Does Conspicuous Consumption Carry Any Actual Benefits?
How the sociometer theory explains our peculiar buying habits.
Her necklace could have ended world hunger. The studded diamonds were blinging in the kitchen lights, blinding me, and also keeping me awake as she regaled me with a long story of her grandson’s acceptance to Harvard.
“I just met this lady two minutes ago. Is this long story really relevant?” I grumbled to myself, as my inner introvert begged me to sprint out the front door.
For context, I used to hobnob with a rather elite crowd — and not by choice: they were family and friends of a then-girlfriend. It was exactly as you’d picture in your mind. Everyone pulled up in sports cars at dinner parties. Many of the wives were decades younger than their counterpart. Conversations revolved around luxury vacations, each person sizing up each other’s recent trip, and casually inserting veiled boasts and humble brags in their stories. The floors we stood on were immaculate polished and cut marble, with soft underlighting giving them a glow that made you feel like you were in a futuristic palace.
I always felt out of place, like an outsider with his eyes up against the glass, looking in at all the nice things I couldn’t afford. But I didn’t want to afford them.
