The Diaper Bag Scale
Featured Image: Marguerite Davis, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
Turn to the very back of Paul Fussell’s masterpiece Class: A Guide Through The American Status System and you’ll find The Living Room Scale- a humorous assessment of the taste level and status of one’s living room based on the core principles and contemporary expressions of American social class explored throughout the book.
Points are awarded or taken away in relation to how interior design choices align with the living rooms of other upper or lower class households. Living Rooms are excellent proxies for class as they are a balance of public and private, decorative and functional. Each room encapsulates the values, aspirations, and actual lived experience of the owner even if (especially if) no conscious effort to appear higher on the hierarchy is present.
Diaper bags serve a similar role in the life of a mother. Practicality and style both hold weight in the selection of not just the bag itself, but each item within. In the decades that have passed since the 1983 publication of Class, social pressure and consumerism have only increased, and mothers are targeted by influencers and algorithms daily. The preferences unique to each class are as distinct as ever and brands have fine tuned their products and messaging to cater to their target demographic.
As a result, the diaper bag of an upper class mother will not merely be more expensive and well stocked, but the definition of what “well stocked” means will differ from the middle class mother, who is signaling to her peers using their own middle class approved codes and not merely attempting to look more elite as one may assume.
This is a text only quiz, folllwed by extensive analysis. Simply continue reading with a pen and paper or try to keep score in your head!
The Diaper Bag Scale
Begin with a score of 25. For each of the following in your diaper bag add or subtract points as indicated.
Leather: Add 8 points
Natural materials (eg cotton): Add 4 points
Coated canvas: Add 4 points
Synthetic materials aping natural materials: Add 2 points
Shiny, plastic-y performance material: Subtract 5 points
Four to eight internal pockets: Add 4 points
Two to 4 internal pockets: Add 2 points
No internal pockets: Subtract 2 points
More than eight internal pockets: Subtract 2 points
Discrete metal hardware (zippers, snaps, etc.): Add 2 points
Thick and shiny metal hardware: Subtract 2 points
Plastic hardware: Subtract 4 points
Prominent logo/branding: Subtract 2 points
Original design: Add 2 points
Knockoff/dupe: Subtract 5 points
Silicone teethers: Add 2 points
Fabric and wooden rattles: Add 2 points
Plastic rattles: Subtract 2 points
Sophie the giraffe: Add 4 points
For every book for baby add 2 points
Books for mom: Add 4 points
No books for baby: Subtract 2 points
Tablet for baby: Subtract 5 points
Aesthetic hand sanitizer: Add 4 points
Generic hand sanitizer: Add 2 points
Non toxic diapers: Add 4 points
Cloth diapers: Add 2 points
Store brand diapers: Subtract 5 points
Non toxic wipes: Add 4 points
Store brand wipes: Subtract 5 points
Organic prepackaged snacks: Add 3 points
Fresh food in silicone and glass containers: Add 5 points
Snacks in plastic: Subtract 2 points
Gathre mat: Add 5 points
Soft changing pad: Add 3 points
Plastic changing pad: Subtract 3 points
Travel organizer bags: Add 2 points
Mini trash bags for dirty diapers: Add 1 point
Fabric exterior wet/dry bag: Add 4 points
Plastic wet/dry bag: Add 2 points
Owning more than 2 diaper bags depending on function and style: Add 5 points
2 diaper bags for function: Add 2 points
Only 1 diaper bag: Zero points
Results:
60+ Points: Upper Class
40 to 59 Points: Upper Middle Class
26 to 39 Points: Middle Class
0 to 25 Points: Lower Middle Class
Less than zero points: High Prole and Below
Exploring diaper bags as a reflection of social class
According to Fussell, social class is best described by tastes, values, worldview, lifestyle, standards, preferences, etc. not strictly by income, education level, or profession although there are relationships between these categories. Social class informs how you view yourself in relation to others and to the world around you. It shapes the way you move about the environment, creates patterns of comfort and discomfort, and dictates group norms and taboos.
When it comes to diaper bags, your class background influences both the type of bag you find attractive and the characteristics most prioritized. Is functionality about effortlessly accessing items or storing as much as possible? Are your car, stroller, and home able to carry some of the organizational load or does your diaper bag have to do it all? Are you using the bag on weeknights and weekends or all day every day, and in both cases what types of activities and potential emergencies are you prepared for? To what extent are you considering the aesthetics of the bag in relation to your existing (or dream) wardrobe? Do you view your diaper bag as an opportunity for fashion, fun, personal expression, or other forms of psychological fulfilment? In many ways, the diaper bag becomes a microcosm of the house, and a mirror to our souls.
