(Recommended Artist: Nujabes – Reflection Eternal)

Many of those products we buy serve the “unnecessary” purpose of maintaining or modifying our persona, or public image. This might be a new watch, a cell phone with more features than necessary, a high performance car or a shirt with a little logo that’s worth far more than the shirt itself.

Is there something wrong with this? Perhaps, but I suspect that what drives people to engage in such “irrational” behaviour is inherent to human nature. Sure, the thought of spending 400$ on pants seems ridiculous to me, but this is only because a) there are other things I want to buy b) my budget may be more limited than others.

I tend to limit myself to things I feel have a certain practical benefits or cost little simply because my budget is limited. Were I rich, however, there would be little difference between buying a 400$ pair of pants and one that costs 20$, so I would simply go with the one I believe will serve me better, and not only in terms of quality or comfort.

I see no shame in consumption, no matter how conspicuous it is, but I do believe that it is important for people to know what they want and get what they really want. Why does a person buy a 400$ pair of pants? Even if money is of absolutely no concern, there has to be a reason as to why they chose that pair instead of another. I suspect that there are several reasons and that one of these is the need to distinguish ourselves from others.

Were we perfectly rational creatures, there would probably be very little variance in the clothing we could choose from: it would all be about comfort, durability and cost. However, as any look into the human mind will reveal, we are far from “rational” or “practical”. This is not just a human quirk: other species engage in non-rational and wasteful behavior so as to attract mates, and this will sometimes reduce their chances of survival.

In human society, we often accomplish this by buying certain products. Some people are worried about this because we do not all have the same purchasing power, and thus there are claims that the system is “unfair”.

However, I would like to note that people can accomplish the same level of distinction at far lower costs. Consider this graph:

Imagine that the graph refers to an individual’s choice of shoes. A single point on the graph would refer to the cost of a pair of shoes (represented by the horizontal axis) and the quantity of this shoes-cost combination on the market (represented by the vertical axis). If people seek to distinguish themselves, then they will want to be at a low point on the curve and if they seek to conform, then they will want to be on the high end of the curve.

I believe that reality is best represented by a curve that follows a similar pattern to this one, being thin on each end and thick in the middle. There are shoes that are just too expensive for most people to buy and wear, so these shoes are less common and serve well to distinguish ourselves (even if it is only by the label).

However, it is important to keep in mind that there is an alternative way to distinguish ourselves and this is by confidently putting on a pair of low-end shoes and creating a new style.

I think that most people tend to go for somewhere in the middle for most goods, since this way they are certain to be of a socially acceptable appearance. Such people will try to shape their public image with a few key goods, rather than put energy into every product they purchase.

Now, it is true that the wealther a person is, the more they can afford to distinguish themselves, and the more they distinguish themselves, the more successful they can be in social life.

All of this should not matter, but because it ultimately does matter, some people are worried about how “fair”, “just” and “right” this system is. Why should the 40 hour/week Senior Floor Director at Bad Company better deserve the silk tie than the one spending 40 hours a week keeping floors six to eight nice and shiny?

The answer is quite simple: fewer people are both capable and willing to be Senior Floor Director than Junior Janitor. We lure the necessary people with salaries that will allow them to turn their life around, throw away the damn cotton tie and get a real silk tie, eat out in restaurants more often and drive a more impressive car. Both the Junior Janitor and the Senior Floor Director can afford the same basic goods, but the Director can benefit from certain upgrades as a consumer.

This system has worked out pretty well, since the same rules that lead to this situation where people make multiple times more than others has also lead to the creation of all this technology which allows every citizen to have an incredible standard of living for the amount of time they spend working and for how distinguished their skills are.

Since I don’t expect this system to be abolished any time soon, the first thing I want to look at is the alternatives within this framework, not alternative frameworks.

And there is an alternative to feeling the pressure of “keeping up with the Jones’” and this is to not give a shit. But that’s not so easy: not everyone wants to be bland and boring, eating pasta and wearing generic clothing.

So, how can the janitor keep up with the director? By denying that cost is indicative of taste, by being an individual who is confident with his choices in terms of fashion or sources of entertainment.

Easier said than done, perhaps, but it is good to keep in mind that, just like women are seen as suffering from more pressure in terms of how they “have” to dress, all while being more free than men in terms of options (they can wear male and female clothing), rich people suffer more from pressure in terms of how they “have” to dress, even though they are more free than the poor in terms of options (they can afford both what rich and poor people can afford). There are advantages and disadvantages to both sides and, ultimately, regardless of who has it off worst, the fact remains that it possible to distinguish ourselves with very little money.

Does this excuse the fact that some people do suffer from envy? Perhaps not, and we should explore ways to diminish or extinguish such unhealthy emotions as envy from our society. But, within our current society, it is still possible for the individual to be highly distinguished without having to spend large sums of money. We all have so many options in terms of how we live our lives that, even with certain injustices, if the individual really wants to, he can have a satisfying life. It is all about staying away from those psychological traps that so many people fall into.

-Dussault

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