What happened to colour? Class, moral aesthetics and the cultural politics of neutrality.
(2026) TKAM02 20261Division of Ethnology
- Abstract
- This research explores the contemporary turn towards neutral aesthetics in dressing and interior decoration as a cultural technology that regulates visibility, produces respectability and reproduces classed norms through embodied practices and digital infrastructures. In this study, neutrality is approached through the lenses of minimalism and monochromatism, representing a curated visual language characterised by unsaturated palettes, reduced ornamentation, and the prioritisation of clean silhouettes and forms. Drawing on Bourdieu’s concepts of taste and distinction, Skeggs’ concepts of value and respectability, Douglas’ work on dirt as a classificatory system and pollution behaviour, Batcherlor’s chromophobia, and Foucault’s discipline... (More)
- This research explores the contemporary turn towards neutral aesthetics in dressing and interior decoration as a cultural technology that regulates visibility, produces respectability and reproduces classed norms through embodied practices and digital infrastructures. In this study, neutrality is approached through the lenses of minimalism and monochromatism, representing a curated visual language characterised by unsaturated palettes, reduced ornamentation, and the prioritisation of clean silhouettes and forms. Drawing on Bourdieu’s concepts of taste and distinction, Skeggs’ concepts of value and respectability, Douglas’ work on dirt as a classificatory system and pollution behaviour, Batcherlor’s chromophobia, and Foucault’s discipline through panopticism, this research examines contemporary aesthetic regimes of neutrality as classed and moralised signifiers through which individuals navigate social visibility, legitimacy, and belonging in post-modern society. Findings illustrate how aesthetically neutral fashion and interior decoration practices contribute to the production of classed subjectivities, the moral coding of colour and excess, and the delineation of socially acceptable forms of self-presentation. Importantly, visibility risk emerged as asymmetrically
distributed between men and women, as well as between normative and non-normative bodily archetypes. Additionally, the research demonstrates how digital infrastructures actively engineer “good” taste through algorithmic operations, narrowing aesthetic possibility and progressively marginalizing the Other. Finally, through the exploration of the aesthetic panopticism this research shows how precariat subjectivities mobilize chromatic distinction by self-policing their own visibility in anticipation of judgement from both human and algorithmic surveyors. Ultimately, this study contends minimalist and monochromatic aesthetics as mere design trends or individual preferences, calling for a vindication of colour and texture as a challenge to what
contemporary postmodern societies allow to be visible, and what they quietly ask to disappear. (Less) - Popular Abstract (Spanish)
- Esta investigación explora la tendencia contemporánea hacia la estética neutra en la vestimenta y decoración de interiores como una tecnología cultural que regula la visibilidad, genera respetabilidad y reproduce normas de clase a través de prácticas corporales e infraestructuras digitales. En este estudio, la neutralidad se aborda desde la perspectiva del minimalismo y monocromatismo, representando un lenguaje visual cuidadosamente seleccionado, caracterizado por paletas insaturadas, ornamentación reducida y la priorización de siluetas y formas limpias. Partiendo de los conceptos de gusto y distinción de Bourdieu, de valor y respetabilidad de Skeggs, el trabajo de Douglas sobre la suciedad como sistema de clasificación y conductas de... (More)
- Esta investigación explora la tendencia contemporánea hacia la estética neutra en la vestimenta y decoración de interiores como una tecnología cultural que regula la visibilidad, genera respetabilidad y reproduce normas de clase a través de prácticas corporales e infraestructuras digitales. En este estudio, la neutralidad se aborda desde la perspectiva del minimalismo y monocromatismo, representando un lenguaje visual cuidadosamente seleccionado, caracterizado por paletas insaturadas, ornamentación reducida y la priorización de siluetas y formas limpias. Partiendo de los conceptos de gusto y distinción de Bourdieu, de valor y respetabilidad de Skeggs, el trabajo de Douglas sobre la suciedad como