When creating The Diaper Bag Scale, I first went through the Living Room Scale, identified the essence of each listing and found a correspondence within diaper bags. The original test begins with flooring, privileging natural materials, especially hard wood. Cheap simulation of natural materials ranked lower than even wall-to-wall carpet. Vinyl has come a long way over the years but at the time of publishing, it was shiny, waxy, and hard, and signified performance and practicality outweighing style. It is both inexpensive and easy to clean, two factors that would appeal most to those short on funds and time. There seemed to be a natural equivalence between floors and the exterior material of a diaper bag, so in the Diaper Bag Scale, leather, cotton, and other natural materials are given more points over faux leather, plastic, and other synthetic materials.
The next task was finding the equivalent of a working fireplace. Fireplaces are beautiful and they provide warmth, a gathering place, a decorative spot even when no one is in the room. They embody the purpose of a living room and ground the space. I landed on pockets due to their location along the “walls” of the bag, and their role of collecting items within and around themselves. Pockets allow for intentionality and flow within the bag, setting the tone for how it is used day to day. A working fireplace is key in the scale, it cannot merely be a fireplace facade. Similarly, pockets that are too small or otherwise insufficient don’t truly serve the purpose they are meant to in a diaper bag and require additional purchases to maximize the bag’s interior since the “architecture” is lacking.
A few more correspondences and reflections that may be of interest:
Ceiling height can be related to the size of the bag as they both determine the overall volume of the space, but does bigger always equal more elite? At a certain point we run up against the desire to take up too much space, be too loud/noticed/in the way which is decidedly lower class.
Original art in a living room could be equated to baby soothing items and toys (non electronic). They are both designed to delight, lifting the mind and body away from the pressures of the world and providing relief.
The tabletop obelisk is a decorative item popular in the 80s that was purely a signal of taste, similarly the modern day mother uses iconic items like Sophie the Giraffe to show in-group status.
Wall unit for display figures can correspond to unnecessary organization and bringing too many items to the point of hoarding in the name of being over prepared, both common to the middle class.
Furniture covers, cellophane on lampshades, no ashtrays = overly concerned with cleanliness and safety because there is a genuine fear and risk that comes from not being more insulated from the consequences.
The only element that I couldn’t find a direct correlation to was living room rug - is it brand new, simulated to look worn, or actually threadbare? The essence of this section is about trying too hard to seem elite but not having the genuine means and so the act of trying itself betrays your true position. Threadbare rugs are antique and/or passed down, there is value in the history. New rugs can be purchased for practicality or style as dictated by your class but faux-aged rugs are obviously purchased for the prestige of the rug, you are not an authentic participant in the custom of either sourcing rare goods or leaving and receiving inheritance. So the diaper bag equivalent must be some sort of habit, function, or product where history is valued over novelty and a strong desire to belong pushes many women to fake it.
Overall, The Living Room scale reveals that expressing your education level and love of culture via original artwork, books, and authentic furniture and decor is elite, whereas too much personal sentiment is cheesy and distasteful, as is intrusive technology, and anything to remind the visitor/family of the more unpleasant realities of existence. Applied to diaper bags, taste can be evaluated based on the level of personalization and kiddification vs stylish and elevated choices, with elevation equating to abstraction in the sense argued by Pierre Bourdieu in Distinction: A Social Critique of the Judgement of Taste. Abstraction entails a degree of distance between both the object in question and the blunt realities of existence (harsh or mundane) as well as distance between object and subject, to allow room for the proper perspective required for aesthetic evaluation and appreciation. Intentional design choices such as color, pattern, texture, shape, and proportion impact how products are received by consumers; mothers with higher cultural capital will gravitate towards brands that effectively utilize the principle of abstraction.
In Distinction, Bourdieu identifies cultural capital as the resource accumulated via a lifetime of exposure to elite art, literature, music, cuisine, etc. which cultivates a particular aesthetic disposition that cannot easily be mimicked or taught due to the many intricate and subtle codes implicitly passed on and reinforced throughout the authentically lived elite experience. Whereas Fussell used 9 class categories to explore social dynamics, Bourdieu is well known for his chart exploring class, where the X axis represents cultural capital and the Y axis represents economic capital, and the graph is populated with lifestyle choices of the French people of 1960. This type of chart is an excellent way to conceptualize the individual products found within modern day American diaper bags. Cost and performance matter, but once you’re in the Middle Class and higher, factors such as ingredients, design, sensory experience, brand recognition, and exclusivity weigh more and your values for each of these categories are a direct reflection of your level of cultural capital.
