The Visible Lifestyle

Chapter 3: The Visible Lifestyle: American Symbols of Status
In this chapter, Schor shows his readers that people view others for the wrong reasons. He says that items like clothes, wristwatches, and lipstick are all a part of a social position. However, items like furnaces, mattresses and bank accounts are not a part of social position. We all know what car someone drives or what their house may look like. However, Schor explains to us that we do not know the brand of their mattress or what furnace is in their basement. Visible products, such as clothes, become status goods for an obvious reason: "their ownership can be easily verified". We have to let others know more about us than just the clothes on our backs, the size house we have, or the brand of our wristwatches. Shor makes it clear in this chapter that when we carry forth a symbolic nature of consumer goods to the next logic step, it makes sense that people would covet the items that represent a group that they wish to be a part of. Advertisers tend to look for people who are trendsetters and focus greatly on them. Schor explains how if one or two people out in a certain social group purchase the same item than chances are it spreads throughout people in that group. Of course, there are plenty of Americans who refuse to spend for labels, however, millions do. A nationwide poll of Women by Ethel Klein found that almost half American woman bought designer products such as sunglasses, perfume and shoes. People buy things that are not in their price ranges declares Schor. For example, studies have highlighted the impact of psychological traits, such as insecurities. Peter Gollwitzer found that business majors with a poorer job tend to buy more expensive watches and briefcases to make themselves seem more important. The increase of copying status goods is a powerful testimony to our ongoing concern with making an impression to the world. What you consume quickly becomes who you are. The attempt to connect personal characteristics to consumer choices was once a very popular marketing research. The market wanted to produce what was going to sell to the people. It was understood, Schor says, that goods provided an opportunity for the people to express themselves. Products became who we were and people were so attached to the way people may view them. The variation in prices typically exceeds the variation in quality. Americans waist their money on so many nice things like furnishings, cars, footwear and clothes. When, the extra money could go to improving our public schools or providing drug treatment for millions of people in our country. Schor is trying to teach us that instead of spending our money on wants, spend our money on needs to make the world a better place. We cannot spend money to make us who we are. Money cannot buy happiness in America.