Something triggered in me by this response—and maybe similar to part of what you were saying in the later part: sometimes preferences aren’t affected much by the social context, within a given space of social contexts. People may just want to use chopsticks because they are fun, rather than caring about what other people think about them.
Also, societal preferences for a given thing might actually decrease when more and more people are interested in them. For example, demand for a thing might cause the price to rise. With orchestras: if lots of people are already playing violin, that increases the relative incentive for others to learn viola.
Something triggered in me by this response—and maybe similar to part of what you were saying in the later part: sometimes preferences aren’t affected much by the social context, within a given space of social contexts. People may just want to use chopsticks because they are fun, rather than caring about what other people think about them.
Also, societal preferences for a given thing might actually decrease when more and more people are interested in them. For example, demand for a thing might cause the price to rise. With orchestras: if lots of people are already playing violin, that increases the relative incentive for others to learn viola.