SOC 2112 Lecture Notes - Lecture 7: Populism, Thorstein Veblen, Cultural Capital
Document Summary
The theory of the leisure class (1899) Veblen wanted economists to account for the social and cultural causes and effects of economic changes. His book is a lampooning and satire of the shallowness and pomposity of the leisure class. Populism and anti-elitism are more pronounced here. Societies are the centrality of work/labor as a status signifier. Mass consumer market of goods and services - more people can partake in conspicuous consumption. Consumption can be aspirational and competitive: very much tied into status. Consumer society involves people who are competing with each other based on the products they have. Veblen, like marcuse - the lower classes were not out to overthrow the upper classes - strived to climb up to it and be a part of it. Examined the relationship between economics and culture via consumption. Conspicuous consumption is important for the leisure class because it"s what gets them status, through what they buy.