Mimetic Desire

The object only has value according to how much it is desired by another...mimetic desire

We borrow our desires from others. Far from being autonomous, our desire for a certain object is always provoked by the desire of another person — the model — for this same object.

All desire is a desire to be [someone else]

1994. Quand ces choses commenceront ... Entretiens avec Michel Treguer. Paris: arléa. ISBN 2-86959-300-7. p28
Rene Girard

Post Script:

Peer pressure's influence calculated by mathematician
phys.org, Oct 09, 2013

Professor Ernesto Estrada, of the University of Strathclyde's Department of Mathematics and Statistics, examined the effect of direct and indirect social influences – otherwise known as peer pressure – on how decisions are reached on important issues. Using mathematical models, he analysed data taken from 15 networks – including US school superintendents and Brazilian farmers – to outline peer pressure's crucial role in society.

How Peer Pressure Shapes Consensus, Leadership, and Innovations in Social Groups
link, Provided by University of Strathclyde, Glasgow

the process begins when individuals directly connected to each other first reach agreement, then – under the influence of peers not directly connected to them – the entire social group eventually tips into a collective consensus. He said: "Consider a teenager who is pressed by her friends into binge-drinking on a Saturday night – this corresponds to the direct pressure exerted by the peers connected to that individual.

"However, she is also under indirect pressure, by seeing that many teenagers are doing the same every Saturday. Thus, this indirect pressure could make the difference in that individual to copy a given attitude."

In social groups in which indirect peer pressure is largely absent, the extent to which its leaders share the same views plays a critical role in the length of time it takes to reach agreement on issues. However, when there is strong indirect peer pressure, the role of the local leaders vanishes and individuals with no important positions in their networks can become the leaders of the group.