3 ms·

Diamonds are an incredibly important status symbol, especially for women. That has value.

• anakha 12y ago
  Speaking of which, the linked article from The Atlantic in 1982 discusses why that is the case. http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/1982/02/have-you-ever-tried-to-sell-a-diamond/304575/ http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/1982/02/have-you...
• rhizome 12y ago
  That specific articulation of value is also a recent development: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean_Baudrillard#The_object_value_system http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean_Baudrillard#The_object_val...
• zanny 12y ago
  A completely arbitrary value that only requires a critical mass of women to being valuing some other arbitrary gauge of status as a surrogate. Consider how in the last few years owning Apple products has become its own perverse symbol of status, because Apple played an extremely effective rebranding campaign.
  • rhizome 12y ago
    It's not arbitrary, though. Like all values, they are derived from an exchange. And to be fair, Apple's popularity is not only as a status symbol. For many people they provide a well-priced combination of features, sometimes extremely well-priced. A MacBook Air by any other company costs at least 50% more. If anything, your comment illustrates that Apple is saddled by their old reputation as having overpriced offerings, despite shifts of focus in their marketing campaigns.
• deleted 12y ago
  [deleted]