Modern elites demanded that money alone replace cultural capital

Evidence

Here, the traditional barriers between Old Money and New Money continued to erode. Historically, cultural capital had served as a divider between aristocratic estates and upstarts; knowing how to dress, speak, and socialize in elite circles was as critical as wealth itself. But the twenty-first-century elite demanded the obliteration of such barriers, insisting that money alone should afford access to everything. In these years, Hermès bucked most of the luxury trends and kept its brand image focused on made-in-France craft. Its stores limited sales of its Birkin bag to top customers, forcing shoppers to become regulars before gaining access to the stock. This made the Birkin bag the world’s most desired item: “My baby want a Birkin / She’s been tellin’ me all night long” is the first line of Shaboozey’s “A Bar Song (Tipsy).” But its sales exclusivity angered two wealthy customers, who sued Hermès in 2024 claiming a violation of antitrust law. — W. David Marx, Blank Space, 776

Categorization

• XREF: Hermès’ retention of scarcity-based exclusivity is the exception proving the omnivore-monoculture rule — one brand holding out against flattened universal access. — connects to: Elites denied creative status to most people’s cultural production under capitalism — Max Haiven, Cultures of Financialization, 437; Wealthy businessmen funded the postwar right out of ideological conviction, not self-interest — Philip Mirowski & Dieter Plehwe (eds.), The Road from Mont Pèlerin: The Making…, 1475; Reversing individualised culture demands resources capital systematically strips away — Mark Fisher (edited by Darren Ambrose), K-Punk: The Collected and Unpublished…, 1860
• SEED: Hermès vs. the era is a strong anchor for the reader’s counter-argument that a signature exists: the Blackpink/Birkin ‘hypervisibility of wealth’ is itself a 21st-century distinctive.