A Look at Conspicuous Consumption

In an economic study of conspicuous consumption, Arrow and Dasgupta (2009) examined how happiness mediates present vs. future standing. Essentially, the paper examined if we have a desire to consume conspicuously (i.e., noticeable by others), this might bring happiness in the present, but the need to continue consuming would bring future conflict (e.g., need to purchase more and more, working harder to spend harder, spending larger amounts of money). I would like to focus on the idea of conspicuous consumption, in general, though.

The authors look at conspicuous consumption, first posited by Thorstein Veblen in late 1800s and early 1900s. The idea is that there is a "comparison of one's consumption with those of others" (p. 2). These consumption behaviors have to observable; therefore, conspicuous. According to the theory, "wealth confers status and esteem; and conspicuous consumption is a way of displaying wealth" (p. 3).

In examining leisure as a consumptive good, it tracks that leisure too could involve observable consumption that a person with the time and money would want to show others their wealth and status. Leisure can take the form of observable behaviors, such as tourism, specialized equipment (e.g., kayak, climbing gear, GPS device, ATV, etc.), or through our entertainment (e.g., 3-D TVs, 60" flat screens, blu-ray players, etc.). Does the same hold true for other forms of leisure that are not outwardly noticeable, such as the amount of books one owns, pairs of shoes, music owned, etc.

As the authors note, researchers studying this affect have differing results. For instance, they noted a study where researchers examined neighbors of a Dutch lottery winner... finding that the winner's spending did not affect his neighbors consumption behaviors (see Kapteyn et al., 2007). So is there something here? Do we consume conspicuously relative to our peers? Do we do this with everyday household goods? Do we consume conspicuously in our leisure?

Experiencing Experiences

Joe Pine and Jim Gilmore wrote a book called The Experience Economy (2005) that examined how the economic value of services was changing. The authors hypothesized that our economy (and consumers) were becoming more interested in experiences rather than services. They outlined a “Progression of Economic Value” (p. 1) that begins with commodities (raw materials), goods (physical objects), services (intangible activity), and experiences (memorable events).

This specifically relates to leisure opportunities as we are often in the business of providing services (coordinating / planning expeditions and other activities). Leisure practitioners also aim to provide experiences that our participants participate in often, we hope, to change a perspective or behavior or provide positive “free time” activity. A final level in Gilmore and Pine’s “Progression of Economic Value” is transformation, otherwise known as demonstrated change. This is a big piece of some leisure practitioner’s duty as challenge course facilitators, expedition guides, and wilderness therapists (to name ONLY a few), often are charged with building relationships and changing behaviors in their participants.

Wilderness therapists may focus on refocusing negative behaviors, like teen drug-use, and re-positioning the teen to have a humbling, eye-opening experience that shows a life without substance abuse. Challenge course facilitators often focus on frontloading or debriefing experiences that force (challenge by choice, of course) participants to work together and face their fears and obstacles. Then the facilitator attempts to relate the experience to “real-world” obstacles in hopes that the experience transfers and the participant goes home with changed.

With this focus, it falls on the practitioner to offer safe, but perceived risky experiences and then to have a plan to create demonstrable change whereby the participant goes home having vivid, memorable experiences while also successfully attempting to show change. A practitioner may not have to change much of what they already do, but to be aware and focus on the experience and transformation aspects of their experiences can only help provide better services.