THE CONSPICUOUS BODY: CAPITALISM, CONSUMERISM, CLASS AND CONSUMPTION Michael S. Carolan Abstract A little over a century ago, Thorstein Veblen introduced us to the now common- place term “conspicuous consumption”: the idea that we consume, at least in part, in order to display to others our social power. While the conceptual utility of this term is just as valid today as it was the day Veblen penned it, further elaboration is now required to account for shifting cultural and economic imperatives. In this paper, I argue that we are entering a new era of conspicuous consumption; an era where surrounding oneself with “nice things” is becoming increasingly insufficient for our modern sensibilities in our quest to display status and power. Rather, we are progressively striving to become the “nice thing” itself—to literally embody con- spicuous consumption. I locate this conspicuous body within evolving historical ten- sions of consumer capitalism; tensions which the conspicuous body attempts to resolve (but not without social, cultural, and ecological consequences). This paper also represents an attempt to introduce into the socio-environmental literature the body as a legitimate topic of inquiry. While the body has recently experienced an increase in attention by some social and cultural scholars, such interest has been lost among most environmental sociologists; a surprising point, particularly given the fact that through the body, self and the environment become embodied. Keywords: consumption, body, control, power, environment Introduction The body: we clothe it, we bathe it, and we feed it. It is our obser- vation point; through it we interpret and manipulate the world. When it is cold, thirsty, and afraid, we seek warmth, drink, and safety. And when it dies, so too do we. Yet the body is more than just the biophysical home to our being, a carbon-based medium within which we reside. It is more than an object, irreconcilably detached from subject. We live within our bod- ies and we are lived bodies (Merleau-Ponty 2003 [1945]). We have bodies and we are bodies. The body is incredibly obvious, yet simultaneously mysterious. This enigmatic quality of the body is no doubt perpetuated by the fact that is it still not considered a legitimate object of study by many social scientists—something too predetermined, too material, and far © Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, 2005 Worldviews 9,1 82-111 Also available online – www.brill.nl