Veblen Goods and Conspicuous Consumption
Some purchases signal status, and higher prices can sometimes increase their appeal.
The Mechanism: Veblen goods are products for which demand may rise with price because high cost itself signals status or exclusivity. This effect applies to some markets and conditions, not every expensive product.
The Philosophical Pivot: Consumption can become communication. A purchase may express belonging or distinction more than practical utility, while its signal only works if others recognize the code.
The Horizon: Status markets can encourage waste and social comparison, but goods also carry personal, cultural, and functional meaning. Reducing every purchase to vanity would miss those differences.
The price can exclude as well as attract. Scarcity and access shape who gets to participate in the status system and who is judged by it.
A product's social value often depends on an audience, even when the buyer calls the choice entirely personal.
Some goods are valuable not only for what they do, but for who can afford to be seen with them.
Which purchase would I still want if nobody else could see it or infer anything about me from it?