|
|
Article: Conspicuous Consumption
- Article from:
- International Encyclopedia of the Social Sciences
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2008 Thomson Gale. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
|
Conspicuous Consumption
BIBLIOGRAPHY
The American economist Thorstein Veblen first introduced the term
conspicuous consumption
in his work
The Theory of the Leisure Class
(1899). The theoretical starting point for discussing the term is the evolution of hierarchical structures in societies, which produce more than is required for subsistence. An unproductive leisure class emerges that accumulates wealth and secures status that is not enjoyed by the laboring class. Conspicuous consumption is the vehicle by which members of the leisure class convey their position of wealth and status to other members of society. Veblen maintained it is not enough to be wealthy; to have status individuals ...