In the high cultural capital, high economic capital quadrant, you would find products such as Coterie diapers, which excel in performance while delivering a luxury experience via the fabric like material and thoughtful construction of the diapers. Someone with less economic capital, but high cultural capital would opt for cloth diapers or Mille Moon to arrive at a similar tactile experience in line with the shared priorities (eco-friendly, non-toxic to baby). In contrast, a mother with low economic and low cultural capital will have a different definition of what makes a diaper superior. She would scoff at the idea of spending so much for something that collects waste and gets thrown away. Instead, she would stock her diaper bag with a brand with mass appeal such as Pampers, not feeling concerned about fragrance or synthetic materials touching her child’s skin.
Across the board, the preference of sensory-friendly, natural materials increases in relation to cultural capital, with brands such as Mushie offering toys and bag accessories in their signature aesthetic - soft colors and soft to the touch. In a high economic capital, but low cultural capital diaper bag, there may be products from or similar to Mushie, but only due to the overall trendiness of the look. Mothers with high economic capital and low cultural capital are typically not as concerned with “clean” marketing or appearing “old money”, and in fact many even embrace the description “bougie”. So while there may be countless organic pouches in their bag, they’ll also have a tablet for their baby, and a synthetic changing pad not a Gathre mat. A woman with low economic capital and high cultural capital may not be able to afford pouches regularly, but she can stock fresh food in glass and reusable silicone containers, and she’ll have classic board books on hand. Low cultural and economic capital mothers will be less health-conscious in their snack selections and if they bring toys they’ll be plastic, electronic and/or featuring pop culture/characters.
The combination of products can point to one’s overall class status but no item is inherently a member of a class category since that is a designation that can only be assigned to a human subject, and no class can truly own an item since anyone can technically purchase/use anything on the market.
The contents of the bag cannot overshadow its role as a fashion accessory, and so diaper bags must be considered in light of women’s handbags in general and luxury purses in particular. The 2010 study Signaling Status with Luxury Goods: The Role of Brand Prominence explored the complex dynamics behind status signaling with luxury goods, developing four categories that spoke to the motivations, economic means, and desired audience of each group. A quick summary: Patricians are analogous to the high cultural capital, high economic capital quadrant, having the most refined taste, advanced education on materials, brands, etc. and the means to purchase the original high status items. They engage in horizontal signaling, communicating with fellow Patricians to show in-group status. The Quiet Luxury trend is both genuinely Patrician and an attempt to capture a Patrician disposition and aesthetic by those lower on the class hierarchy.
Parvenus are often in the high economic capital, low cultural capital quadrant and engage in horizontal and vertical signaling, showing off to peers as well as those deemed superior and inferior in taste. Poseurs can span the cultural capital spectrum but are decidedly lower on in economic capital. They signal aggressively and are the primary consumers of knockoffs and dupes. Due to their desire to be recognized as participating in luxury, they gravitate towards larger logos and flashier designs. Finally Proles are disengaged from the luxury status competition, having both lower cultural and economic capital. Practicality reigns and their choices are far simpler and understated, which can even bring things full circle with some market overlap with Patricians e.g. the Timex watch.
All of this information can be applied directly to the diaper bag market. Patrician bags are characterized by natural materials, understated colors (can be light or dark but the lights are soft and the darks have a depth to them instead of a bold effect), rounded shapes or at minimum a soft sloping edge. The bags are evocative of luxury handbags, with clear intentionality when it comes to elements of design such as proportion, balance, contrast, and texture. Scroll through the bags available at Maisonette to get a sense of the Patrician aesthetic within the upper and upper middle class tiers.
Parvenu bags are trendier and - in line with the study - they are the styles most copied and sold in a cheaper version on websites like Amazon. Logo prominence doesn’t vary much across diaper bags but the hardware seems to decrease in subtlety as you cross from Patrician to Parvenu. Parvenu bags may be priced more accessibly than Patrician bags, but I would place many diaper bags created by actual luxury brands (or brands that want to be identified as luxury) within this category as the main purpose in selecting an item from that brand is to participate in the world of that brand and benefit from the status it conveys.
Poseur bags can copy the codes of Patrician bags in less expensive materials but often the consumer in this category desires the prestige conveyed by the more obvious signs of Parvenu bags. Often brands in this tier will emphasize functionality and price to help convince the buyer that they are in fact buying a superior bag due to XYZ features. But over-engineering and tech advancements are impressive to middle class consumers, who similarly may be impressed with watches stuffed with features to be more “scientific” but are only distancing themselves from the elegant simplicity of heritage, analog designs.
Gathering all of this information together, we can now construct profiles of the quintessential diaper bag of the typical, early/late majority, plugged-in consumer at different class levels.
