While middle class educated are buying more online, the virus of luxury goods have also reached to the tier 2 cities. I see more and more brand showrooms opening in my city. New elite taste for neo-rich upper middle class.
What will we see as a social side-effect?
In this paper, the authors argue that luxury goods can activate the concept of self-interest and affect subsequent cognition.
1) Luxury does not necessarily induce people to be “nasty” toward others but rather causes them to be less concerned about or considerate toward others.
2) Experiment 1 showed that when primed with luxury, people are more likely to endorse self-interested business decisions (profit maximization), even at the expense of others.
3) Experiment 2 further demonstrated that exposure to luxury is likely to activate self-interest but not the tendency to harm others.
Exposure to luxury goods may activate a social norm that it is appropriate to pursue interests beyond a basic comfort level, even at the expense of others. It may be this activated social norm that affects people’s judgment and decision-making.
4) Alternatively, exposure to luxury may directly increase people’s personal desire, causing them to focus on their own benefits such as prioritizing profits over social responsibilities.
So expect more selfish, profit mongering breed of citizens who are least bothered about their duties as a citizen. And they don’t mind for killing poors and middle class.
Wait and watch
Read more here: http://www.hbs.edu/faculty/Publication%20Files/10-034.pdf
Research
http://hbswk.hbs.edu/item/the-devil-wears-prada-effects-of-exposure-to-luxury-goods-on-cognition-and-decision-making
The Devil Wears Prada? Effects of Exposure to Luxury Goods on Cognition and Decision Making
AUTHOR ABSTRACT
Although the concept of luxury has been widely discussed in social theories and marketing research, relatively little research has directly examined the psychological consequences of exposure to luxury goods. This paper demonstrates that exposure to luxury goods increases individuals’ propensity to prioritize self-interests over others’ interests, influencing the decisions they make. Experiment 1 found that participants primed with luxury goods were more likely than those primed with non-luxury goods to endorse business decisions that benefit themselves but could potentially harm others. Using a word recognition task, Experiment 2 further demonstrates that exposure to luxury is likely to activate self-interest but not necessarily the tendency to harm others. Implications of these findings were discussed. Keywords: Luxury goods, Cognition, Decision making, Self-interest. 16 pages.
