How to Address Conspicuous Consumption

The Problem:

The countercultural "critique" of consumerism insists on analyzing consumer consciousness as a form of manufactured conformity and in the process completely overlooks the role that positional goods and the search for distinction play in driving consumer capitalism. As a result, the proposed solution—individualistic sartorial and stylistic rebellion—simply feeds the flames, by creating a whole new set of positional goods for these new "rebel consumers" to compete for. The struggle for status is replaced by the quest for cool, but the basic structure of the competition remains unchanged.

One Solution:

The most conspicuous flaws in our society today are all unresolved collective action problems. As a result, an "arms control agreement" provides the most useful way of thinking about correcting them. These agreements naturally, require enforcement. Yet too often the left has shied away from such enforcement, on the grounds that it represents a form of repression. Here one can see the baleful influence of countercultural thinking. School uniforms, we have argued, serve as an arms control agreement in teenagers' battle of brands. More generally, economists have suggested that a more progressive income tax may serve as an arms control agreement in the competition for positional goods among adult consumers. We should follow France in adopting a legislated 35-hour workweek. Perhaps we might even consider controls in other areas, such as cosmetic surgery, the size of passenger vehicles or university tuition rates. Each would put the brakes on what are essentially antisocial forms of competition.

All of this will involve further restrictions of individual liberty. Yet so long as individuals are willing to give up their own liberty in return for a guarantee that others will do the same, there is nothing wrong with this. In the end, civilization is built upon our willingness to accept rules and to curtail the pursuit of our individual interest out of deference to the needs and interests of others. It is deeply distressing to find that a misguided commitment to the ideals of the counterculture has led to the political left to abandon its faith in this--the bedrock of civilization--just at a point in history when it has become more important than ever.

- Joseph Heath