Veblen and Bataille read the same waste phenomena toward opposite conclusions

Evidence

Veblen and Bataille could be said to be dialectical counterparts, describing identical phenomena but coming to opposite conclusions. For both, the squandering of wealth and the wasted expenditure of energy and goods are essential for the luxuries afforded to all. For one, these wasteful luxuries are signifiers of class opposition and social competitiveness; thus, waste has a specific “use,” a specific utility. For the other, waste is a universal human principle, an inherently collective experience of sovereign revelry, evidence of a uselessness that comes from sheer expenditure to the point of complete exhaustion of resources. — Grant Bollmer, Katherine Guinness, The Influencer Factory, 242

Categorization

• DEFINE: Forces a clear contrast: Veblen’s waste-as-signaling versus Bataille’s waste-as-sovereign-expenditure.
• QUESTION: Which side better explains influencer culture follows in this chapter.