To get the culture, follow the money

When I wrote my first book, The Business of Aspiration, back in 2020 (the second one, titled Hitmakers, about how brands influence culture, is coming on December 2nd), I looked into all the ways that people signal their status, differentiation, and belonging. It was a time of niche magazines, curated bookshelves and coffee connoisseurs, aesthetic innovation, and the curation of everything.

The basic principles remain, but the status signaling today went even more specific and niche, with spending money having a major comeback. It’s the new Gilded age, but make it atomized. While a few years back, aspirational consumption revolved around one’s taste, knowledge, creativity or identity, now it’s about $.

Luxury items used for status signaling, like watches, handbags, shoes, or dresses, are more expensive than just a few years ago. Merch once served mostly to transform non-culture into culture (a branded tshirt, a pair of collab sneakers) and to translate economic value into social, cultural, or environmental one. Merch now is akin a luxury good, used less for signaling of a cultural savvy or even social status, and more for conveying one’s economic power.

Ultra-expensive hotels, Formula 1, US Open, other sporting events and superyacht merch do not signal any particular taste, but a literal boatload of cash. “Rarely does one have the privilege to witness vulgar ostentation displayed on such a scale,” said the flag of Tom Perkins’ Maltese Falcon superyacht. They are also a sign of collaborations as a brand-building, marketing, and promotional mechanism spreading from fashion into other markets (experiences, hospitality, hard luxury, travel, furniture, food).

There are also turbocharged aspirations around longevity, biohacking, anti-aging, protein supplements, or glucose tracking. It’s not enough anymore to go on a wellness

Read the rest of this analysis on The Sociology of Business.