Leseprobe
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The Sum of Small Things
Elizabeth Currid-Halkett
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Sozialwissenschaften, Recht, Wirtschaft / Sozialstrukturforschung
Beschreibung
How the leisure class has been replaced by a new elite, and how their consumer habits affect us all
In today’s world, the leisure class has been replaced by a new elite. Highly educated and defined by cultural capital rather than income bracket, these individuals earnestly buy organic, carry NPR tote bags, and breast-feed their babies. They care about discreet, inconspicuous consumption—like eating free-range chicken and heirloom tomatoes, wearing organic cotton shirts and TOMS shoes, and listening to the Serial podcast. They use their purchasing power to hire nannies and housekeepers, to cultivate their children’s growth, and to practice yoga and Pilates. In The Sum of Small Things, Elizabeth Currid-Halkett dubs this segment of society “the aspirational class” and discusses how, through deft decisions about education, health, parenting, and retirement, the aspirational class reproduces wealth and upward mobility, deepening the ever-wider class divide.
Exploring the rise of the aspirational class, Currid-Halkett considers how much has changed since the 1899 publication of Thorstein Veblen’s Theory of the Leisure Class. In that inflammatory classic, which coined the phrase “conspicuous consumption,” Veblen described upper-class frivolities: men who used walking sticks for show, and women who bought silver flatware despite the effectiveness of cheaper aluminum utensils. Now, Currid-Halkett argues, the power of material goods as symbols of social position has diminished due to their accessibility. As a result, the aspirational class has altered its consumer habits away from overt materialism to more subtle expenditures that reveal status and knowledge. And these transformations influence how we all make choices.
With a rich narrative and extensive interviews and research, The Sum of Small Things illustrates how cultural capital leads to lifestyle shifts and what this forecasts, not just for the aspirational class but for everyone.
Kundenbewertungen
Upper class, The Theory of the Leisure Class, Social class, Yale University Press, Capitalism, Economy, John Kenneth Galbraith, Manufacturing, Poverty, Income bracket, Consumer, Insurance, Grocery store, Post-scarcity economy, Americans, Conspicuous leisure, Economic growth, Joint Center for Housing Studies, Price point, Globalization, Harvard University, Amenity, Consumer choice, Restaurant, Designer, Social position, Bureau of Labor Statistics, Cultural capital, Income, Luxury goods, Consumer Expenditure Survey, Year, Mass market, Outsourcing, Mass production, Fast food, Consumerism, Boutique, Conspicuous consumption, Thorstein Veblen, Consumer economy, Handbag, Sociology, Suggestion, Russian oligarch, Wealth, Quality of life, Economist, World economy, Consumer Goods, Environmentalism, Vegetable, Developed country, Nouveau riche, Consumption (economics), Society, Tuition payments, Retail, Social capital, Manicure, Consumer behaviour, Household, Whole Foods Market, Breastfeeding, Meal, Middle class, Leisure, Expense, Princeton University Press, Unemployment