{"id":181606,"date":"2019-10-24T13:26:46","date_gmt":"2019-10-24T20:26:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/?p=181606"},"modified":"2019-10-24T13:44:10","modified_gmt":"2019-10-24T20:44:10","slug":"democratic-luxury","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/2019\/10\/24\/democratic-luxury\/","title":{"rendered":"Democratic Luxury"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

An interesting shift we are undergoing in society:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With meritocracy, American capitalist\/socialist values\u00e2\u20ac\u201d this notion of \u00e2\u20ac\u0153democratic luxury\u00e2\u20ac\u009d is being made. <\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Let me explain:<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

Everyone can afford an iPhone<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

No matter how rich or poor you are (at least in America), you can afford an iPhone. A used iPhone, a new lower end iPhone, or even get the highest end iPhone (monthly payments). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m testing the iPhone Pro, and for what you get, it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s quite incredible. $999 gets you:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  1. Great still and video camera<\/li>
  2. Editing studio <\/li>
  3. Typewriter <\/li>
  4. Ebook reader<\/li>
  5. GPS<\/li>
  6. Music player <\/li>
  7. Phone<\/li>
  8. Uber hailing device<\/li>
  9. Computer<\/li>
  10. And more…<\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n

    Even though $999 is a lot of money, given the value and what you get, it is actually quite a good \u00e2\u20ac\u0153bang for the buck\u00e2\u20ac\u009d. Cheaper than a laptop, stand-alone digital camera, video camera, etc. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Tesla Model 3<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

    Elon\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s dream: creating a mass market ($30,000 electric car), the Model 3.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Even today, you can buy a used Model S in the sub-$40,000 range. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Zara<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

    Zara as successful because you get high end fashion designs (with good quality) at a democratic price. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    What is \u00e2\u20ac\u0153luxury\u00e2\u20ac\u009d?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

    The etymology of luxury implies a gap. Hierarchy. Wide distance between certain castes of society. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Luxury goods are totems of social hierarchy and power. You don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t buy a Rolex to have more accurate time, you buy (and wear) a Rolex to flex your financial status and power to others. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    But what happens when luxury goods become democratized, when everyone can afford these high-end, great quality goods?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    I love Whole Foods<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

    I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m a big fan of Whole Foods, especially after Amazon bought them out. Now I can afford to go there all the time, enjoy the rotisserie chickens, and enjoy all the price savings. I can still buy bougie expensive health products, but the staples (eggs, meats, etc) are far cheaper now. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Thus it seems democratic luxury is good:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    1. The basic stuff becomes more affordable for the masses<\/li>
    2. The high end stuff continues to exist, and continues to become more high end. <\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n

      Everyone has a 3-series BMW<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

      What happens when everyone buys an entry level BMW? The wealthy buy higher end BMW models, or start buying more high end brands (Maserati, Rolls Royce, Porsche, Lamborghini). <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

      An interesting shift we are undergoing in society: With meritocracy, American capitalist\/socialist values\u00e2\u20ac\u201d this notion of \u00e2\u20ac\u0153democratic luxury\u00e2\u20ac\u009d is being made. Let me explain:<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":181561,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-181606","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-posts"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/727EF19A-32C4-4DC4-AF1D-7E4449E17D09.jpeg?fit=1280%2C958&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/181606","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=181606"}],"version-history":[{"count":12,"href":"https:\/\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/181606\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":181618,"href":"https:\/\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/181606\/revisions\/181618"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/181561"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=181606"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=181606"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=181606"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}