Secular Immorality and the American Ideology of Affluence

Elizabeth C Hirschman

Journal of Consumer Research, 1990, vol. 17, issue 1, 31-42

Abstract: Extending the Warnerian tradition of social class dynamics, this article explores the attainment of secular immortality through affluence. A diverse set of literary media directed to or written about wealthy consumers was interpreted in a hermeneutic fashion to discern the dominant themes composing the ideology of affluence. Among the themes identified were entrepreneurial achievement, the achievement of celebrity status via consumption, and secular achievement in artistry and craftsmanship. The ideology of affluence was found to promote the seeking of personal secular immortality through the cultural celebration of achievement, wealth,and the accumulation of possessions. Copyright 1990 by the University of Chicago.

Date: 1990
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
http://dx.doi.org/10.1086/208534 (application/pdf)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:oup:jconrs:v:17:y:1990:i:1:p:31-42

Access Statistics for this article

Journal of Consumer Research is currently edited by Bernd Schmitt, June Cotte, Markus Giesler, Andrew Stephen and Stacy Wood

More articles in Journal of Consumer Research from Journal of Consumer Research Inc.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by ().