The Idea of Luxury
The Idea of Luxury
$32.00
USDIn this far-ranging and innovative study Christopher Berry explores the meanings and ramifications of the idea of luxury. Insights from political theory, philosophy and intellectual history are utilised in a sophisticated conceptual analysis that is complemented by a series of specific historical investigations. Dr Berry suggests that the value attached to luxury is a crucial component in any society's self-understanding, and shows how luxury has changed from being essentially a negative term, threatening social virtue, to a guileless ploy supporting consumption. His analytic focus upon the interplay between the notions of need and desire suggests that luxuries fall into four categories - sustenance, shelter, clothing and leisure - and these are exemplified in sources as diverse as classical philosophy and contemporary advertising.
- The first comprehensive analysis of the idea of luxury and its role in the determination of social order
- Uses a wide range of data from Plato to contemporary advertising
- A wide-ranging study relevant to history, political theory, philosophy and the social sciences
Reviews & endorsements
"...he makes a strong, trenchantly argued case for the indispensability of the category of luxury to any society's self-understanding." Robert Anchor, American Historical Review
Product details
June 1994Paperback
9780521466912
292 pages
230 × 153 × 20 mm
0.486kg
Available
Table of Contents
- Part I. Preliminary Essay:
- 1. Luxury goods
- Part II. The Classical Paradigm:
- 2. The platonic prelude
- 3. The Roman response
- 4. The Christian contribution
- Part III. The Transition to Modernity:
- 5. The de-moralisation of luxury
- 6. The eighteenth-century debate
- 7. The historicity of needs
- Part IV. Politics, Needs and Desires:
- 8. Luxury and the politics of needs and desires
- 9. Luxury, necessity and social identity.
