Prestige-priced shops reveal money as the supreme value through denial
Evidence
The same is true of those shops that may be found in the metropolis which, in direct contrast to stores that advertise bargains, smugly boast that they have the highest prices. Thus they imply that their customers are the Best People—those who do not ask about prices. But the noteworthy fact is that they do not emphasize what really matters—the quality of their merchandise. Thus they unconsciously do place money above all else, albeit with a reversal of value. Because of its close association with money, a spendthrift’s lust easily grows to a monstrous extent and robs its victim of all reasonable sense of proportion. For money lacks the regulation that human capacity imposes on concrete objects. This is exactly the same immoderation that characterizes miserly avarice. The pure potentiality which it seeks instead of the enjoyment of real objects tends toward the infinite. — Georg Simmel, on individuality and social forms_…, 458
Categorization
- XREF: Connects to Veblen’s conspicuous consumption and the blasé attitude from the metropolis chapter — status signaling via indifference to price as a defense of position. — connects to: Fashion goods resist the rationalization that transforms other production — Georg Simmel, on individuality and social forms_…, 741; Both aesthetic mood and money-possession liberate the self from resistant reality — Georg Simmel, on individuality and social forms_…, 451; Financiers profiting solely from commissions embody the phantom-like unreality of imperialist capital
Related
Broader Connections
- Fashion goods resist the rationalization that transforms other production
#contradicts(0.60) — Georg Simmel, on individuality and social forms_…, 741 - Both aesthetic mood and money-possession liberate the self from resistant reality
#complicates(0.55) — Georg Simmel, on individuality and social forms_…, 451