sistema de clasificación y conductas de contaminación, el concepto de cromofobia de Batchelor y la disciplina de Foucault a través del panoptismo, esta investigación examina los regímenes estéticos contemporáneos de neutralidad como significantes moralizados y de clase a través de los cuales los individuos gestionan la visibilidad social, legitimidad y pertenencia en la sociedad postmoderna. Los hallazgos ilustran cómo las prácticas de vestimenta y decoración de interiores estéticamente neutras contribuyen a la producción de subjetividades de clase, la codificación moral del color y el exceso, y la delimitación de formas socialmente aceptables de auto-presentación. Es importante destacar que el riesgo de visibilidad se distribuyó de forma asimétrica entre hombres y mujeres, así como también entre arquetipos corporales normativos y no normativos. Además, la investigación demostró cómo las infraestructuras digitales manipulan activamente el “buen” gusto mediante operaciones algorítmicas, limitando las posibilidades estéticas y marginalizando progresivamente al Otro. Por último, al explorar el panoptismo estético esta investigación muestra cómo las subjetividades precarizadas movilizan la distinción cromática mediante el autocontrol de su propia visibilidad, anticipándose al juicio de vigilantes, tanto humanos como algorítmicos. En última instancia, este estudio cuestiona la estética minimalista y monocromática como tendencia de diseño o preferencia individual, y aboga por la reivindicación del color y la textura como desafío a lo que las sociedades contemporáneas posmodernas permiten que sea visible y lo que silenciosamente piden que desaparezca. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
https://lup.lub.lu.se/student-papers/record/9241812
- author
- Villarreal Garza, Samantha Paola LU
- supervisor
- organization
- course
- TKAM02 20261
- year
- 2026
- type
- H2 - Master's Degree (Two Years)
- subject
- keywords
- Aesthetics, Minimalism, Neutrality, Class, Discipline, Interior decoration, Dressing
- language
- English
- id
- 9241812
- date added to LUP
- 2026-06-23 09:37:58
- date last changed
- 2026-06-23 09:37:58
@misc{9241812,
abstract = {{This research explores the contemporary turn towards neutral aesthetics in dressing and interior decoration as a cultural technology that regulates visibility, produces respectability and reproduces classed norms through embodied practices and digital infrastructures. In this study, neutrality is approached through the lenses of minimalism and monochromatism, representing a curated visual language characterised by unsaturated palettes, reduced ornamentation, and the prioritisation of clean silhouettes and forms. Drawing on Bourdieu’s concepts of taste and distinction, Skeggs’ concepts of value and respectability, Douglas’ work on dirt as a classificatory system and pollution behaviour, Batcherlor’s chromophobia, and Foucault’s discipline through panopticism, this research examines contemporary aesthetic regimes of neutrality as classed and moralised signifiers through which individuals navigate social visibility, legitimacy, and belonging in post-modern society. Findings illustrate how aesthetically neutral fashion and interior decoration practices contribute to the production of classed subjectivities, the moral coding of colour and excess, and the delineation of socially acceptable forms of self-presentation. Importantly, visibility risk emerged as asymmetrically
distributed between men and women, as well as between normative and non-normative bodily archetypes. Additionally, the research demonstrates how digital infrastructures actively engineer “good” taste through algorithmic operations, narrowing aesthetic possibility and progressively marginalizing the Other. Finally, through the exploration of the aesthetic panopticism this research shows how precariat subjectivities mobilize chromatic distinction by self-policing their own visibility in anticipation of judgement from both human and algorithmic surveyors. Ultimately, this study contends minimalist and monochromatic aesthetics as mere design trends or individual preferences, calling for a vindication of colour and texture as a challenge to what
contemporary postmodern societies allow to be visible, and what they quietly ask to disappear.}},
author = {{Villarreal Garza, Samantha Paola}},
language = {{eng}},
note = {{Student Paper}},
title = {{What happened to colour? Class, moral aesthetics and the cultural politics of neutrality.}},
year = {{2026}},
}