From good old Wiki:
Conspicuous consumption is a term used to describe the lavish spending on goods and services acquired mainly for the purpose of displaying income or wealth. In the mind of a conspicuous consumer, such display serves as a means of attaining or maintaining social status. A very similar but more colloquial term is "keeping up with the Joneses".
Invidious consumption, a necessary corollary, is the term applied to consumption of goods and services for the deliberate purpose of inspiring envy in others.
The term conspicuous consumption was introduced by Norwegian American economist and sociologist Thorstein Veblen in his 1899 book
The Theory of the Leisure Class. Veblen used the term to depict the behavioral characteristic of the nouveau riche, a class emerging in the 19th century as a result of the accumulation of wealth during the Second Industrial Revolution. In this context, the application of the term should be narrowed to the elements of the upper class who use their enormous wealth to manifest social power, whether real or perceived.
With significant improvement of living standards and the emergence of the middle class in the 20th century,
the term conspicuous consumption is now broadly applied to individuals and households with expendable incomes whose consumption patterns are prompted by the utility of goods to show their status rather than any intrinsic utility of such goods. In the 1920s, economists such as Paul Nystrom theorized that lifestyle changes brought on by the industrial age were inducing a "philosophy of futility" in the masses, which would increase fashionable consumption. Thus, the concept of conspicuous consumption has been discussed in the context of addictive or narcissistic behaviors induced by consumerism, the desire for immediate gratification, and hedonic expectations.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conspicuous_consumptionI also remember from some long-ago sociology class that conspicuous consumption was also believed to demonstrate that the husband was bringing home so much income that the wife did not need to work, and could spend lots of money on decorative display. Back when it was considered bad manners to admit how much money one made, having a wife who could spend lots of money on the home, fashion, etc. was a means of getting around this etiquette prohibition.
* Credit is a wonderful servant, but a terrible master. * Who's the boss --you or your credit?
FICO's: EQ 781 - TU 793 - EX 779 (from PSECU) - Done credit hunting; having fun with credit gardening. - EQ 590 on 5/14/2007
