Robert Frank condivide l’ idea che la competizione per lo status si è spostata sui consumi.
Una volta ci facevamo belli ostentando i muscoli, oggi ci facciamo belli ostentando i nostri consumi. Per questo abbiamo bisogno di renderli particolari.
Da ciò consegue il fatto che l’ overconsuption implichi uno spreco di risorse recuperabili via tassazione. Ha scritto anche un libro sull’ argomento.
Stornare la competizione dai consumi alla produzione puo’ anche essere una buona idea, ma attenzione a non esagerare:
Competition for status is inevitable.
If people can not compete with wristwatches and cars, they will compete in other ways. Think about schools or prisons. Both of these places contain a lot of status competition, and there is a lot of anxiety as the strong ridicule and bully the weak, often using physical violence. Yet, these are also materially egalitarian societies, where differences in wealth are slight relative to 'real life'.
Reducing consumption inequality would not diminish status competition but rather channel it to less benign spheres. When a wealthy jerk buys a new Porsche or adds on to his summer cottage, this is much less annoying to me than the annoying jerks I knew in school (or conceive of in prison). Socialist countries where workers were not so material different had as much stress and anxiety than any Western country, which probably is why there is so much alcoholism in Cuba and Russia.Bohemians and scribes like to think that if there was no material wealth there would be no stress, but really they are thinking: if we competed purely on intellectual grounds, I would be on top!… leggi tutto
