- Paperback: 322 pages
- Publisher: Simon & Schuster; 1st Simon & Schuster Ed edition (21 July 2003)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0743245067
- ISBN-13: 978-0743245067
- Product Dimensions: 21.4 x 14.1 x 2 cm
- Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (1 customer review)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 1,359,127 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- See Complete Table of Contents
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Product Description
Review
"BusinessWeek" Here's a book for people who like their airline tickets first class and their champagne vintage.
Product Description
"Luxury isn't just for the rich, " says James B. Twitchell. Today you don't need a six-figure income to wear pashmina, drink a limited-edition coffee at Starbucks, or drive a Mercedes home to collapse on the couch in front of a flat-screen plasma TV. In "Living It Up, " sharp-eyed consumer anthropologist Twitchell takes a witty and insightful look at luxury -- what it is, who defines it, and why we can't seem to get enough of it.
In recent years, says Twitchell, luxury spending has grown much faster than overall spending -- and it continues to grow despite the economic recession. Luxury has become such a powerful marketing force that it cuts across every layer of society, spawning a magazine devoted to spas, cashmere bedspreads on sale at Kmart, and a dazzling array of bottled waters.
Twitchell says that the democratization of luxury has had a unifying effect on culture. Luxury items tell a story that we want to identify with, and more people than ever aspire to the story of Ralph Lauren's Polo or Patek Philippe. Shopping itself is no longer a chore but a transcendent experience in which we shop not so much for goods as for an identity.
Sharply observed and wickedly funny, "Living It Up" is a revealing and entertaining examination of why we are all part of the cult of luxury.
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First Sentence
If you want to understand material culture at the beginning of the twenty-first century, you must understand the overwhelming importance of unnecessary material. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
If you want to understand material culture at the beginning of the twenty-first century, you must understand the overwhelming importance of unnecessary material. Read the first page
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Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
6 of 8 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
Living it Up starts with the premise that consumption--even overconsumption--is good for the economy and good for your community. Twitchell makes a coherent argument that those who pay ridiculous prices for things they don't need make it possible for the rest of us to pay lower prices for the same things. Then, what used to be a luxury to one generation (indoor plumbing, cars, computers) becomes a necessity for the next. But somehow, Twitchell seems guilty about all this. He even quotes Gekko (from the movie Wall Street), a bit sheepishly. He praises "first-users" (those who buy the first VCRs, etc at high prices) while sneering at the stereotypical yuppie with all his toys. Professor Twitchell mocks the voluntary simplicity movement by picking the most hypocritical example he can find, of a back-to-nature advocate who buys acres of her neighbor's land. But he ignores such aspects as not spending more than you have, reducing the amount of stuff you own, enjoying the occasional luxury rather than shopping as a habit. Interesting reading if you are fascinated by our consumer culture, but a bit confusing as the professor tries to decide where he stands on over-consumption.
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
7 reviews
30 of 32 people found the following review helpful
Another Contribution to "Lux Lit"
30 July 2002
Format:Hardcover
The subtitle attracted me to this book: "Our Love Affair with Luxury." I assumed that the first-person plural pronoun refers to Americans in general and to affluent Americans in particular; that Twitchell views the relationship between a consumer (or consumer wannabe) and material objects resembles a love affair; finally, that luxury denotes both material objects and the lifestyle (if not quality of life) they collectively create. After having read the book, I concluded that my assumptions were essentially sound. Twitchell conducted extensive research for this book. He traveled throughout the country, roaming around various upscale retail establishments, observing salespeople and engaging in conversation with many of them. For Twitchell, what is luxury? He suggests "a mallet with which one pounds the taste of others" (does this preclude the appreciation of luxury for its own sake?) and "those things that you have that I think you shouldn't have" (does this include a terminal illness?). If I understand Twitchell (and I may well not), his research leads him to several conclusions. For example, that contemporary values are influenced significantly by advertising; that the the shoppes along Rodeo Drive and Fifth Avenue are "cathedrals" of consumption in which their customers are guided to "epiphanies" which determine purchase decisions; and that experiences with faux luxury (e.g. those found in the opulent casinos of Las Vegas) are better than none at all. When determining social status, Twitchell views what he calls "opuluxe spending" as a more relevant criterion than is one's ancestry: You are what you can afford to own. Not all would agree with him. I don't.
However, few (if any) of Twitchell's readers have conducted the research he has on all this. My own experience suggests that distinctions between Old Money and New Money are less informative than the matter of taste. (Twitchell suggests few such distinctions.) Vulgarity cuts across all economic levels but, in general, the consumption of those in the Old Money category is less conspicuous than consumption by those in the New Money category. (If Twitchell has read The Millionaire Next Door, I wonder what he thinks of Tom Stanley's conclusions.) Almost all of the affluent people I know collect and redeem coupons, are constantly alert for bargains, try to get the maximum number of shaves from a razor blade, etc. Early in life, I learned that those referred to as "tightwads" are relentlessly frugal but not opposed to "opuluxe spending" per se. Unlike most others, they maintain tight control of a "wad" which permits them to purchase just about anything they may desire.
What to make of this book? First of all, it's highly entertaining. Also, its general subject is one which has not as yet received as much attention as I think it deserves, although a number of other books ("Lux Lit") have also been published in recent years. Moreover, I think that Twitchell is really on to something important when suggesting (or at least implying) that expanding consumerism on a global basis will create greater access to "the finer things in life." Who knows? That may well raise taste levels, require higher quality and greater value from those who design and manufacture consumer products, and perhaps (just perhaps) increase both the standard of living and quality of life. Given the current War on Terrorism as well as the hostilities in the Middle East and throughout much of Africa, the sooner the participants stop shooting and start shopping, the better.
13 of 13 people found the following review helpful
Luxury, a new religion analyzed
31 Aug 2003
Format:Paperback
This is a landmark book. The author analyzes in very detail the mechanisms behind selling luxury to the public, including the religious attributes affixed to those products.
"Probably it shouldn't get into the hands of consumers", because they might find out they are spending too much money for ordinarily manufactured goods with high status affixed by advertising. On my trips to the US, I wondered how big, luxury only shopping malls could survive, this book tells the reason why. Europe is still more conservative with luxury spending.
I wanted to give it 5 stars, but the language used is very difficult to read. To exclude most luxury spenders?
"Probably it shouldn't get into the hands of consumers", because they might find out they are spending too much money for ordinarily manufactured goods with high status affixed by advertising. On my trips to the US, I wondered how big, luxury only shopping malls could survive, this book tells the reason why. Europe is still more conservative with luxury spending.
I wanted to give it 5 stars, but the language used is very difficult to read. To exclude most luxury spenders?
11 of 14 people found the following review helpful
very smart, very thoughtful
14 May 2002
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase
Many writers have taken on the subject of luxury spending. The issue seems to have growing weight these days given the spread of luxury products through a very broad income range. Many approach the question as if it were one of morals, or one of emptiness. The refreshing thing about Twitchell is that he understands that people simply like things and always have.
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