LEADER 04125nam 2200625Ia 450 001 9910455030203321 005 20200520144314.0 010 $a0-231-50056-4 024 7 $a10.7312/twit12496 035 $a(CKB)111056485391284 035 $a(EBL)909192 035 $a(OCoLC)818856857 035 $a(SSID)ssj0000193499 035 $a(PQKBManifestationID)11197131 035 $a(PQKBTitleCode)TC0000193499 035 $a(PQKBWorkID)10217729 035 $a(PQKB)11453072 035 $a(MiAaPQ)EBC909192 035 $a(DE-B1597)459399 035 $a(OCoLC)51311700 035 $a(OCoLC)979682558 035 $a(DE-B1597)9780231500562 035 $a(Au-PeEL)EBL909192 035 $a(CaPaEBR)ebr10602920 035 $a(CaONFJC)MIL853690 035 $a(EXLCZ)99111056485391284 100 $a20010309d2002 uy 0 101 0 $aeng 135 $aur|n|---||||| 181 $ctxt 182 $cc 183 $acr 200 10$aLiving it up$b[electronic resource] $eour love affair with luxury /$fJames B. Twitchell 210 $aNew York $cColumbia University Press$dc2002 215 $a1 online resource (329 p.) 300 $aDescription based upon print version of record. 311 $a0-231-12496-1 320 $aIncludes bibliographical references (p. 289-297) and index. 327 $tFrontmatter -- $tContents -- $tAcknowledgments -- $tIntroduction -- $t1. Over the Top -- $t2. The Social Construction of Luxury -- $t3. Let's Go Shopping -- $t4. Where Opuluxe Is Made and Who Makes It -- $t5. How Luxury Becomes Necessity -- $t6. From Shirts to Tulips -- $t7. Viva Las Vegas! -- $t8. Still Learning from Las Vegas -- $tConclusion -- $tSelected Bibliography -- $tIndex 330 $aEconomic downturns and terrorist attacks notwithstanding, America's love affair with luxury continues unabated. Over the last several years, luxury spending in the United States has been growing four times faster than overall spending. It has been characterized by political leaders as vital to the health of the American economy as a whole, even as an act of patriotism. Accordingly, indices of consumer confidence and purchasing seem unaffected by recession. This necessary consumption of unnecessary items and services is going on at all but the lowest layers of society: J.C. Penney now offers day spa treatments; Kmart sells cashmere bedspreads. So many products are claiming luxury status today that the credibility of the category itself is strained: for example, the name "pashmina" had to be invented to top mere cashmere.We see luxury everywhere: in storefronts, advertisements, even in the workings of our imaginations. But what is it? How is it manufactured on the factory floor and in the minds of consumers? Who cares about it and who buys it? And how concerned should we be that luxuries are commanding a larger and larger percentage of both our disposable income and our aspirations?Trolling the upscale malls of America, making his way toward the Mecca of Las Vegas, James B. Twitchell comes to some remarkable conclusions. The democratization of luxury, he contends, has been the single most important marketing phenomenon of our times. In the pages of Living It Up, Twitchell commits the academic heresy of paying respect to popular luxury consumption as a force that has united the country and the globe in a way that no war, movement, or ideology ever has. What's more, he claims, the shopping experience for Americans today has its roots in the spiritual, the religious, and the transcendent.Deft and subtle writing, audacious ideas, and a fine sense of humor inform this entertaining and insightful book. 606 $aAffluent consumers$xPsychology 606 $aLuxuries$xMarketing 608 $aElectronic books. 615 0$aAffluent consumers$xPsychology. 615 0$aLuxuries$xMarketing. 676 $a306.3 676 $a306.30973 700 $aTwitchell$b James B.$f1943-$0458247 801 0$bMiAaPQ 801 1$bMiAaPQ 801 2$bMiAaPQ 906 $aBOOK 912 $a9910455030203321 996 $aLiving it up$9259827 997 $aUNINA