Snobbery does not exist in mediaeval feudal aristocratic Europe, when the clothing, manners, language and tastes of every class were strictly codified by customs or law. Snobbery appeared when the structure of the society changed, (after 1789) and the bourgeoisie had the possibility to imitate aristocracy. Snobbery appears when elements of culture are perceived as belonging to an aristocracy or elite, and some people (the snobs) feel that the mere adoption of the fashion and tastes of the elite or aristocracy is sufficient to include someone in the elites, upper classes or aristocracy.

However, a form of snobbery can be adopted by someone not a part of that group; a pseudo-intellectual, a celebrity worshiper, and a poor person idolizing money and the rich are types of snobs who do not base their snobbery on their personal attributes. Such a snob idolizes and imitates, if possible, the manners, worldview, and lifestyle of a classification of people to which they aspire, but do not belong, and to which they may never belong (wealthy, famous, intellectual, beautiful, etc.).

A snob is perceived by those being imitated as an arriviste, perhaps nouveau riche or parvenu, and the elite group closes ranks to exclude such outsiders, often by developing elaborate social codes, symbolic status and recognizable marks of language. The snobs in response refine their behavior model. William Hazlitt observed, in a culture where deference to class was accepted as a positive and unifying principle, "Fashion is gentility running away from vulgarity, and afraid of being overtaken by it, William Hazlitt observed, adding subversively, "It is a sign the two things are not very far apart."" The English novelist Bulwer-Lytton remarked in passing, "Ideas travel upwards, manners downwards." It was not the deeply ingrained and fundamentally accepted idea of "one's betters" that has marked snobbism in traditional European and American culture, but "aping one's betters".

The reason this page is called 'posh snob' and not merely 'snob' is that in this sense it has overtones of opperclaas and noveau riche/new money. Snobs in this sense wear expensive designer clothes, expensive jewellry (for women, pearls.) and somewhat formal clothing. They often have an appreciation for classical music/opera and veiw other music as 'noise'.

Info mostly from wikipedia, last paragraph by me, image from the urbz website.