ABSTRACT
Institutional patterns of discourse are the organized, formally established procedures for pursuing a given objective. What a political authority considers good or desirable is a reflection of the ideas and values underlying institutional patterns of discourse. It is significant that the values of a political authority are portrayed in the basic style of male dress. Until the fourteenth century, spirituality was society's core value, and religious piety, humility, and modesty governed most social discourse. The Commercial Revolution of the fourteenth century brought new cultural values: individualism and economic success. The new Renaissance style symbolized a shift from preoccupation with the spiritual to interest in worldly matters, the here and now. In Baudelaire's view, modern life was loathsome and empty of even the potential for beauty, and the dark suit was the appropriate garb. By the mid-nineteenth century, rationality had displaced feudal loyalty as the principal basis for social discourse and institutional arrangements.
