The Price of Prestige

18 chapter one

a result of a strategic calculation or prestige- seeking behavior or whether

Brazil’s aircraft carrier purchase is a result of domestic bureaucratic poli-

tics or the desire to enhance Brazilian prestige. The answer in most such

cases would be both. Arguing that an individual purchased a Rolls Royce

in order to commute to work is not an alternative to the assertion that

the decision to opt for a Rolls Royce is also motivated by conspicuous

consumption. Knowing that an actor needs a car in order to get to work

still does not explain the choice of this particular vehicle. Similarly, stating

that the Brazilian navy would always like more influence and resources

does not explain why it opted to purchase a carrier rather than numerous

smaller but more functional ships for the same amount of money. Just as it

is difficult to explain the purchase of a Rolls Royce without a reference to

conspicuous consumption, it is difficult to explain the choice of the Brazil-

ian navy fully without a reference to structures of international prestige.

An explanation of such decisions requires an exploration of both primary

and secondary utilities. These are not alternatives but rather necessary

complementary components of a full model of consumption.

While both utilities play a role in every consumption decision, the bal-

ance between them changes across actors, time, and goods. Lebow, for

example, distinguishes between honor- based societies (those that focus

on secondary utility) and appetite- based societies (those that focus on

primary utility). Broad cultural and temporal processes affect the trans-

formation from one type of society to the other as the balance between

primary- and secondary- utility shifts (Lebow 2008 , 162 – 63 ). Veblen tries

to identify the conditions under which secondary utility, “insolent pomp

and cheating trickery” (Rousseau [ 1754 ] 1993 ) takes the upper hand. In

particular, he argues, it was the establishment of property rights that en-

abled accumulation and thus set the stage for the emergence of conspicu-

ous consumption.^38 Other necessary conditions for the institutionalization

of conspicuous consumption include routine exposure to war and access

to resources that go beyond what subsistence economy produces (Veblen

[ 1899 ] 1979 , 7 ).^39 If we accept Veblen’s characterization of the precondi-

tions that tilt the balance in the direction of secondary utility, then the

modern international state system clearly qualifies: it is exposed to war,

it vigorously upholds property rights, and, for most states, it relies on a

sophisticated market economy.

The balance between primary and secondary utilities varies not just

across historical epochs, as Lebow and Veblen argue, but also across in-

dividuals. Some actors are more sensitive to prestige considerations than