Ng 1 Brian Ng Professor Casimir WR 121 Essay 2 Second Draft ng.brian.j@gmail.

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Conspicuous Consumption

Conspicuous consumption is a byproduct of the social class structure and the structures misperceptions. While this byproduct does have its pros and cons, the cons can be debilitating to the actual and not perceived class structure, actual being lower, middle, and upper class perceived being visibly higher class instead of actual. Conspicuous consumption is defined as the lavish spending of money on products in order to impress others and show the perception of a higher class. The term was first used in the 1899 book The Theory of Leisure Class by, economist and sociologist, Thorstein Veblen. (Veblen) Once the lower social classes began to not accept their current class, they spent money on things and services to make them look upper class. In the early 1900s people began not to accept their place in the class structure. Knowing they could not actually move their class structure they created the perception of being higher class. People would spend their last pennies on items that would create the perception. During this time people tried to mimic the culture of the British Victorian era. This era was found to be the most respectable for higher class. People put together extravagant balls (dances), purchased high society clothing, mimicked the Britishs love for philanthropycreation of social and

Ng 2 sporting clubs. This time period was also the period known for the establishment of women as homemakers. The 1920s had a rise in the consumer oriented economy and mass entertainment including theater and cinema. There were many wage rises that meant increased incomes which meant more spending. Chain stores were able to purchase in mass and sell at a lower cost. This was when the creation of credit came to be. There were no credit processing fees until later years. Shoppers were able to purchase the big ticket items that would be part of the perception. People started to buy cars, homes, fridges, washing machines, pianos, vacuums, etcon credit as long as payments were made on time. Womans fashion also started to grow. Hairstyles started to change to mimic those of stage and screen. Cosmetics became a hot seller with the emergence of chain stores and 5 and 10 stores. Costume jewelry popularity increased. The lower and middle class now had the ability to make themselves look like a higher class. Now that the clothing and jewelry were taken care of next was doing the same activities as the upper-class. Jazz, ragtime, and Broadway musicals became the popular music for the 20s. Jazz was being played all over the country. According to 1920-30.com, Americans purchased more than 100 million records in 1927. (1920s Music) One of the most famous books written for etiquette of high society was published in 1922. The book was Etiquette in Society, in Business, in Politics, and at Home by Emily Post. This publication was the step by step manual on how to act as high society. (Post) In 1946 an actual school was created to physically teach the etiquette of the higher class. Unfortunately the late 1920s had the first major economic crash in history, called the Great Depression. The depression lasted from the stock market crash in 1929 to the late 30s

Ng 3 or early 40s, depending on where you lived. Conspicuous consumption was put on the back burner during this time due to no one having any money or jobs. After the Great Depression the economy started to level out. In the mid 1900s after WWII unemployment and inflation remained low. Most people were expected to own their own house, car, and have better lives for their children. Many families left their birthplaces to find bigger and better places to live. Home ownership for returning war veterans, which made up most of the population, was made possible through the Veterans Association. This made it easy for the veterans to purchase bigger homes. This meant bigger homes-more expensive and bigger land-bigger families-bigger cars, this all comes down to more money being spent. Television became very popular and became normal for everyone to have. If you did not have one, you were looked at as lower class. If the lower classes did not own one they bought one on credit. Rock and Roll was now the leading genre of music. According to the Historical Text Archive, 3.2 billion records were sold off the Billboard Top 10. (Mabry) Money was being saved which meant retirement funds were on the rise. Housing prices were also on the rise. According to ThePeopleHistory.com, a new house in 1950 sold for $8,450 and in 1959 sold for $12,400. (1950s) Then we get to the second time that the US economy crashed, but this time, conspicuous consumption was not put on hold. In the 2000 decade the money and housing markets crashed. People were losing their jobs which meant no money going out. People were getting and using their credit and its limits to purchase homes and cars which led to the mass of foreclosures and car repossessions. According to Sharon Jones of the World Socialist Website, 4 out of every 1000 homes were foreclosed on in the early 2000s. (Jones)

Ng 4 According to Corbett Daly of Reuters, the number of homes taken over by banks in September 2010 topped 100,000 for the first time. (Daly) With the downfall of the economy and people spending more outside of their means, on credit, car repossessions are on the rise. This can be seen in many reality television shows like National Geographics Repossessed (Repossessed), TruTvs Operation Repo (Operation) and Lizard Lick Towing (Lizard). All three of these shows depict/reenact the unfortunate job of repo men. The cars, trucks, boats, SUVs, among other things are repossessed due to people living outside of their means. On the other side of the spectrum people are starting to save money and not spend outside of their means. Even though there is still a need to one up everyone else, people seem to be realizing that the items they have are just things and that they can very much live inside their means and still be happy. An article in the NY Times But Will It Make You Happy written by Stephanie Rosenbloom, starts with saying that two people that made a decent amount of money and owned two cars decided to live inside their means in Portland Oregon and have never been happier. (Rosenbloom) In the same article she quotes a Professor DeLeire of the National Institute on Aging A $20,000 increase in spending on leisure was roughly equivalent to the happiness boost one gets from marriage.(Rosenbloom, DeLeire) Even though people have wanted show that they are not in their own social class but rather in a higher class, they will make purchases and economic decisions that impact the rest of their family. They may have their home foreclosed on, car repossessed, lose their televisions, and others but yet people still spend outside of their limits and reap the consequences. Conspicuous consumption is now a way of life and unless the general population can change their ways, it will live on forever.