The High Prole mother values utility above all else. She chooses a sturdy bag in black, brown, or grey with a surface and interior that can easily be wiped down. Only the essentials are packed on a regular basis; with little time or interest in product research, she chooses what is accessible at her local grocery store, reaching for items on sale or most familiar due to mass marketing and longstanding reputation. The diaper bag and its interior are not viewed as a means of personal expression, nor is she concerned with how she may be perceived when pulling out store brand or unbranded items.
The Lower Middle Class mother makes a point to get “name brand” items (e.g. Huggies or Pampers), pop culture themed items (especially Disney and superhero characters), and leans into initials, gender specific language, and other forms of personalisation. She does not dedicate much time to product research once the baby is born but may have looked at guides and videos while pregnant and asked around to get a sense of what others trust and enjoy. She considers Target aspirational, will shop at the dollar store, 5 Below, and Temu, and is impressed by novelty, advancements, and problem solvers. She generally does not care for “clean” products and may have a disdain for “sad beige moms”, priding herself in being more “authentic” by having a more liberal attitude towards technology and ingredients. Much like the High Prole mother, the Lower Middle Class mother values practicality, as funds are limited. But within that budget, her choices show a greater desire for the bag and its contents to provide emotional fulfilment and confirmation of identity.
The Middle Class mother reads reviews, watches videos, and participates in online discussions related to all aspects of diaper bags and their contents. She is motivated by a sense of empowerment (this is her project!) and a fear of failure, as if the wrong purchase could truly harm the baby. She can be steeped in parenting influencer culture and have strong opinions that seem inconsequential to a lower class mother (“It’s just ____, who cares as long as it gets the job done? Do you even really need it?”). Her baby registry has been optimized to the highest degree and her ideal diaper bag has endless pockets and features for maximum possibilities. Preparation is a core virtue at this tier: wet dry bags, multiple snack and toy options, blankets, changing pads, pacifier holders, first aid kits, and more are viewed as essentials for even the shortest excursion. Her execution of these ideals is still constrained by her actual budget, but she is generally able to stock up to her heart's content at baby specific stores pre-birth and Target and Amazon indefinitely after that.
While upper class imagery is inescapable, the Middle Class mother is more concerned with being received positively by her peers, so local culture dictates which elite elements are embraced. Fussell notes that Middle Class anxiety can stem from a desire to not be mistaken for a lower class person. Middle Class mothers distance themselves from lower class mothers by purchasing bags that simulate leather, investing in a few iconic items to stand out (often an area of deep research prior to purchasing), or participating in micro trends that copy an upper class trend. Many poseurs are in the Middle Class so there can be more aggressive vertical signaling based on an individual’s personality. When striving upward, the Middle Class mother of the 2020s may mimic the wooden and beige toned, improperly labeled “Montessori” aesthetic or she will go in a more preppy, with a touch of glam, sourcing items from TJ Maxx and Hobby Lobby.
The Upper Class is where values hold more weight than practicality and cost, the diaper bag truly becomes a vehicle for identity expression and in-group status signaling. Similar to the Middle Class mother, UMC women engage in extensive research and consume parenting lifestyle related content as entertainment across social media. But in the Upper Class, there is less anxiety about harming the baby by making the wrong choice (for anyone doubting this phenomenon, please visit any parenting subreddit), instead there is a more leisurely pursuit of the best in class and peers and family are consulted for input.
An excellent diaper bag for both UMC and UC women would be made out of a natural material, delightful to the touch, roomy and lined with pockets but not over-engineered. It is filled in a way to give the impression of effortlessness and intentionality: coordinated internal storage bags for toys and tools, reusable silicone bags or glass containers for fresh food, organic pouches, and unscented wipes (in contrast to the Lower Middle Class mother who prefers scents in her wipes and diapers). Whether Patrician or Parvenu, the UMC and UC mother is not afraid to spend money on any aspect of the diaper bag and often uses the purchase as an opportunity to “flex”. Upper class and upper middle class brands capitalize on this by investing in campaigns that feature models, actual photoshoots similar to what one would find from a fashion line, so that shoppers can project themselves into the depicted lifestyle. While an upper class diaper bag is prepared to handle the typical needs of a typical outing, it is not as stocked as the middle class bag. The car is more likely to store another layer of backup and emergency items, and there is a greater ability to purchase anything that may be needed while out and about. For this reason upper class mothers are more likely to have multiple diaper bags they switch based on the occasion, from the small Lululemon fanny pack to the large, almost weekender sized tote.
If you’ve made it this far, thank you. Wondering what to read next? Our Summer 2026 Letter From The Editors shares our vision for this new magazine. For original theory, check out Twin Visions of Progress: A Symbolic Analysis of Modern Beauty Trends, and Process Striving, which defines a new form of status competition that has emerged in the social media age. Subscribe for full access to these in depth essays!
