rural areas as well as COVID-19 volunteers.[vi]

Similarly, in Assam, Gamusa was always used both as a symbol of cultural symbol to political symbol. From wearing a Gamusa around the neck to symbolize cultural identity to using it during the Assam Movement from 1979 to 1985 as a marker of protest, Gamusa has been quite significant.[vii] As such, during this present crisis, the trend of making the Gamusa mask became popular as it is easily accessible, cheap and a commodity everyone can relate to. While in every Bohag Bihu, Gamusa is gifted to relatives and friends as a token of love and respect, this year it was ‘Gamusa mask’ that made the news. Thus, Khadi or a Gamusa face mask as a trending commodity became a result of a romance between nationalist imagination and popular culture. In Durkheimian terms, the consumption of these national symbols in the form of masks created a form of social consciousness among individuals to showcase their patriotism and belongingness towards their country and countrymen. In consequence, these masks not only keep the political meaning intact but also brings out a new space where it can be interpreted and practiced in our everyday life.

On the other side, fashion designers all over the world are coming out with branded masks ‘turning the new necessity into a form of self-expression’. According to the Economic Times,

Designer Chrys Wong of the new, sustainability-focused label Maison Modulare released a ‘collection’ of luxury masks on her website, ranging from $18 for simple, printed cotton styles to $120 for one made of three layers of French lace (currently sold out). The California blue jeans brand Citizens of Humanity is selling five packs of cotton masks for $25 (one in denim, of course) while brand Kes is offering them in silk.[viii]

Thus, wearing a mask in the future will not just be a response to an alien threat but also about feeling confident, smart, and assured. Most designers have focused on designing a mask that people actually want to wear – something aesthetically pleasing and fun way to accessorize[ix]. As such, with intense penetration of capitalist markets through media institutions, economic exchanges depend on one’s lifestyle values, desires, and aspirations. According to Manuel Castells, technological revolution centering on information technologies has reshaped the material basis of the society (Castells 2010).[x]

French sociologist Pierre Bourdieu in his classic work Distinction[xi] illuminates the situation of the middle class in the modern world. He focuses here on the French bourgeoisie, its tastes, and preferences. In the course of everyday life people constantly choose between what they find aesthetically pleasing and what they consider tacky, merely trendy, or ugly. Bourdieu based his study on surveys that took into account the multitude of social factors that play a part in a French person’s choice of clothing, furniture, leisure activities, dinner menus for guests, and many other matters of taste. What emerges from his analysis is that social snobbery is everywhere in the bourgeois world. ‘Taste classifies, and it classifies the classifier. Social subjects, classified by their classifications, distinguish themselves by the distinctions they make…’[xii] I would like to argue that story of the mask amidst COVID-19 in India is no different.

In this context it will be interesting to analyze the future of the mask in India. With all the big Fashion Houses in India from Anita Dogre to House of Masaba are coming out with designer re-usable masks[xiii], it will be crucial for sociologists to see if there will be an evolution of masks from ‘need satisfaction’ today to ‘desire satisfaction’[xiv] tomorrow.

[i] Paterson, Mark. (2006). Consumption and Everyday Life. New York: Routledge.

[ii] Campbell, Collin. (1998). Consumption and Rhetoric of Need and Want. Journal of Design History. 3: 235-246.

[iii] https://indianexpress.com/article/explained/narendra-modi-coronavirus-economic-package-india-self-reliance-6406939/, accessed on 21^st May 2020.

[iv] https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/industry/cons-products/garments-/-textiles/khadi-face-masks-may-soon-hit-foreign-markets/articleshow/75871914.cms?from=mdr, accessed on 21^st May 2020.

[v] Allen, Kieran and O’Boyle, Brian. (2017). Durkheim: A Critical Introduction. Pluto Press.

[vi] https://www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/the-power-of-khadi-hand-woven-masks-help-protect-against-covid-19-boost-courage-to-fight/story-wfc0JZleSeGfA4DPc4oQQJ.html, accessed on 21^st May 2020.

[vii] https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/other-states/gamosa-evolves-from-memento-to-mask-in-assam/article31301183.ece, accessed on 21^st May 2020.

[viii] https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/magazines/panache/fashion-in-the-time-of-covid-19-luxury-masks-made-of-silk-de-chine-cotton-poplin-go-mainstream/articleshow/75139536.cms, accessed on 21^st May 2020.

[ix] https://www.healthline.com/health-news/face-masks-as-a-fashion-accessory-why-we-should-encourage-this-trend#Functional-and-fashionable, accessed on 21^st May 2020.

[x] Castells, Manuel. (2010). The Rise of the Network Society. UK: Blackwell Publishing Ltd.

[xi] Bourdieu, Pierre. (2010). Distinction: A Social Critique of the Judgement of Taste. Milton Street: Routledge.

[xii] https://web.stanford.edu/class/think53/bourdieu17.pdf.

[xiii] https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/life-style/fashion/designers/indias-top-designers-anita-dongre-and-masaba-gupta-set-to-produce-masks-to-fight-against-coronavirus/articleshow/75181861.cms, accessed on 21^st May 2020.

[xiv] See Collin Campbell’s notion of ‘need’ and ‘want’.

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Pratisha Borborah is an assistant professor in the Department of Sociology, Cotton University, Guwahati.