This major new contribution to the study of consumption examines how dominant groups express and display their sense of superiority through material and aesthetic attributes, demonstrating that differences from one society to another, and across historical periods, challenge current understandings of elite distinction.

Autorentext
JEAN-PASCAL DALOZ Research Professor at the University of Strasbourg (CNRS/GSPE), France, and Senior Associate Member of the Maison Française and of the Department of Politics at the University of Oxford, UK. He is also President of the Research Committee on Comparative Sociology of the International Sociological Association. He has published 12 books to date, including the bestselling Africa Works: Disorder as Political Instrument (co-authored).

Inhalt
Introduction PART I: SOCIAL THEORY AND ELITE DISTINCTION Classical Approaches to Social Emulation and Distinction Major Subsequent Contributions Grand Theories: Limits and Merits PART II: KEY MANIFESTATIONS External Signs of Superiority Embodied Signs of Superiority Vicarious Display PART III: VARIABILITY The Historicity of Elite Distinction: Selected Themes Tradition, Fashion, Borrowing, Syncretism Beyond Reductionism Conclusion