It is an abstract concept that is used in various spaces and places, however the word sophistication is also used to indicate that someone or something is elegant in a general sense. The term sophistication refers to the process by which someone or something acquires a refinement. The idea of this is opposed to another, the vulgarization, something that historically has been to the lower classes or the marginalized.
One of the most outstanding characteristics of sophistication is precisely its difference from what is popular or massive. This is something that is done on the idea of exclusivity, generally speaking of expensive or inaccessible products, people who differ from the rest and attitudes that emphasize elegance and delicacy. Elegance and attitude developed differently in other societies, but no less sophistication, as Chinese and Japanese court etiquette teaches.
In an analysis, the semiologist Victor Raskin distinguishes sophistication in two types:
- Limited access or allusive knowledge.
- The complete procedure.
The sophisticated is identified with styles, tastes, customs, aesthetics and with people who act or behave in a cavalier way, until those same traits are associated with the aristocratic sensitivity and the refined elegance of the dandy of the Beau regency era Brummell in the year 1778-1840, became fashionable and was admired socially.
This type of change in social value has occurred on different occasions in history, as testimony are the topical literary lamentations for the loss of simple traditional values in all civilizations that, with prosperity, become simpler.
Some of the methods of acquiring the appearance of personal sophistication highlight education, particularly the various ranks that are acquired in elitist institutions. Among some of the different varieties of this are cultural sophistication or intellectual sophistication.
In ancient Greece, this was special for the inspiration of prophets and poets, then from there it began to identify with the wisdom of philosophers and sophists, giving the sophistication "sophist" an indifferent trait, due to the use of rhetoric to be able to overcome in debates.
