The Idea of Luxury
A Conceptual and Historical Investigation
$29.99 (G)
Part of Ideas in Context
- Author: Christopher J. Berry, University of Glasgow
- Date Published: June 1994
- availability: Available
- format: Paperback
- isbn: 9780521466912
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In this far-ranging and innovative study Christopher Berry explores the meanings and ramifications of the idea of luxury. Insights from political theory, philosophy and intellectual history are utilized in a sophisticated conceptual analysis that is complemented by a series of specific historical investigations. Dr. Berry suggests that the value attached to luxury is a crucial component in any society's self-understanding, and shows how luxury has changed from being essentially a negative term, threatening social virtue, to a guileless ploy supporting consumption.
Read more- The first comprehensive analysis of the idea of luxury and its role in the determination of social order
- Uses a wide range of data from Plato to contemporary advertising
- A wide-ranging study relevant to history, political theory, philosophy and the social sciences
Reviews & endorsements
"...he makes a strong, trenchantly argued case for the indispensability of the category of luxury to any society's self-understanding." Robert Anchor, American Historical Review
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×Product details
- Date Published: June 1994
- format: Paperback
- isbn: 9780521466912
- length: 292 pages
- dimensions: 230 x 153 x 20 mm
- weight: 0.486kg
- availability: Available
Table of Contents
Part I. Preliminary Essay:
1. Luxury goods
Part II. The Classical Paradigm:
2. The platonic prelude
3. The Roman response
4. The Christian contribution
Part III. The Transition to Modernity:
5. The de-moralisation of luxury
6. The eighteenth-century debate
7. The historicity of needs
Part IV. Politics, Needs and Desires:
8. Luxury and the politics of needs and desires
9. Luxury, necessity and social identity.
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