Thorstein Veblen
Who Is It Bought For
Some things are bought to be seen, not to be used
The Theory of the Leisure Class (1899), chapters 2, 4 and 7
You have talked yourself into the purchase with three reasons, all about function. Veblen's question is who will see it.
What actually happened?
In The Theory of the Leisure Class Veblen takes women's fashion as an exhibit. The long skirt, the corset and the high heel share one feature: the woman wearing them cannot work in them. That is exactly what makes them worth having, because each says something on the wearer's behalf, that she has no need to work. The inconvenience is the message. The same is true of much else that is costly and gets in the way.
Wealth has to be shown
In chapter 2 he writes that wealth must be put in evidence, "for esteem is awarded only on evidence." Among neighbours who never see your accounts, what they can judge you by is what you put out where they can see it.
You move into a new block of flats. Nobody knows your savings; everybody sees the car parked outside.
Waste is the point
A useful thing invites the suspicion that it was bought to be used. To show you can afford more than use requires, you spend where use ends: needless ornament, labour nobody needs. He called it conspicuous waste, and the waste is itself the message.
A watch rated to three hundred metres, worn by someone whose deepest swim is the bath.
Leisure is displayed too
The same reasoning applies to time. Being visibly unproductive, which he named conspicuous leisure, says the person does not have to trade hours for a living.
The photo of a Wednesday afternoon in a café shows the afternoon off, not the coffee.
How do I use it today?
Where you are: something costly sits in the basket and you have found three reasons for it, all about function.
Ask first: if no one would ever see that I own it, or what it cost, would I still buy it? Whatever changes is the part you are paying for in other people's eyes.
Where it goes wrong: concluding that every expensive thing is vanity. He is measuring the status part of a purchase; the feel of the thing, its durability and the pleasure it gives you are not in his ledger.
Lines to keep
Money must be seen before it earns respect.
The less use it has, the better it proves you can pay.
Would I still buy this if nobody could see it?
Same situation, other people are asking
Am I buying it for the use, or for who will see it?Should I buy this · all 1 questions →If this one named what you are going through,
send it to someone who needs it, or keep it somewhere you will find it again.