explaining conspicuous consumption 5
Contemporary literature, aside from sporadic explorations, largely shies
away from dealing with these motivations: they are deemed too vague, old
fashioned, and notoriously difficult to quantify.^5 The analytical attributes
of prestige contributed to this marginalization. Prestige is social, hierarchi-
cal, and competitive. As such it is a concept that challenges the traditional
paradigmatic divisions in international relations: it is too competitive and
deterministic for most social approaches and too social and vague for more
materialistic ones. As Larson, Paul, and Wohlforth ( 2013 , 4 ) note, status
and prestige “simply did not fit the field shaping debates of the 1980 ’s and
90 ’s.” Paradigmatically “orphaned,” the topic was largely abandoned until a
rekindling of interest in recent years.
Four reasons explain the renewed interest in prestige in international
relations. First, the decline in the salience of interparadigmatic wars in
international relations theory has allowed for previously neglected issues
to resurface.^6 Instead of fortifying paradigmatic barricades, the literature
is looking for theoretical bridges.^7 The same qualities that led to earlier
marginalization of prestige make it attractive for bridge- building pur-
poses. Second, the emergence of China and of a wider set of aspiring pow-
ers (e.g., the BRIC countries) raises questions regarding the dynamics of
a changing international hierarchy and consequently questions regarding
status and prestige.^8 The resulting literature, therefore, reflects a moment
of transition both in world politics and in international relations theory.
Third, Lebow’s 2008 treatise on A Cultural Theory of International
Relations offered an ambitious theoretical framework revolving around
motivations such as honor, status, and prestige.^9 The book calls for a rein-
corporation of these motivations, which Lebow’s typology labels as spirit,
into contemporary international relations theory. The ambition of Le-
bow’s work underscores the relative paucity of extant literature on these
topics and thus highlights the need for definitions, conceptualizations, and
midrange theorizing for each of the spirit motivations.^10 Hence, Lebow’s
work created a salient space for theoretical development of spirit. Sub-
sequent literature on status and prestige can be seen as part of Lebow’s
influence.
Fourth, there is a parallel resurgence of interest in prestige in econom-
ics.^11 Part of this interest is a result of the growing importance of behavioral
economics, which tends to rely on insights from psychology and sociology
(Diamond and Vartiainen 2007 ). At the same time, there is a sense of dissat-
isfaction with the explanatory power of many mainstream economic models
following the 2007 – 2008 financial crisis. These models failed, according to
