Veblen nd Conspicuous Consumption - Essay Example

Veblen nd Conspicuous Consumption Introduction Written just one hundred yers go, Thorstein Veblen's Theory of the Leisure Clss 1899] 1994) still represents powerful critique of the neoclssicl theory of consumption. In contrst to the individul's sttic mximiztion of utility ccording to exogenous preferences, s posited by the neoclssicl pproch, Veblen develops n evolutionry frmework in which preferences re determined socilly in reltion to the positions of individuls in the socil hierrchy. ccording to Veblen's theory of conspicuous consumption, individuls emulte the consumption ptterns of other individuls situted t higher points in the hierrchy. The socil norms tht govern such emultion chnge s the economy nd its socil fbric evolve over time. longside continuing, though limited, role in minstrem economics (Bgwell nd Bernheim 1996; Bsmnn et l. 1988), the theory of conspicuous consumption hs in recent yers lso been subjected to considerble criticism from outside of this minstrem. Three min issues hve been rised. First, it hs been rgued tht Veblen's pproch is too restrictive in relying on the "trickle down" of consumption ptterns from the top of the socil hierrchy. The pcesetters for consumption my lso be those t the bottom of the hierrchy (Fine nd Leopold 1993; Lers 1993). It follows from this position tht conspicuous consumption lcks generlity s theory of consumption since it pplies only to luxury goods. Second, since Veblen's dy it hs been rgued tht consumers no longer disply their welth conspicuously. Sttus is conveyed in more sophisticted nd subtle wys (Cnterbery 1998; Mson 1998). nd third, for those writing in the postmodern trdition, consumer behvior is no longer shped by positions of s ocil clss but by lifestyles tht cut cross the socil hierrchy (Fetherstone 1991; McIntyre 1992). In this pper it will be exmined tht some extent these rguments misrepresent Veblen's originl conception of conspicuous consumption nd tke it out of context in reltion to his overll frmework. Veblen's Theory of Conspicuous Consumption Veblen's theory of conspicuous consumption is bsed on the evolution of leisure clss whose members re not required to work but pproprite surplus produced by those who do work, the working clss. Once societies strt to produce surplus the reltionship between privte property nd sttus becomes incresingly importnt. "It becomes indispensble to ccumulte, to cquire property, in order to retin one's good nme" (Veblen 1899, 29). hierrchy develops in which some people own property nd others do not. To own property is to hve sttus nd honor, position of esteem in this hierrchy: to hve no property is to hve no sttus. Of course, the ccumultion of property cn indicte tht person hs been efficient nd productive--it cn indicte prowess in finncil mtters. But Veblen rgues tht inherited welth confers even more sttus thn welth tht is gined through efficiency. "By further refinement, welth cquired pssively by trnsmission from ncestors to other ntecedents presently becomes even more honorific thn welth cquired by the possessor's own effort" (Veblen [1899] 1994, 29). The old money held by ristocrtic fmilies provides the most sttus since it estblishes the most distnce from the work required for its ccumultion. Key to the trnsformtion of welth into sttus is the socil performnce of members of the leisure clss. Stbs derives from the judgments tht other members of society mke of n individul's position in society, nd for this position to be estblished there must be disply of welth. Veblen identifies two min wys in which n individul cn disply welth: through extensive leisure ctivities nd through lvish expenditure on consumption nd services. The common thred tht runs through both of these types of disply is "the element of wste tht is common to both. ... In the one cse it is wste of time nd effort, in the other it is wste of goods" (Veblen [1899] 1994, 85). Being ble to engge in such wsteful ctivities is the key wy in which members of the leisure clss disply their welth nd sttus. In principle, people cn disply their welth through either method with equl fcility--ll this requires is n effective network for word to get round bout person's degree of leisure nd the objects he or she possesses. Veblen rgues, however, tht s the popultion becomes more mobile, communities become less close-knit. In more mobile society people my be less well