When lower tiers afford higher-status goods, everyone’s baseline consumption norms rise.

Evidence

During times of broad economic growth, lower status tiers can suddenly afford to take part in higher-status conventions. This raises the standards for all of society. Everyone feels they must also consume at a higher level to retain normal status—i.e., keeping up with the Joneses. Once the automobile became affordable by the middle class, being middle class required owning a car. — W. David Marx, Status and Culture, 161

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Top-end wealth concentration intensifies pressure on lower households to maintain relative lifestyles. — Neil Fligstein & Adam Goldstein, The Emergence of a Finance Culture in…, 40; Luxury brands mass-produced goods and courted the middle class to profit — W. David Marx, Blank Space: A Cultural History of the…, 777; Households are pushed into financial markets that promise lifestyle advancement. — Neil Fligstein & Adam Goldstein, The Emergence of a Finance Culture in…, 34 (+3 more)

Broader Connections

• Top-end wealth concentration intensifies pressure on lower households to maintain relative lifestyles. #corroborates (0.86) — Neil Fligstein & Adam Goldstein, The Emergence of a Finance Culture in…, 40
• Luxury brands mass-produced goods and courted the middle class to profit #expands (0.82) — W. David Marx, Blank Space, 777
• Chinese affluence shifted luxury consumption toward signaling success #exemplifies (0.80) — W. David Marx, Blank Space, 759
• 1980s consumer aestheticism was driven by the new middle class’s material prosperity #exemplifies (0.79) — Alex Callinicos, Against Postmodernism, 619
• A rising middle class multiplied the appropriation of others’ dress styles. #exemplifies (0.78)
• Households are pushed into financial markets that promise lifestyle advancement. #exemplifies (0.75) — Neil Fligstein & Adam Goldstein, The Emergence of a Finance Culture in…, 34