The Organization Man

CHAPTER 24 Inconspicuous Consumption

312 THE ORGANIZATION MAN highly stratified: if one holds that class divisions exist because people think there are class divisions, to be consistent one would have to concede that they do not exist when people think they do not exist. The new suburbanites do indeed obscure some harsh realities when they talk of their democratic ideals, yet their unwillingness to concede class divisions is itself a very powerful factor in keeping the divisions from crystallizing. I am not trying to argue that paradise is imminent; the breakdown of the old divisions of cJass has left people vulnerable to other kinds of webs, and these too have their tyrannies. But they are not tyrannies fixed upon the individual, like class; they are self-imposed, and the individual has at least the choice of declining them. CHAPTER 24 Inconspicuous Consumption IN DEFINING THE GOOD LIFE, THE SUBURBANITES HAVE TO GET DOWN TO cases, and when they do these social pressures can become highly visible. On the one hand, suburbanites have a strong impulse toward egalitarianism; on the other, however, they have an equally strong impulse to upgrade themselves. Somewhere in the middle lies the good life, but like that elusive plateau they seek in The Organization, it vanishes as quickly as one finds it. In an environment that seems so homogeneous, one might think there were few distinctions one would have to worry about. To the practiced eye, however, there is much more diversity in the scene than the bystander sees, for the more accustomed one becomes to the homogeneity, the more sensitized is he to the small differences. At Levittown, Pennsylvania, residents are very much aware of who has what "modification" of the basic ranch-house design, and one house on which the owner mounted a small gargoyle became so famous a sight that many residents used to drive out of their way to show it to visitors. People have a sharp eye Inconspicuous Consumption 313 for interior amenities also, and the acquisition of an automatic dryer, or an unusually elaborate television set, or any other divergence from the norm is always cause for notice. Those who lack such amenities, conversely, are also noted. In one suburb, to cite a rather extreme example, a wife was so ashamed of the emptiness of her living room that she smeared the picture window with Bon Ami; not until a dinette set arrived did she wash it off. Necessity has been buttressed with ideology. It's inconspicuous consumption now, and suburbanites are quite articulate about it. One of the most frequent observations they will volunteer is that "there's no keeping up with the Joneses here," and they protest it with unwonted frequency. The precept does more than condone their lack of money to do anything else; it praises the behavior as ultimately ethical. It is a social compact they are voicing. Openly stated, the reasoning would go something like this: Most of us are at a pretty critical stage in our careers; it is just about now that we will realize that some of us are really going to go ahead and some of us aren't. If you find you're going ahead, it's rubbing it in unfairly to make it obvious to the others who aren't. You have broken the truce. The job, then, is not to keep up with the Joneses. It's to keep down with them.~ Even those sophisticated enough to talk, albeit a trifle nervously, about "other-directed" consumption of their group see a valid reason for it. When they see a neighbor vaunting worldly goods, they can see this is an offense-not to them individually, mind you, but to the community. When people comment unfavorably about conspicuous display, they usually stress that they themselves see nothing wrong with it, but that other people might; and the purchase, therefore, was ill advised. The group has always conditioned purchases, of course, and the 0 Ad in The New York Times, January 10, 1954: "Gimbel's takes note of a new trend in American living. The 'Booming Middle Class' is taking over-and no longer are we living up to the Joneses (Chauncey Montague Jones et familia)-we're living down to the Joneses (Charlie Jones and the wife and kids). It's bye-bye, upstairs chambermaid-ta, ta, liveried chauffeur-good riddance to the lorgnette, limousine, and solid-gold lavatory. The new Good Life is casual, de-frilled, comfortable, fun-and isn't it marvelous...