Conversation

What smaller ticket universal items (ie not cars or homes) would you include in a basket of 5 goods or services (not experiences) as an index of *aspirational* class? For eg: 1. Shoes 2. Produce type (organic/non) 3. Haircuts 4. Moving (self, hired, full-service) 5. Pots/pans
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I’m interested because “lifestyle/consumption advice fail” most often happens on social media because you can’t guess current or aspirational class easily online unless people advertise their consumption choices which is hard to do without being crass.
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Age is a good proxy. People generally aspire middle class at least and get close to it by 40 or so. The desired/achieved gap is low. Especially for married people.
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Marriage tends to conventionalize consumption tastes. Offbeat-consumption couples are rare. You’re unlikely to have the same weird tastes as your partner, which would lead to shared deviation from normal. Compromise meeting at normal is likelier.
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A confounder is the “trading up” phenomenon where people make out of band purchases/aspire to in specific areas. Golf clubs, purses, are common out-of-band trading-up items so should not be used in an index
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Some responses not quite getting the idea here. It has to be something almost everyone consumes at some quality level. Not something class or subculture specific, nor a class-specific instance of a cross-class category.
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I think maybe sheets and towels do the job. They are not *that* expensive, but in your 20s you don't care about them much, then you learn that by spending just a little more you can get substantially nicer linens.
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