作者：ElizabethCurrid-Halkett
出版社：PrincetonUniversityPress
副标题：ATheoryoftheAspirationalClass
出版年：2017-5-23
页数：272
定价：USD29.95
装帧：Hardcover
ISBN：9780691162737
内容简介
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How the leisure class has been replaced by a new elite, and how their consumer habits affect us all In today’s world, the leisure class has been replaced by a new elite. Highly educated and defined by cultural capital rather than income bracket, these individuals earnestly buy organic, carry NPR tote bags, and breast-feed their babies. They care about discreet, inconspicuous consumption–like eating free-range chicken and heirloom tomatoes, wearing organic cotton shirts and TOMS shoes, and listening to the Serial podcast. They use their purchasing power to hire nannies and housekeepers, to cultivate their children’s growth, and to practice yoga and Pilates. In The Sum of Small Things, Elizabeth Currid-Halkett dubs this segment of society “the aspirational class” and discusses how, through deft decisions about education, health, parenting, and retirement, the aspirational class reproduces wealth and upward mobility, deepening the ever-wider class divide. Exploring the rise of the aspirational class, Currid-Halkett considers how much has changed since the 1899 publication of Thorstein Veblen’s Theory of the Leisure Class. In that inflammatory classic, which coined the phrase “conspicuous consumption,” Veblen described upper-class frivolities: men who used walking sticks for show, and women who bought silver flatware despite the effectiveness of cheaper aluminum utensils. Now, Currid-Halkett argues, the power of material goods as symbols of social position has diminished due to their accessibility. As a result, the aspirational class has altered its consumer habits away from overt materialism to more subtle expenditures that reveal status and knowledge. And these transformations influence how we all make choices. With a rich narrative and extensive interviews and research, The Sum of Small Things illustrates how cultural capital leads to lifestyle shifts and what this forecasts, not just for the aspirational class but for everyone.
作者简介
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Elizabeth Currid-Halkett is the James Irvine Chair in Urban and Regional Planning and professor of public policy at the University of Southern California. She is the author of The Warhol Economy and Starstruck . Her work has been featured in the Los Angeles Times, New York Times, New Yorker, and Wall Street Journal. She lives in Los Angeles with her husband and their two sons.
目录
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Acknowledgments ix 1 The Twenty-first-Century “Leisure” Class 1 2 Conspicuous Consumption in the Twenty-first Century 24 3 Ballet Slippers and Yale Tuition: Inconspicuous Consumption and the New Elites 46 4 Motherhood as Conspicuous Leisure in the Twenty-first Century 78 5 Conspicuous Production 110 6 Landscapes of Consumption 148 7 “To Get Rich Is Glorious”? The State of Consumption and Class in America 182 Appendix 199 Notes 221 References 233 Index 247
评论 ······
今年读过的最激动人心的书之一；物质富裕社会中消费主义对人类社会造成巨大影响，而社会分级的形式也随之演变，在精英主义的掩盖下变得越发难以看清。值得每一个人读一读，当然从事消费品行业、营销创意、商业零售和城市规划的人可能会觉得书里传递的信息特别有利用价值。
书中说的 相比于中产阶级把大量的钱花在购买传统的奢侈品上，现代的高收入群体更愿意把钱花在教育、医疗、食品等看不见的方方面面。 其实只是富人阶层早就做到了 不可见消费只是小圈子内炫耀
散步的时候听，好几次都想弃书了，强迫症还是听到了最后。作者作为一个学者，逻辑非常潦草，不严谨。自己有一个观点，然后再随便找一些边角的数据去支持自己的观点,差评。学到一个有意思的词，frustrated achievers，这就是传说中的内卷吧。
观点并不新颖，方法论、理论和写作方式和导师Sharon很接近，想要写成通俗读物。简单来说就是文化精英早就不再以物质作为炫耀性消费，而转向了非炫耀性的教育、医疗、健康、食物等生活/投资方式来巩固阶级基础，“不自觉”地再生产了不平等。最后为了升华主题跳跃到了全球中产阶级的崛起…
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