Conspicuous Consumption Quotes

“When we crumble under the exorbitant weight of conspicuous commodities and the material pressure in a universe of illusion, life may become disheveled and devastated, while our mind has been dumbed down and our willpower crippled. ( “Buying now. Dying later “ )”
― Erik Pevernagie

“Those who think money can't buy happiness just don't know where to shop … People would be happier and healthier if they took more time off and spent it with their family and friends, yet America has long been heading in the opposite direction. People would be happier if they reduced their commuting time, even if it meant living in smaller houses, yet American trends are toward even larger houses and ever longer commutes. People would be happier and healthier if they took longer vacations even if that meant earning less, yet vacation times are shrinking in the United States, and in Europe as well. People would be happier, and in the long run and wealthier, if they bought basic functional appliances, automobiles, and wristwatches, and invested the money they saved for future consumption; yet, Americans and in particular spend almost everything they have – and sometimes more – on goods for present consumption, often paying a large premium for designer names and superfluous features.”
― Jonathan Haidt, The Happiness Hypothesis: Finding Modern Truth in Ancient Wisdom

“Expensive clothing is a poor man’s attempt to appear prosperous.”
― Mokokoma Mokhonoana

“The childish and savage taste of men and women for new patterns keeps how many shaking and squinting through kaleidoscopes that they may discover the particular figure which this generation requires to-day. The manufacturers have learned that this taste is merely whimsical. Of two patterns which differ only by a few threads more or less of a particular color, the one will be sold readily, the other lie on the shelf, though it frequently happens that after the lapse of a season the latter becomes the most fashionable. Comparatively, tattooing is not the hideous custom which it is called. It is not barbarous merely because the printing is skin-deep and unalterable.”
― Henry David Thoreau, Walden and Other Writings

“Luxury beliefs’ are the latest status symbol for rich Americans” by Rob Henderson
New York Post, August 3, 2022

In the past, upper-class Americans used to display their social status with luxury goods. Today, they do it with luxury beliefs.

People care a lot about social status. In fact, research indicates that respect and admiration from our peers are even more important than money for our sense of well-being.

...as trendy clothes and other products become more accessible and affordable, there is increasingly less status attached to luxury goods.

The upper classes have found a clever solution to this problem: luxury beliefs. These are ideas and opinions that confer status on the rich at very little cost, while taking a toll on the lower class.

‘Upper-class people don a luxury belief to separate themselves from the lower class’ ...

White privilege is the luxury belief that took me the longest to understand, because I grew up around poor whites. Often members of the upper-class claim that racial disparities stem from inherent advantages held by whites. Yet Asian Americans are more educated, have higher earnings and live longer than whites. Affluent whites are the most enthusiastic about the idea of white privilege, yet they are the least likely to incur any costs for promoting that belief. Rather, they raise their social standing by talking about their privilege.

In other words, upper-class whites gain status by talking about their high status. When laws are enacted to combat white privilege, it won’t be the privileged whites who are harmed. Poor whites will bear the brunt.

... like with diamond rings or designer clothes of old, upper-class people don a luxury belief to separate themselves from the lower class. These beliefs, in turn, produce real, tangible consequences for disadvantaged people, further widening the divide.”
― Rob Henderson

“Our thoughts, feelings and whereabouts: Food we dish up on plates called photographs and status updates; to feed Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc.; beasts with insatiable appetites.”
― Mokokoma Mokhonoana

“Hiding some people’s possessions would reveal the depth of their shallowness.”
― Mokokoma Mokhonoana

“The buying of a product is usually a subconscious attempt to buy happiness.”
― Mokokoma Mokhonoana

“Some people will each start investing more of their salary on ‘their’ house and spending less of it on ‘their’ car or cars only when they start being able to take ‘their’ house to work, funerals, weddings, etc.”
― Mokokoma Mokhonoana

“One of the most common root causes of our unhappiness is our desire to give people who will get to see the house we live in, and/or the car or cars we drive, an idea of how much we earn, earned, or were allowed to borrow.”
― Mokokoma Mokhonoana

“Most people are usually unable to enjoy what they are doing, or what they have or are having, when there is no one to envy them.”
― Mokokoma Mokhonoana

“There is a correlation between how much we care about what others think of us and how much time, energy, and money we waste in a month.”
― Mokokoma Mokhonoana

“We are sometimes humbled by the realization that, unlike their house, someone’s bank balance or paycheck is bigger than ours.”
― Mokokoma Mokhonoana

“Some things are good for our image but bad for our pockets.”
― Mokokoma Mokhonoana

“That Greiner house, now—a typical rung in the social ladder! The man who built it came from a MILIEU where all the dishes are put on the table at once. His facade is a complete architectural meal; if he had omitted a style his friends might have thought the money had given out. Not a bad purchase for Rosedale, though: attracts attention, and awes the Western sight-seer. By and bye he'll get out of that phase, and want something that the crowd will pass and the few pause before.”
― Edith Wharton, The House of Mirth

“Some people are blessed with a well-paid job, but are cursed with an irresistible urge to give others the impression that they are well paid, through things such as their clothes, car, and place of residence.”
― Mokokoma Mokhonoana

