conspicuous consumption

(noun)

A public display of acquisition of possessions with the intention of gaining social prestige; excessive consumerism in order to flaunt one's purchasing power.

Related Terms

Examples of conspicuous consumption in the following topics:

  • The Middle Class

    • Recently, the typical lifestyle of the American middle class has been criticized for its "conspicuous consumption" and materialism, as Americans have the largest homes and most appliances and automobiles in the world.
    • An upscale home in suburban California, an example of the "conspicuous consumption" of the American middle class.

  • Forces in Consumerism

    • The term is often associated with criticisms of consumption starting with Thorstein Veblen.
    • In economics, consumerism refers to economic policies that place emphasis on consumption.
    • He coined the term "conspicuous consumption" to describe this apparently irrational and confounding form of economic behavior.
    • Access to credit, in the form of installment payments aided further consumption.
    • Conspicuous consumption is when goods are consumed to enhance one's social status.

  • The Social Problem

    • Wisconsin-born author Thorstein Veblen argued in his book The Theory of the Leisure Class that the "conspicuous consumption and conspicuous leisure" of the wealthy had become the basis of social status in America.

  • The Culture of Abundance and Consumerism

    • The 1950s were a time of expanded consumption of household goods, spurred by a rise in overall prosperity within America.
    • In the 20th century, the significant improvement of the standard of living of a society, and the consequent emergence of the middle class, broadly applied the term "conspicuous consumption" to the men, women, and households who possessed the discretionary income that allowed them to practice the patterns of economic consumption—of goods and services—which were motivated by the desire for prestige and the public display of social status, rather than by the intrinsic, practical utility of the goods and the services proper.
    • In the 1920s, economists such as Paul Nystrom proposed that changes in the style of life, made feasible by the economics of the industrial age, had induced to the mass of society a "philosophy of futility" that would increase the consumption of goods and services as a social fashion—an activity done for its own sake.
    • Between 1946 and 1960, the United States witnessed a significant expansion in the consumption of goods and services.
    • GNP rose by 36% and personal consumption expenditures by 42%, cumulative gains which were reflected in the incomes of families and unrelated individuals.

  • Identifying market needs

    • Such behaviour is referred to as "conspicuous consumption" or "luxury badging".
    • In this process companies should find real consumption motivators that eventually evolve into product offerings.
    • This implies that marketing efforts should be aimed at understanding their behaviour as consumption entities, and use this knowledge to develop marketing strategies.

  • Conclusion: Trends of the Gilded Age

    • The Norwegian American economist Thorstein Veblen argued in The Theory of the Leisure Class (1899) that the "conspicuous consumption and conspicuous leisure" of the wealthy had become the basis of social status in America.

  • Social Justice

    • In Dynamic Sociology (1883), Lester Frank Ward laid out the philosophical foundations of the Progressive movement and attacked the laissez-faire policies advocated by Herbert Spencer and William Graham Sumner, while Thorstein Veblen's The Theory of the Leisure Class (1899) attacked the "conspicuous consumption" of the wealthy.

  • Personal Selling

    • When customers flaunt wealth by buying expensive products it is referred to as conspicuous consumption or luxury badging.

  • The consumption function

    • The function is used to calculate the amount of total consumption in an economy.
    • Autonomous consumption (otherwise known as exogenous consumption) is consumption expenditure that occurs when income levels are zero.
    • Induced consumption is consumption expenditure by households on goods and services that varies with income.
    • C represents total consumption, while c0 represents autonomous consumption.
    • Since autonomous consumption never varies regardless of income, the slope of the consumption function is defined entirely by the marginal propensity to consume.

  • Branding Strategies

    • This is the choice to represent a larger feeling, which is not necessarily connected with the product or consumption of the product at all.
    • "No brand" branding may be construed as a type of branding as the product is made conspicuous through the absence of a brand name.