informed bout the leisure ctivities in which other people engge, nd so the disply of welth through consumption of goods becomes more importnt thn the disply of leisure (Veblen [1899] 1994). Veblen lbels this type of behvior conspicuous consumption. People spend money on rtifcts of consumption in order to give n indiction of their welth to other members of society. Conspicuous consumption is viewed by Veblen s the most importnt fctor in determining consumer behvior, not just for the rich but for ll socil clsses. "The result is tht the members of ech strtum ccept s their idel of decency the scheme of life in vogue in the next higher strtum, nd bend their energies to live up to tht idel" (84). Ech socil clss tries to emulte the consumption behvior of the clss bove it, to such n extent tht even the poorest people re subject to pressures to engge in conspicuous consumption. "Very much of squlor nd discomfort will be endured before the lst trinket or the lst pretence of pecuniry decency is put wy" (Veblen [1899] 1994, 85). This serch for sttus through consumption is never ending. Wht t one time my confer sttus my lter be cquired by ll nd confer no sttus. People must lwys try to cquire new consumption goods in order to distinguish themselves from others. When Veblen ws writing in the 1890s, he viewed this drive for conspicuous consumption s the min force behind the consumer boom tht ws strting to gin pce in the United Sttes. Theory of conspicuous consumption cn be formulted by the following sttements. First, we cn look more closely t the wy in which it is developed in Veblen's writings. It cn be rgued tht to some extent there hs been misrepresenttion nd over-simplifiction of Veblen's pproch by his critics. The theory of conspicuous consumption is more sophisticted nd subtle thn the version tht hs been discussed in the literture. Second, the work of Veblen provides contemporry development of the theory of conspicuous consumption tht builds upon some of the more subtle spects of Veblen's frmework. By exmining the reltionship between Veblen nd Bourdieu more generl frmework cn be developed in which the modeling of conspicuous consumption forms prt. Ech of the three min issues rised by Veblen's critics will be considered in turn. The Trickle-Down Effect The first issue to be considered is the chrge tht the trickle-down model tht is ssocited with Veblen is too restrictive since there cn lso be "trickle up" of tstes from the bottom of the socil hierrchy. In developing defense of the theory of conspicuous consumption ginst this chrge we cn explore the reltionship between Veblen nd Bourdieu. key point of Veblen's nlysis of different sections of the leisure clss is tht estblished members of the upper clss use their ccumulted culture to distinguish themselves from those of so clled "new money." Cnterbery (1999), for exmple, in pplying Veblen's nlysis to Fitzgerld's The Gret Gtsby (1925), rgues tht the socil upstrt Gtsby lcks the necessry culture to win the love of the refined Disy, who is mrried into fmily of estblished money. Culture provides bffler to entering the top echelons of the leisure clss. For Bourdieu key fctor to be considered is the culturl cpitl tht is cquired t different points in the socil ldder. Culturl cpitl cn be defined s the ccumulted stock of knowledge bout the products of rtistic nd intellectul trditions, which is lerned through eductionl trining nd--crucilly for Bourdieu--lso through socil upbringing. In powerful explntion of how inequlity in the socil structure is reproduced in the eduction system (Bourdieu nd Psseron 1990), the key role of culturl cpitl cquired outside of eduction is used to explin the superior performnce of children from privileged bckgrounds. Drwing upon this nlysis of eduction, in Distinction (1984, 23) Bourdieu rgues tht the cquisition of culturl cpitl is "inscribed, s n objective demnd, in membership of the bourgeoisie nd in the qulifictions giving ccess to its rights nd duties." The esthetic tste of individuls with high culturl cpitl is used to secure positions of sttus in the socil hierrchy through exercising mrk of distinction. "Tste is n cquired disposition to 'differentite' nd 'pprecite' ... to estblish nd mrk differences by process of distinction ... (ensuring) recognition (in the ordinry sense)" (466). Moreover, this process of distinction is more powerful, nd provides more generl mens of exclusion, thn conspicuous