David Graeber’s new book Bullshit Jobs strongly recalls Thorstein Veblen’s classic The Theory of the Leisure Class. In the latter book, the concept of conspicuous consumption was first brought out ...

Research reveals recession will sound death knell on conspicuous consumption. New research at the University of Leicester reveals that the recession will bring with it a new ‘economic ethic’ which ...

CEBU, Philippines — Last week, I talked about why we buy useless stuff. This time, I’ll go very specific on a particular buying behavior that we all had done at least once in our lives. I got a ...

In 1899, the economist Thorstein Veblen observed that silver spoons and corsets were markers of elite social position. In Veblen’s now famous treatise The Theory of the Leisure Class, he coined the ...

In general, the word conspicuous is an adjective that means attracting attention and standing out, so someone or something is visible. You can also use it to describe something notable, distinguished, ...

Buckle up, everyone; this post is going to be a long one. Today, I wanted to discuss the matter of conspicuous consumption: the art of spending relatively large sums of money on luxury goods. When you ...

LIFESTYLE, and flaunting how money is spent on goods and services, used to be obligatory coverage of celebrities, not just in the entertainment field. Glossy magazines, TV programs, and online media ...