“When you are really rich, you do not mind coming across as poor or broke.”
― Mokokoma Mokhonoana

“Instead of buying a Mercedes, you can buy a Toyota; and then use the extra money that you would have spent every month, for about five years, on the installment, fuel, and insurance to buy shares in the company that owns Mercedes … or the one that owns Rolls Royce.”
― Mokokoma Mokhonoana

“Thorstein Veblen’s Theory of the Leisure Class—A Status Update by Rob Henderson

The chief purpose of luxury beliefs is to indicate evidence of the believer’s social class and education. ... When an affluent person advocates for drug legalization, or anti-vaccination policies, or open borders, or loose sexual norms, or uses the term “white privilege,” they are engaging in a status display. They are trying to tell you, “I am a member of the upper class.” ...

Affluent people promote open borders or the decriminalization of drugs because it advances their social standing, not least because they know that the adoption of those policies will cost them less than others. ...

Unfortunately, the luxury beliefs of the upper class often trickle down and are adopted by people lower down the food chain, which means many of these beliefs end up causing social harm.”
― Rob Henderson

“Some of the things some people have are so expensive that you’d swear it is their maids, not them, who live where they live.”
― Mokokoma Mokhonoana

“All too often, a man gets into debt mainly, or even only, to get inside a woman or women.”
― Mokokoma Mokhonoana

“Money that was earned is way less slippery than money that was stolen, won, or inherited.”
― Mokokoma Mokhonoana

“As societies become more egalitarian, people feel less pressure to pursue ever-higher incomes and more glamorous status goods. This liberates people from the treadmill of perpetual consumerism.”
― Jason Hickel, Less Is More: How Degrowth Will Save the World

“Photography created, and then social media aggravated, the vast majority of people’s inability to enjoy what is happening … without the urge to capture it.”
― Mokokoma Mokhonoana

“One of the main downsides of having low self-esteem is the attendant desire to have high-priced possessions, especially those with which you can leave your yard.”
― Mokokoma Mokhonoana

“Capitalism owes a third of its success to conspicuous consumption, and another third to the consumption of caffeine.”
― Mokokoma Mokhonoana

“The joy some people get from driving a flashy car is not even a hundredth of that some people get from walking for pleasure.”
― Mokokoma Mokhonoana

“New York Post, August 3, 2022

“ ‘Luxury beliefs’ are the latest status symbol for rich Americans” by Rob Henderson

One example of luxury belief is that all family structures are equal. This is not true. Evidence is clear that families with two married parents are the most beneficial for young children. And yet, affluent, educated people raised by two married parents are more likely than others to believe monogamy is outdated, marriage is a sham or that all families are the same. …

This luxury belief contributed to the erosion of the family. Today, the marriage rates of affluent Americans are nearly the same as they were in the 1960s. But working-class people are far less likely to get married. Furthermore, out-of-wedlock birthrates are more than 10 times higher than they were in 1960, mostly among the poor and working class. Affluent people seldom have kids out of wedlock but are more likely than others to express the luxury belief that doing so is of no consequence.

Another luxury belief is that religion is irrational or harmful. Members of the upper class are most likely to be atheists or non-religious. But they have the resources and access to thrive without the unifying social edifice of religion.

Places of worship are often essential for the social fabric of poor communities. Denigrating the importance of religion harms the poor. While affluent people often find meaning in their work, most Americans do not have the luxury of a “profession.” They have jobs. They clock in, they clock out. Without a family or community to care for, such a job can feel meaningless.

Then there’s the luxury belief that individual decisions don’t matter much compared to random social forces, including luck. This belief is more common among many of my peers at Yale and Cambridge than the kids I grew up with in foster care or the women and men I served with in the military. The key message is that the outcomes of your life are beyond your control. This idea works to the benefit of the upper class and harms ordinary people. …

White privilege is the luxury belief that took me the longest to understand, because I grew up around poor whites. Often members of the upper-class claim that racial disparities stem from inherent advantages held by whites. Yet Asian Americans are more educated, have higher earnings and live longer than whites. Affluent whites are the most enthusiastic about the idea of white privilege, yet they are the least likely to incur any costs for promoting that belief. … When laws are enacted to combat white privilege, it won’t be the privileged whites who are harmed. Poor whites will bear the brunt. …”
― Rob Henderson

“I don’t need a whole lot to be happy now. You want to have a roof over your head, to have a car, to have Internet. You need to have Internet, that’s just, there’s just no other way. Like your house is not really actually a habitable house if it doesn’t have Internet. You could live without water or trash, but not without Internet.

-- young, Emerging Adults interviewed on their lifestyle.”
― Christian Smith, Lost in Transition: The Dark Side of Emerging Adulthood

“Politicians like us must also be
entertained in order to lead the people [...]‘It is the duty of the taxpayers to always foot our bill. Whether they like it or not, complain or not, it is their duty to make sure I lead with a happy soul. That is the way the world is.”
― Niq Mhlongo, For you I’d steal a goat