[lbo-talk] Capitalism and porn

[Alan Rudy]

Woj, this is Veblen:  I see your conspicuous mansion on Park Avenue, your
manor house in Gladstone, NJ, or Westchester County (maybe, if I can get
there and see through the trees/walls), your limo, your Maserati or Tesla,
your country club, your tuxedos and low slung open back dresses, your
private schools, your jewelry, your penthouse offices, your fashion shows,
your vacation homes, your private jets, your schooners and islands, your
party scene, and your engagement, wedding and death notices but you and I
(and anyone else I know) never meet... you and yours establish and
characterize and reinforce your status in private, a long away - in
distance or networks - from me and the rest of the public, though of course
that distance means that we understand the difference and reinforce your
status at the same time.

This is just a little different than watching porn on line, in private with
the curtains closed so no one knows, eh?

On Mon, Jan 23, 2012 at 11:51 AM, Doug Henwood <dhenwood at panix.com> wrote:


>
> On Jan 23, 2012, at 11:30 AM, Wojtek S wrote:
>
> > Doug: "Except that most people now watch porn all by themselves"
> >
> > [WS:]  I do not think this is necessarily germane to the conspicuous
> > consumption argument.  If I remember correctly, Veblen talked about a
> > sense of status that is created outside public view.
>
> Status? They watch in private with the curtains closed because it's
> embarrassing.
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>

-- 
*********************************************************
Alan P. Rudy
Assistant Professor
Sociology, Anthropology and Social Work
Central Michigan University
124 Anspach Hall
Mt Pleasant, MI 48858
517-881-6319