“Old money” is trending on Pinterest and paid vacation time could be traded like gold doubloons. Is the aristocracy making a comeback?
In the past few decades, it was busyness that signaled someone’s worth. A person is important because they are needed–needed by their boss to show up to daily meetings, needed by their office to make the monthly sales quota, needed to keep Google Workspace relevant. In capitalism, working hard means wealth–i.e., taking a thirty-minute, unpaid lunch break and never seeing sunlight in the winter months–and wealth means things, the capitalist mark of achievement.
So, why has not working reemerged as an emblem of affluence, and what does that mean for the American dream?
Once upon a time, leisure was a status symbol. Free time and recreation differentiated the upper class from the working class, dividing those into socioeconomic sectors based on their abilities to contribute to the economy. Working men and women toiled in the fields and sacrificed their limbs and lungs in smog-filled factories while members of their leisure class were resigned to hunting and warfare, positions that don’t directly contribute to the economy. Of barbarian origins, this primitive class division has since evolved into the aristocracy and its underlings. Those who rest on clouds of rolling wealth are opposite those who must labor to live.
In his Theory of the Leisure Class, American Economist and Sociologist, Thorstein Veblan, conceived the term “conspicuous consumption” –the acquisition of luxury commodities and treasures as evidence of economic prowess. This systematic investment into tangible capital proves the wealth of the working class, those who cannot afford to retire to a life of play and passions.
In historical aristocracies, where the leisure class was kept up by generations of accruing wealth, free time meant they didn’t have to lift a finger, unless it was to shoot at pheasants or embroider a pillow. Among the working class, social position is gained and maintained by an abundance of goods, not time.
America was built by the calloused hands of the entrepreneurial spirits who sought independence from the aristocracy. This country has never housed a leisure class. Living in a capitalist society without the obvious wealth markers of kingdoms and dukedoms, Americans resorted to proving wealth and status through things–blingy, sparkly, flashy things. Economic suavity is touted by those who siphon their dough into lake homes, housekeepers, handbags with a waitlist, and the new limited-edition color of the KitchenAid mixer. It has been determined that possessions equal wealth, but what about the time it takes to afford those possessions?
Conspicuous consumption compliments conspicuous scheduling (I just made that up), the act of packing one’s schedule like a tin of sardines to prove commercial prowess. Drudgery reflects productivity, a well-connected network, and a deeply-ingrained tenet that “the grind” equates success. Seventy-hour work weeks and a Filofax stuffed like a Thanksgiving turkey became the aspiration of a society that preaches an unconditional sacrifice to the hustle. If you are busy, you are in demand–you are an important contribution to the economy, the heart of America.
Under-eye bags emerged as the new status symbol and the American working class wore them proudly. Now, the working class has chosen something more sustainable: leisure.
In this era of inflation, the goodies purchased by skimpy bi-weekly paychecks have lost their luster. The real prize is being able to take time off from work without worrying whether you need to sell an organ to cover next month’s rent. Flashy logos and multiple homes are so passé. The new tell-tale sign of wealth is a blank Google Calendar. No Zoom meetings, no W.F.H, just hobbies you feel no pressure to monetize, and a break from the Sunday Scaries.
But, if leisure was historically reserved for the upper crust, does that mean that the aristocracy, too, is making its comeback?
Lydia Millen, a popular fashion influencer who resides in the English countryside and in an effervescent bubble of classic sophistication, is selling off her collection of Hermès and Chanel purses in favor of a more understated look. Redditors and Tiktok savants speculate that Millen is weary of the flashy logos, and is trading in some of the most sought-after icons of luxury to polish her old-money, aristocratic aura. The desire to represent the industrious working class is waning.
These trends in fashion and the economy seem to reflect the return to a time when capitalism didn’t require the selling of one’s soul, and we weren’t bred with the insatiable thirst to puff ourselves up with items of significance. The replacement of chronic busyness and conspicuous consumption with leisure and a slower pace indicates a pivot away from hustle culture, a space in which we must fit a week within twenty-four hours and make a purchase for a hit of dopamine, and back to a time of passive existence.
Can America survive the emergence of a leisure class? Does the “American dream” drive participation in our society and economy? If so, what happens if the pressure to perpetually toil is replaced by something a little less demanding?
