ABSTRACT
This chapter provides an overview, examining how rationalizations for luxury have changed with the growth of ideologies that embrace wealth. Central to market economies are notions of mobility and a tacit acceptance of inequality as a natural phenomenon. Earlier opprobrium associated with the display of excessive wealth has been replaced by its visceral embrace by large segments of the population – even though their chances of achieving it remain remote. A consumer culture has reinvigorated material acquisition, de-moralizing many of the negative connotations associated with luxury goods. This pattern is now found in many emerging economies where the new rich exhibit similar status seeking behavior as their counterparts in the west.
