Sociology / Unit 6 Soc 0863 short lesson, about 20 seconds
Conspicuous Consumption
Captions available
The idea
Conspicuous consumption, Veblen's term, is spending undertaken to display social position rather than to satisfy a need.
In practice
A purchase whose visible cost is the point performs the same work at every income level.
Where people slip
The display is not confined to the wealthy; the scale changes and the mechanism does not.
Your place on the trail
Every lesson rests on earlier ones and opens later ones. Tap any to jump.
Unlocks
- Nothing yet depends on this.
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