In sociology and in economics, the term conspicuous consumption describes and explains the

consumer A consumer is a person or a group who intends to order, or uses purchased goods, products, or services primarily for personal, social, family, household and similar needs, who is not directly related to entrepreneurial or business activities. T ...

practice of buying and using goods of a higher quality,

price A price is the (usually not negative) quantity of payment or compensation given by one party to another in return for goods or services. In some situations, the price of production has a different name. If the product is a "good" in the c ...

, or in greater quantity than practical. In 1899, the sociologist Thorstein Veblen coined the term ''conspicuous consumption'' to explain the spending of money on and the acquiring of luxury commodities (goods and services) specifically as a public display of

economic power Economic power refers to the ability of countries, businesses or individuals to improve living standards. It increases their ability to make decisions on their own that benefit them. Scholars of international relations also refer to the economic p ...

—the income and the accumulated wealth—of the buyer. To the conspicuous consumer, the public display of discretionary income is an economic means of either attaining or of maintaining a given

social status Social status is the level of social value a person is considered to possess. More specifically, it refers to the relative level of respect, honour, assumed competence, and deference accorded to people, groups, and organizations in a society. Stat ...

. The development of Veblen's sociology of conspicuous consumption also identified and described other economic behaviours such as invidious consumption, which is the ostentatious consumption of goods, an action meant to provoke the envy of other people; and conspicuous compassion, the ostentatious use of charity meant to enhance the reputation and social prestige of the donor; thus the socio-economic practises of consumerism derive from conspicuous consumption.

History and development

In '' The Theory of the Leisure Class: An Economic Study in the Evolution of Institutions'' (1899), Thorstein Veblen identified, described, and explained the behavioural characteristics of the '' nouveau riche'' (new rich) social class that emerged from

capital accumulation Capital accumulation is the dynamic that motivates the pursuit of profit, involving the investment of money or any financial asset with the goal of increasing the initial monetary value of said asset as a financial return whether in the form o ...

during the

Second Industrial Revolution The Second Industrial Revolution, also known as the Technological Revolution, was a phase of rapid scientific discovery, standardization, mass production and industrialization from the late 19th century into the early 20th century. The Firs ...

(1860–1914). In that 19th-century social and historical context, the term "conspicuous consumption" applied narrowly in association with the men, women, and families of the upper class who applied their great wealth as a means of publicly manifesting their

social power In social science and politics, power is the social production of an effect that determines the capacities, actions, beliefs, or conduct of actors. Power does not exclusively refer to the threat or use of force (coercion) by one actor against ...

and prestige, either real or perceived. The strength of one's reputation is in direct relationship to the amount of money possessed and displayed; that is to say, the basis "of gaining and retaining a good name, are leisure and conspicuous consumption." In the 1920s, economists such as

Paul Nystrom Paul Henry Nystrom (January 25, 1878 – August 17, 1969) was an American economist, and professor of marketing at Columbia University. He is most known as pioneer in marketing, and for his ''The Economics of Retailing'' (1915) and his ''Economic ...

proposed that changes in lifestyle as result of the industrial age led to massive expansion of the "

pecuniary emulation {{Short pages monitor {{wealth, state=collapsed Anti-corporate activism Consumerism Consumption Institutional economics Narcissism Socio-economic mobility Thorstein Veblen