Thorstein Veblen coined the term “overt consumption” in his book The Theory of the Leisure Class to describe the nouveau riche’s excessive spending to gain social status. This phenomenon has existed since the Industrial Revolution and was often used to move up a class. Marriage was also a target of consumption for the upper classes. In the 1950s, it became known as “keeping up with the Joneses,” and in the 1980s, yuppies were the primary agents of overt consumption. In some circles, consumption is necessary to maintain a good opinion of others.
Thorstein Veblen, an American sociologist wrote an 1899 book The Theory of the Leisure Class in which he developed and defined the term overt consumption. Veblen was referring to the nouveau riche, who went to great lengths to spend heavily in order to acquire their way into a social position that would be respected by upper-class families.
This kind of conspicuous consumption was certainly not a new device in 1899. Indeed during the Industrial Revolution and slightly before it, families who had made money often attempted to move up a class by making excessive and unnecessary purchases. Dickens in our mutual friend develops the facets, a family of unknown origin with everything “brand new”.
“Mr. and Mrs Veneering were brand new people in a brand new house in a new bran district of London. Everything about the veneers was new and smoothed out. All their furniture was new, all their friends were new, all their servants were new, their dish was new, their carriage was new, their harness was new, their horses were new…”
One obvious target of consumption was marriage in the upper classes. Indeed marriages were often arranged between the respectable old rich and the nouveau riche in order to refinance members of the upper classes, who were often less than solvent.
The end of the Civil War in the United States, generally understood in the Deep South, that conspicuous consumption was the hallmark of carpenters. People clung to their newfound poverty as much as they had clung to their wealth and slavery before the war. Furthermore, in the depression, this type of consumption was considered rude. He was thumbing his nose at everything he was about to starve.
The 1950s in the United States saw conspicuous consumption as the process of “keeping up with the Joneses.” If a neighbor had a new car, then one should get a new car to maintain a certain status. It didn’t matter if one needed a new car. In fact the hallmark of this phenomenon is buying things you don’t need.
Economists and sociologists often cite the 1980s as a time of extreme consumption. The yuppie has emerged as the primary agent of overt consumption in the United States. Yuppies didn’t need to buy BMWs or Mercedes cars for example; they did it to show off their wealth.
In evident consumption, one object is to serve wealth. Wealth and its display become the litmus test of a person’s state. In some circles, consumption is almost necessary to maintain the good opinion of others.
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