Magic Mirror on the Wall, Who Looks the Most Prominent of All?

Take-home assignment ‘Sociology, Culture and Modernity’ (CC2015)

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‘Magic mirror on the wall, who looks the most prominent of all?’

A life of luxury and reputation seems to be more visible than ever since Donald Trump has become the new Commander-in-Chief of the most powerful nation in the world on the 20th of January this year. ‘I’m really rich’, Trump stated very proudly when he launched his presidency campaign back in 2015 (Rushe, 2015). Until recently, he used to own an organization which possesses real estate in different countries and brands worth billions of dollars and he did not hesitate to show people his wealth to prove it almost contemptuously. People around the globe followed this surprising ‘new’ way of campaigning and he already made some arguable decisions (Pate, 2017). As a matter of fact, this manner of display seems to be not unique in our society. Demonstrating wealth and power turns out to be a daily recurring phenomenon that goes way back. 19th century economist and sociologist Thorstein Veblen described the desire to openly demonstrate the consuming and possession of luxury goods for the sake of gaining prestige as conspicuous consumption in his well-known book The Theory of the Leisure Class (Veblen, 1899). Prestige and undertaking actions to be seen and accepted by other people rapidly becomes part of almost everyone’s life nowadays as social media provides the biggest stage mankind has ever seen in its history. This paper aims to explain and analyse conspicuous consumption as part of the theory of Veblen by linking it to the society today in terms of subjective culture, objective culture, and the social structure.

Conspicuous consumption is a theoretical concept introduced by Thorstein Veblen in 1899 during the Second Industrial Revolution also known as the Technology Revolution, a period that witnessed the emergence of a new group of rich people referred to as the noveau riche (Page, 1992). It describes the will of individuals and groups to display their wealth and power in constantly new and different ways. For instance, once a year multimillionaires gather at the Masters of LXRY in the RAI Amsterdam to witness brand-new exclusive goods and to get an understanding of ‘new’ standards (Van Riessen, 2016). The social structure in society today and in earlier times in the form of hierarchical relationships seems to be a significant contributing factor of this reality. Individuals consume for the sake of consuming to increase their status and to be perceived as a member of the upper class.

Veblen’s ‘trickle-down theory’ provides an interesting framework to clarify the wide eagerness for recognition by consumption. Upper classes, described as the leisure class by Veblen, determine the kind of goods such as dresses and cars that should be acquired in order to enhance an individual’s status in society. This determination of how someone should consume to be part of the upper class is an outcome of the leisure class’ appreciation of a certain good and therefore constitutes a part of a culture notable as the objective culture. Fashion is an example of such an outcome which progresses from the upper class to the lower classes. Even though fashionable clothes are not a necessity, some women wear expensive Dolce & Gabbana dresses to confirm their social status at trendy parties (Reilly, 2014). Nevertheless, conspicuous consumption turns to be a vicious circle due to the decline in the state of satisfaction of individuals belonging to the higher class as soon as lower classes pecuniary emulate their lifestyle, in other words try to imitate their ‘superior’ consuming pattern (Mason, 1995). Imitating this luxurious lifestyle by means of clothes or other goods equips lower classes with the ability to embrace this cultural content of luxury providing them with a new desired identity in the end. These behavioural expressions are known as the subjective culture as it grants them a way to connect with a certain culture (Angelu, 2016). As a consequence of pecuniary emulation, members of higher social classes will no longer perceive the same fashion to be distinctive enough as luxuries become necessities and in response they will set the bar even higher by consuming more conspicuous.  

The impact of conspicuous consumption has spread to every corner of the earth during the recent decades. Almost everywhere a person goes, he or she is provided with all sorts of information to allegedly optimize their living standards by communication channels such as Facebook and Instagram. A clear example of the dynamics of conspicuous consumption nowadays is travelling. In the recent years a significant grow in the demand of high end travelling emerged in especially growing markets like

China and Brazil (Lesova, 2011). Today it is even possible for less fortuned people who travel in the first or business class of common airlines to higher their standards by travelling in a private jet. JetSmarter provides this service in the United States and is already marked as the new ‘Uber for private jets’. They developed a new business model by offering access to the private jet travel industry for those who are not rich enough to acquire a private jet themselves (Davidson, 2016).  People perceive this as a chance to imitate the richest people on earth and experience their fashion. Though, it is an extreme example, many individuals make similar choices even in the supermarket when acquiring the simplest goods by purchasing those goods with the highest prices. In their eyes they assume these higher prices as an obstacle for others and a measure to prevent others from purchasing the same goods. The leisure class on its part will acquire even more expensive goods and everything will start over again with no end as it seems.

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