consumption: "The nive exhibitionism of 'conspicuous consumption', which seeks distinction in the crude disply of ill-mstered luxury, is nothing compred to the unique cpcity of the pure gze, qusi-cretive power which sets the esthete prt from the common herd by r dicl difference which seems to be inscribed in 'persons"' (31). lthough Veblen ([1899] 1994) focuses more specificlly on the consumption of goods nd services, it should, however, be noted tht his emphsis on the esthetic nture of tste lso leves open the possibility of considering tstes more generlly in his socil theory. Veblen writes of "this cultivtion of the esthetic fculty" tht "requires time nd ppliction, nd the demnds mde upon the gentlemn in this direction therefore tend to chnge his life of leisure into more or less rduous ppliction to the business of lerning how to live life of ostensible leisure in becoming wy" (75). The Subtlety of conspicuous Consumption ginst the chrge tht the theory of conspicuous consumption lcks subtlety we cn drw strongly from both Veblen nd Bourdieu. Veblen rgues tht consumers from ll socil clsses, even the mbitious middle clss, re not necessrily consciously trying to conspicuously consume: For the gret body of the people in ny modern community, the proximte ground of expenditure in excess of wht is required for physicl comfort is not conscious effort to excel in the expensiveness of their visible consumption, so much s it is desire to live up to the conventionl stndrd of decency in the mount of grde of goods consumed. (Veblen 1899, 103) The unconscious culturl force tht conspicuous consumption imposes is illustrted by the propensity to buy expensive items tht re not even seen by outsiders, such s underclothing nd kitchen utensils. The stndrds of decency extend to ll types of consumption without individuls necessrily consciously trying to impress others in their behvior. Emultion opertes t "second remove," n spect of Veblen's pproch tht in the view of Rmstd (1998, 16) is "universlly ignored" by Veblen's critics. This unconscious spect of behvior in Veblen's pproch is lso mintined in Bourdieu's frmework. The strting point for Bourdieu is the schooling system, where mythology is generted tht the dvntges enjoyed by children with privileged upbringings nd enhnced culturl cpitl re in some sense nturl. This mythology "only recognizes s legitimte the reltion to culture (or lnguge) which lest bers the visible mrks of its genesis, which hs nothing 'cdemic', 'scholstic', 'bookish', 'ffected' or 'studied' bout it, but mnifests by its ese nd nturlness tht true culture is nture-- new mystery of immculte conception' (68). The dvntge of high culturl cpitl is not displyed overtly, but rther is interpreted s being due to the individul merit tht is nturlly bestowed on ech student. Building upon this nlysis of eduction Bourdieu introduces the concept of hbitus, theoreticl device tht is imed t reconciling the ge-old conflict in sociology between structure nd gency. Bourdieu defines hbitus s system of "principles which generte nd orgnize prctices nd representtions tht cn be objectively dpted to their outcomes without presupposing conscious iming t ends or n express mstery of the opertions necessry in order to ttin them" (Bourdieu 1990, 53). These principles or dispositions re not rules through which the socil structure strictly determines behvior; neither is there unfettered rtionl ction of the type postulted by writers such s Jmes Colemn (1990). The principles tht orgnize people's ctions, which mke up the hbitus, re dptble over time depending upon the constrints nd uncertinties tht evolve under different situtions, but individuls re not conscious of the culturl force tht guides their behvior. Michele Lmont nd nnette Lreu (1988, 158) note tht "in contrst to Veblen who delt with conspicuous consumption (i.e. 