Continuous “Conspicuous Consumption”?

Thorstein Veblen and American Expenditure Habits

Abstract

Near the end of the Gilded Age, a new class of Americans began to form, a class defined by its relative economic security and high-paying wages. Individuals in this developing middle class held a social stance that was not quite upper class but was considerably above lower-class standing. This intermediary position led middle-class individuals to be “other-directed,” meaning they took their social cues not from themselves, but from their observations of others. Middle-class other-directedness resulted in this group simultaneously living in fear of being perceived as lower class while striving to be perceived as upper class, making them prime targets for advertisers and the drivers of America’s oft-cited “conspicuous consumption”—the purchasing of unnecessary items purely for social status. In this essay, I make two claims. First, I argue that what was true in the late nineteenth century remains true today, as the middle class is still largely controlled by clever marketers and businesses who prey on their insecurities to keep them conspicuously consuming. Second, I question the inherent negativity of American partiality towards conspicuous consumption—is it indisputably bad that Americans seek products that enhance their social standing?