Wealth Tastes Good

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A new scientific truth does not triumph by convincing its opponents and making them see the light, but rather because its opponents eventually die and a new generation grows up that is familiar with it. . .  An important scientific innovation rarely makes its way by gradually winning over and converting its opponents: it rarely happens that Saul becomes Paul. What does happen is that its opponents gradually die out, and that the growing generation is familiarized with the ideas from the beginning: another instance of the fact that the future lies with the youth. — Max Planck, Scientific autobiography, 1950, p. 33, 97

Science may appear a field away from the terraced slopes of tea, however in practice, their progression relies on the same sociological principles. As individuals adopt the preferences of their teachers, peers, and merchants, who themselves learned from the influences of their age, they inherit the contemporary tastes of their class. Individuals of different classes thus adopt and conform to different preferences.