The Diderot Effect is a social phenomenon related to consumer goods that form culturally defined groups that are considered cohesive. The term was coined by anthropologist and scholar of consumption patterns Grant McCracken in 1988, and is named after the French philosopher Denis Diderot (1713–84) who first described the effect in an essay.
The Diderot Effect is the result of the interaction between objects within "product complements", or "Diderot unities", and consumers. A Diderot unity is a group of objects that are considered to be culturally complementary in relation to one another. For example, items of clothing, furniture, vehicles, etc. McCracken describes that a consumer is less likely to veer from a preferred Diderot unity in order to strive towards unity in appearance and representation of one's social role. However, it can also mean that if an object that is somehow deviant from the preferred Diderot unity is acquired, it may have the effect of causing the consumer to start subscribing to a completely different Diderot unity.
The effect was first described in Diderot's essay Regrets on Parting with My Old Dressing Gown. Here he tells of how his study goes from being crowded, slightly chaotic, but still congenial to meticulously ordered, beautiful and stern. The reason for this transformation was an elegant scarlet robe, presented to Diderot by a friend as a gift. The new robe clashed with the scruffy old study and caused Diderot to start replacing more and more of his study; first the desk, then the tapestry, and eventually all the furniture and the interior, until it all matched the elegance of the robe.
Regrets sur ma vieille robe de chambre (original text of the essay in French) on Wikisource|
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