Thorsten Veblen in
Modern America
Thorsten
Veblen is the famous author of the book entitled The Theory of the Leisure Class written in the year 1899. In this
book, he argues that leisure is irrational behavior that is a waste of time,
waste of goods, and is meant only to show off wealth and acquire status. In
reference to this, Samuel Bowels wrote in reference to Veblen “Spending, he
maintained, is driven by relative status considerations, that is by the desire
to be a particular type of person as much as by the desire to enjoy the
consumer goods…” (Bowles F397). Essentially the idea here is that this keeping
up with the Joneses mentality is not just to look good to your neighbors, but
to also give yourself the illusion that you are rich.
In
modern times, this practice is still very much prominent. This idea of
conspicuous consumption is being done all over the country. A sociological
approach to this leads to the assumption that there is an underlying driving
force in society that is causing people to want so badly to emulate the
wealthier members of society. If Veblen was writing about this today, I believe
that he would attribute this consumption to the media. Television shows like
MTV Cribs glamorize all of society’s favorite celebrities and athletes that
people aspire to be. These shows make the everyday working class individual
feel like their life is entirely inadequate. The natural response to that is to
attempt to do away with that feeling. Most people, rather than try to better
themselves due to hard work, instead turn to consumption in an attempt to boost
their meager sense of self worth.
There
is no doubt in my mind that the economical state that our country has been in
during the last few years has slowed down this trend. Overall, however, the
idea is still the same. People are trying to emulate the rich and powerful as
if by some grand osmosis they will become what they desire. As we have talked
about in class with people trying to show off their best items in pictures and
such, the same is being done today. When someone has you over for dinner they
clean and use their best things and it is because of this idea of wanting to
look wealthy. I believe that if these individuals didn’t use their welfare
checks to purchase iPhone’s and the like, this may be a better place to live.
Source:
Bowles S, Park Y. Emulation, Inequality, and Work Hours: Was
Thorsten Veblen Right?. The Economic
Journal. 2005. Accessed February 9th 2013.
Brandon Walter
I agree completely. Our society is and always will be driven by possessions and how we display these possessions. We will forever live in a society in which having the best and biggest televisions and most up-to-date cell phones is more important than having all of your bills paid off and your student loans paid back.
ReplyDeleteYou bring up the point that people on welfare checks have items that are above their standard of living. From working in the grocery business, I have seen this many times. Customers come in on WIC and food stamps, and have their groceries paid for, then walk out to their Lincoln's, Cadillac's, and BMW's. This, once again, is driven by making sure even though you may not make a lot of money, that you certainly can afford to purchase their luxury vehicle.
I appreciated your use of a sociological perspective to describe consumers' obsession with being "conspicuous consumers". Since the early 20th century our country has seen dramatic shifts in social consciousness and we have more social mobility currently than ever before. Although Veblen published "The Theory of the Leisure Class" over one hundred years ago, many of his claims still hold true today. You made a great point when you provided the example of MTV cribs. Consumers will always try to feign being a member of a higher social class than their own by consuming goods and/or services that may not necessarily need.
ReplyDelete