> Yet, the logic of conspicuous consumption may as well work the other way round: Where being fat was seen as a sign on high social status once today it's a sig

> Yet, the logic of conspicuous consumption may as well work the other way round: Where being fat was seen as a sign on high social status once today it's a sign of low social status. One can signal status be consuming less rather than more. The things on which the middle- and lower-classes spend conspicuously, usually intending to signal higher class, have long been markers of their less-than-upper-class standing. See: Fussell's early 1980s Class. His Middle class especially could be summed up in one sentence as, "those who spend to signal higher class, while entirely missing the point with every purchasing decision they make and instead signaling how very middle they are".