服飾對於人們是不可或缺的存在，服飾兼具了實用性和社會性的功能，與此同時，歷經社會化的個體會根據各式各樣不同的場合穿上最恰當的衣著。然而當代的變遷使得人們可以利用各種商品來建立自我認同，個人的服裝可以反轉成為表現認同的一種途徑，Lolita即是最佳例子。Lolita服飾是一個起源於日本的穿衣風格，以其繁複華麗的外觀著稱，時至今日在全世界都可以看到穿著Lolita的人們。Lolita之於愛好者而言不只是一種穿衣風格，這些人情願忍受炎熱的天氣，甚至是放棄婚姻也堅持穿著Lolita。並且他們也積極尋求同好，強化Lolita認同。
本研究欲運用認同和劃界工作的理論視角來檢視小眾非主流的Lolita愛好者穿著Lolita的生命經驗，以及他們在日常生活中「做蘿莉塔」所運用的各種策略。而Lolita所形成的社群如何定義我群和他群乃至於圈內人對於自身所處的社群又是如何進行不同種類的劃分都是值得探究的問題。
論文外文摘要：
While putting up clothes seems like merely a daily routine, for scholars, wearing clothes not only can keep warm, but also has social meanings. Socialized individuals learn to wear “appropriate” outfits on different occasions. However, with social transformations in modern society, people actually build significant social identity through their clothing style. Among others, Lolita fashion is an excellent example. Lolita fashion is a clothing style originates from Japan and it is famous for its gorgeous appearance. People wearing Lolita can be observed all over the world nowadays. Lolita is not just a dress style for enthusiasts, these people are willing to stand for the hot weather, and even to give up their marriage to insist on wearing Lolita.
In this research, I would like to employ concepts proposed by given study on social identity and boundary work to examine Lolita enthusiasts and to illuminate how they maintain the Lolita identity through various strategies in their everyday life. Additionally, I also would like to how Lolita community make a distinction between we-group and they-group, and how their engage in the boundary-work. I claim that, the dressing style is not simply a “reflection” of people’s demographic variables, once enacted, actors may treat their wearing style as the significant source of who they are. That is, people’s clothing style in some cases can become a key source of their identity, and in this study, we get a chance to closely observe how the marked identity can be maintained and even strengthened through boundary work.
Moreover, Lolita-fashion is definitely not a mainstream wearing-style, according to Brekhus, it is a “marked” identification. To effectively elaborate the daily dilemmas and strategies of marked identity maintenance, I gather my research data through three ways. I employ participant observation to get a close observation of various events and activities in the Taiwanese Lolita Community. I wrote down field-notes carefully each time I went to these events. Moreover, I conduct in-depth interviews and focus group to obtain detailed stories, experiences and responses from Lolitas.
In short, for some enthusiasts, Lolita is far from merely a dressing style. Lolita is a subculture and represents people’s identity. I also conclude that, Lolitas boundary-work can be classified as external boundary work and internal boundary work. More intriguingly, some of which are as equal classification but others are hierarchical ones. How to do Lolitas has its normative dimension and actors who fail to adequately follow the rules and expectations may be condemned by other Lolitas. Last but not least, I also mention in this thesis that, when constructing the worldview from their Lolita’s identification, these Lolitas clearly perceive a clear-cut distinction between sacred and profane entities.
