The Stigma of Great Wealth
Business Daily
BBC
4.4 • 816 Ratings
🗓️ 15 September 2017
⏱️ 18 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
We explore the anxieties of the wealthy, and the mentality of conspicuous consumption, which is about more than being discreet about high-end purchases. Journalist Rachel Sherman tells us her accounts of interviewing some of New York's elite wealthy - who are equally as stealthy about their endeavours and purchases. We hear more about the anxiety associated with wealth, both earned and inherited, including the constant need to seem 'normal', and justify funds. Stephen Lussier, a chief executive from diamond company De Beers, tells us about the changing buying habits of some of the world's richest - including the increasing number of women who prefer to buy their own diamonds for reasons other than romance. Plus, extravagant signs of wealth are at their peak during India;s wedding season. Weddings can go on for days, and include thousands of guests and private chartered planes, and over 70 types of food. The BBC's Rahul Tandon reports that some Indian states are cracking down on what they say are 'excessive' affairs.
(Image: A wealthy man anxiously facing a City landscape. Credit: Coldsnowstorm/ Getty Images)
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hello, welcome to Business Daily from the BBC. |
| 0:07.6 | I'm Manuel Salagossa. |
| 0:09.2 | Coming up, the anxieties of the very, very wealthy. |
| 0:13.2 | The people that I talked to really wanted to feel normal. |
| 0:16.0 | They didn't want to stand out. |
| 0:17.5 | And that's why they emphasize these ideas about working hard, being reasonable consumers. |
| 0:22.7 | They're very invested in their children not being obnoxious or entitled. |
| 0:26.7 | But if you're rich and getting married in India, then you've got to flaunt it. |
| 0:31.4 | Families are coming under tremendous social pressure to spend more. |
| 0:35.5 | The big fat Indian wedding has now become obese. |
| 0:39.6 | That's all in Business Daily from the BBC. |
| 0:44.5 | Why does a rich man choose to buy a $6,000 suit when a 600 one looks just as good? The answer is power |
| 0:53.0 | and the need for status by showing off your wealth. |
| 0:56.5 | So said the economist Torsten Veblen back in the late 1800s. He was also the economist who coined |
| 1:02.7 | the term conspicuous consumption. But in our age of economic inequality, who still does |
| 1:09.3 | conspicuous consumption? That's a question we'll address in just a |
| 1:12.8 | moment. First, though, the world's largest diamond maker De Beers has noticed a change, not just in who |
| 1:18.7 | buys diamonds, but also what sort of diamonds people buy. Stephen Lucier is the company's executive |
| 1:24.7 | vice president of marketing. Sure, the traditional gift market is still the majority, |
| 1:30.6 | and most diamonds are given as gifts, although they mean different things. |
| 1:34.5 | But I guess what we're seeing now in terms of growth segments are women buying diamonds for themselves. |
| 1:41.5 | If we went back 10 years, you know, that might have represented a quarter or less of the market today in America. |
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