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Conspicuous Leisure

Conspicuous Leisure is the time spent not being productive, the time wasted that creates a distinction between people and elevates the social prowess of the people that waste their time in that way (Ritzer 2003).

Conspicuous refers to the act of attracting attention, obviously seen

Leisure refers to freedom from activities or responsibility such as work or other duties.

Origin

The term conspicuous leisure was termed by American theorist Thorstein Veblen (1857-1929). Veblen’s first use of the term was in his most popular and famous book The Theory of the Leisure Class in 1899. Veblen’s is very different from other theorist because he developed important theories of production and consumption (Ritzer 2003 p. 53). Critics still today argue over Veblen’s theories.

Theory of Conspicuous Leisure

Veblen argued that at the turn of the 20th century, leisure time was the indicator of superior social status in medieval societies (Gershuny Sullivan 2004). The royal and the wealthy displayed their wealth and riches by not working and laboring. The poor had to work and had no time for leisure because they had to earn as much money for their families as they could. The wealthy’s time was spent relaxing and entertaining guests. Vicarious leisure refers to the others who are idle as the guests or the surplus of helpers of the wealthy (Varul 2006). These others served no function and participated in leisure activities along with the wealthy. Conspicuous Leisure is one of two theories that Veblen introduced about upper social class people and consumption.

Theory of Conspicuous Consumption

Ritzer (2003 p.53) describes conspicuous consumption as the consumption of goods and nice things not for subsistence but for the display of wealth and distinction between social groups. This simply means that people will spend a lot of money for something not because they need it but because it is expensive and people will notice how expensive it is. Same goes for things people do need. Wealthy people displaying conspicuous consumption will buy something they need but opt to buy the more expensive brand just because they can. People’s display of rich things proves their place in the upper social status (Gershuny Sullivan 2004). This theory is very prevalent in today’s society that is overwhelmed with appearance and perception.

Waste

According to Veblen, both conspicuous leisure and conspicuous consumption has what he called waste. Veblen really believed in the importance of elimination of waste for both conspicuous leisure and conspicuous consumption. He made it clear that reputable gains from emulation and the utility of conspicuous consumption bank on the element of waste (Varul 2006). Varul (2006) states that conspicuous waste proves that someone can make other people spend their own valuable time to help get his or her luxury wants. Being able to eliminate losing one’s leisure time to work while making someone else work instead is an important concept.

The Trends of the Theories

According to Veblen’s theories, conspicuous leisure has given way to conspicuous consumption in today’s time. In today’s age, the wealthy are more likely to participate in conspicuous consumption rather than conspicuous leisure because conspicuous consumption is more visible, and visibility is key in order to raise one’s social status to make peers jealous (Ritzer 2003 p.53). The wealthy have gone away from conspicuous leisure because they want their wealth to be seen by everyone. This change in trends really saw its move in the 20th century.

Reasons for Change from Conspicuous Leisure

There are a few factors in why conspicuous consumption has taken over conspicuous leisure. The rich and higher paid income group is a lot bigger now (Gershuny Sullivan 2004). The group considered wealthy is overall bigger than it was a few centuries ago. The time the wealthy have for leisure time has gone done as well. Rojek (2000) states that in today’s world the richest people work longer hours. With the decrease in time, conspicuous consumption is the only alternative to showing their wealth. Also, people who do consume their time leisurely are constricted by physical boundaries (Shipman 2004). The rich don’t stay stationary in today’s time. The rich are increasingly traveling around the world for work and leisure time (Rojek 2000). Conspicuous leisure is in so much reverse that the working class seems to have more leisure time than the wealthy. Due to the long hours and full dedication to the work, the wealthy have less time for leisure activities than ever.

Inconspicuous Consumption

Inconspicuous consumption is a fairly new term. Basically it is the increasing relevance of decreasing leisure time among high incomes in industrialized societies (Gershuny Sullivan 2004). This term is more similar to conspicuous consumption than conspicuous leisure. The loss of leisure time is there, but the consumption is different. There is no act of showing off expensive possessions (Gershuny Sullivan 2004). Instead they are put away. Some theorists believe this is the new trend for the wealthy class.

References

Gershuny, Jonathan; Sullivan, Oriel Inconspicuous Consumption: Work-Rich, Time-Poor in the Liberal Market Economy Journal of Consumer Culture, 2004,4,1,Mar. 79-100

Ritzer, George Contemporary Sociological Theory and its Classical Roots: The Basics Second Edition 2003

Rojek, Chris Leisure and the Rich Today: Veblen's Thesis After a Century Leisure Studies, 2000,19,1,Jan. 1-15

Shipman, Alan Lauding the Leisure Class: Symbolic Content and Conspicuous Consumption Review of Social Economy, 2004,62,3,Sept. 277-289

Varul, Matthias Zick Waste, Industry and Romantic Leisure: Veblen's Theory of Recognition European Journal of Social Theory, vol.9,1,pp.103, Feb. 2006