Conspicuous Consumption

Almost 120 years ago, during the first Gilded Age, sociologist Thorstein coined the term "conspicuous consumption." He used it to refer to rich people flaunting their wealth through wasteful spending. Why buy a thousand-dollar suit when a hundred-dollar one serves the same function? The answer, Veblen said, was power. The rich asserted their dominance by showing how much money they could burn on things they didn't need. While radical at the time, Veblen's observation seems obvious now. In the intervening decades, conspicuous consumption has become deeply embedded in the texture of American capitalism. Our new Gilded Age is even more Veblenian than the last. Today's captains of industry publicize their social position with private islands and superyachts, while the President of the United States covers nearly everything he owns in gold. But the acquisition of insanely expensive commodities isn't the only way that modern elites project power. More recently, another form of status display has emerged. In the new Gilded Age, identifying oneself as a member of the ruling class doesn't just require conspicuous consumption. It requires conspicuous production. If conspicuous consumption involves the worship of luxury, conspicuous production involves the worship of labor. It isn't about how much you spend. It's about how hard you work. Nowhere is the cult of conspicuous production more visible than among America's CEOs.