Conspicuous Consumption (conspicuous + consumption)

Distribution by Scientific Domains


Selected Abstracts


Conspicuous consumption and the positional economy: policy and prescription since 1970

MANAGERIAL AND DECISION ECONOMICS, Issue 3-4 2000
Roger MasonArticle first published online: 27 MAR 200
In more recent years, the social significance of consumption has increased to such an extent that activity in the so-called ,positional economy' is now seen to threaten prospects for sustainable, long-term economic growth. In particular, the demand for status goods, fuelled by conspicuous consumption, has diverted many resources away from investment in the manufacture of more material goods and services in order to satisfy consumer preoccupations with their relative social standing and prestige. This paper looks at the policies and prescriptions which have been proposed in order to reduce levels of ,conspicuous waste' in the positional sector, and to redirect resources back into more productive economic activity. Copyright © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source]


Cross-cultural evaluation of factors driving intention to purchase new food products , Beijing, China and south-east England

INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF CONSUMER STUDIES, Issue 4 2007
Anita Eves
Abstract It has been reported that consumers in different countries have distinctive perceptions of, and attitudes to, products. This study investigated consumers' thoughts on new food products in south-east England (n = 222) and Beijing, China (n = 139), using a questionnaire-based largely on the Theory of Reasoned Action. Results indicated that consumers in both countries believe it is necessary for the food industry in their respective countries to introduce new food products and they would like to try new products. There appears to be great interest in new products among the Beijing Chinese, with most interest in new healthy food products. The influences on choices suggest that a marketing focus on quality, utility and health benefits would be most fruitful, as personal beliefs were more important in intention to purchase than the influence of other people. Results point away from the expected result that the Chinese, as a collectivist culture, would place more emphasis on others' opinions than their own beliefs. This may be linked to food not being an item of conspicuous consumption, or to a cultural shift among urban Chinese. [source]


Exploring consumer status and conspicuous consumption

JOURNAL OF CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR, Issue 1 2004
Professor Aron O'Cass
Abstract In seeking to expand an understanding of consumption, this study assesses the relationship between status consumption and conspicuous consumption. Theoretically, the relationship between status consumption and conspicuous consumption is problematic and, therefore, the main focus of this paper examines the theoretical and empirical separation of consumers' status consumption and conspicuous consumption. Data were gathered via a survey of individuals aged between 18 and 25. The findings indicate that status consumption and conspicuous consumption are distinct constructs. Differences in status consumption tendencies between males and females were not found; however, in relation to conspicuous consumption gender differences were found. Status consumption was affected by self-monitoring and interpersonal influences, but conspicuous consumption was affected only by interpersonal influences. The brands examined also clearly differed in terms of status and conspicuous consumption perceptions. Copyright © 2004 Henry Stewart Publications Ltd. [source]


Conspicuous consumption and the positional economy: policy and prescription since 1970

MANAGERIAL AND DECISION ECONOMICS, Issue 3-4 2000
Roger MasonArticle first published online: 27 MAR 200
In more recent years, the social significance of consumption has increased to such an extent that activity in the so-called ,positional economy' is now seen to threaten prospects for sustainable, long-term economic growth. In particular, the demand for status goods, fuelled by conspicuous consumption, has diverted many resources away from investment in the manufacture of more material goods and services in order to satisfy consumer preoccupations with their relative social standing and prestige. This paper looks at the policies and prescriptions which have been proposed in order to reduce levels of ,conspicuous waste' in the positional sector, and to redirect resources back into more productive economic activity. Copyright © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source]


Rhinestone aesthetics and religious essence: Looking Jewish in Paris

AMERICAN ETHNOLOGIST, Issue 4 2009
KIMBERLY A. ARKIN
ABSTRACT I explore the paradoxical construction of race through fashion among the Parisian children and grandchildren of upwardly mobile immigrant North African Jews. Faced with the conflation of North Africanity and inassimilable difference, Sephardi youth escaped some forms of French racism by enacting others. By essentializing and individualizing Jewishness through conspicuous consumption, they made Frenchness possible for "Arab Jews" in ways foreclosed to Arab Muslims. But these same practices also helped fashion and biologize their exclusion from the French nation. Rather than encourage the deconstruction of "modern" identity narratives, Sephardi youth liminality thus encouraged the reessentialization of class, ethnicity, religion, and nation. [source]


Assessing the role of architecture in conspicuous consumption in the middle minoan I,II periods

OXFORD JOURNAL OF ARCHAEOLOGY, Issue 3 2004
Ilse Schoep
Summary., This paper uses Middle Minoan architecture to explore the degree to which the conceptualization and reconstruction of the First Palaces on Crete have been unduly influenced by the model of the Minoan palace as the centralized political, economic and religious authority. It is generally assumed that this model, first formulated on the basis of the LM II,III palace at Knossos, also serves to explain the First Palaces despite the fact that relatively little attention has hitherto been paid to their external and internal characteristics. Detailed reassessment of the available data strongly suggests that the First Palaces differed from their Late Bronze Age counterparts in several important ways. Particularly striking is the absence of so-called ,palatial' architectural features (e.g. ashlar masonry, Minoan Hall, Lustral Basin, etc.), which hitherto had been thought to form an integral part of the First Palaces. Rather, the earliest evidence for these architectural features seems to be found in elite residences in settlement contexts (e.g. Malia). This observation urges a reassessment not only of the term ,palatial' architecture but also of the nature and location of power in Middle Bronze Age Crete and the role played by architecture as a medium of elite conspicuous consumption. [source]