'showing off' which normlly would be conscious ct), Bourdieu ... thinks tht most signls re sent unconsciously becuse they re lerned through dispositions, or hbitus, or re the unintended clssifictory results of culturl codes." This interprettion my, however, represent n over-simplifiction of Veblen's pproch, since s we hve seen it cn be rgued tht he in fct lso views conspicuous consumption s n unconscious ct. Rther thn providing n lterntive to Veblen, Bourdieu's concept of the hbitus cn be seen s formliztion of the insights provided in Veblen's sophisticted nlysis of conspicuous consumption. This formliztion of Veblen's pproch could lso be interpreted to represent contribution to one of the problems of evolutionry nlysis, nmely its lck of emphsis on humn gency. nne Myhew (1998) rgues tht the debte with neoclssicl economics hs pushed the evolutionry pproch wy from flexible considertion of humn gency. By llowing individuls to develop their strtegies over time, subject to structurl constrints, the concept of the hbitus could potentilly mke n importnt contribution to developing "revitlized evolutionry pproch" (456). Postmodern Lifestyles There hs been some debte in recent yers over the reltionship between institutionlist economics, which drws on Veblen s one of its forefthers, nd the new postmodernist trdition (see, e.g., Klein 1998; Hoksbergen 1994). In our considertion of conspicuous consumption we exmine secondry fctor in the reltionship between the two trditions, nmely the nlysis of different lifestyles. lthough Veblen wrote his Theory of the Leisure Clss ([1899] 1994) more thn hundred yers go, it should be noted tht he did not dismiss the possibility of there being multifrious lifestyles, lthough he my not hve used the word "lifestyle" in this regrd. He cme very close, however, referring to "chnging styles" (174) nd "schemes of life" (84). t one point he lso refers to the vrious "brnches of knowledge": "So, for instnce, in our time there is the knowledge of the ded lnguges nd the occult sciences; of correct spelling, of syntx nd prosody; of the vrious forms of domestic music nd other household rt; of the ltest properties of dress, furniture, nd equipge; of gmes, sports, nd fncy-bred nimls, such s dogs nd rce-courses" (45). Ech of these becomes in vogue t different points in time, becoming "conventionl ccomplishments of the leisure clss" (Veblen 1899, 45). Using the concepts of culturl cpitl nd hbitus, Bourdieu is ble to build theoreticl frmework in which the lifestyles of different socil groups cn be understood in reltion to the socil hierrchy. First of ll, the hbitus explins how there cn be grouping of lifestyle elements through prticulr principles tht influence the behvior of individuls. Second, different types of lifestyles re ssocited with prticulr combintions of culturl nd economic cpitl. Lifestyles do not relte only to verticl points in the clss hierrchy, s in Veblen, but lso cut cross the socil hierrchy horizontlly. This provides the bsis for coherent response to the drive by some postmodernists to reduce consumption to plurlistic collection of lifestyles, devoid of socil structure. Indeed, Bridget Fowler (1997, 70) rgues tht "Bourdieu's work is best understood s sociologicl rebuttl of the history of much crude postmodernist thought." Conclusions This pper hs considered three min issues tht hve been rised by critics of the theory of conspicuous consumption. Ech issue hs been discussed by exmining the originl conception of the theory by Veblen nd the contemporry contribution of Bourdieu. First, it hs been rgued tht the theory is too restrictive becuse of its one-directionl "trickle down" of tstes from the top to the bottom of the socil hierrchy. This issue hs been ddressed by developing the importnce given by Veblen to culture s brrier to socil mobility. Relted to the trickle-down issue second chrge hs been mde tht the theory of conspicuous consumption lcks subtlety nd sophistiction. During the post-wr period consumers re rgued to be less overt in their disply of welth thn in Veblen's dy. It hs been shown, however, tht even during his time Veblen recognized tht the upper clss sections of the ruling clss were exercising sophistiction in their consumption behvior. Indeed, for ll socil clsses conspicuous consumption is not postulted to be conscious ct, but rther stndrd of decency tht exerts socil pressure on the behvior of individuls. formliztion of this pproch is provided by Bourdieu's development of the concept of hbitus, which is set of principles tht influence unconscious decisions within n uncertin nd chnging environment. This is rgued to provide potentil contribution to the evolutionry pproch by incorporting the gency of individuls in the context of structurl process. The third issue tht hs been rised is the chrge by postmodern writers tht the theory of conspicuous consumption is too restrictive to ddress the multifrious lifestyles tht chrcterize contemporry cpitlism. 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