Status and status consumption: Perceptions and practices of high-income Russians

The paper analyzes the specifics of status perception and its reflection in the consumption patterns among Russians belonging to the top decile of the income distribution. The study draws on data from a special survey conducted within the framework of the HSE University project “Economic Behaviour of Households”. A comparison of perceptions regarding status-signaling goods and services with actual consumption practices shows that the relationship between the perception of certain goods or services as markers of high status and their actual consumption is weak. Instead, consumption priorities are shaped more by the logic of expanding life opportunities and maintaining one’s achieved social standing rather than by the logic of demonstrating status. This is supported by evidence that, in a hypothetical scenario of income growth, additional resources would be allocated mainly to improving the quality of consumption, as well as to savings and investments, while in the event of income decline expenditures on luxury goods would be reduced first, indicating their high-income elasticity. Perceptions of status do influence the choice of specific goods and services, but they do not determine the overall allocation of spending. Overall, the findings suggest that high-income Russians tend to engage in nonconspicuous forms of status consumption — aimed at preserving their social position rather than signaling it externally. Given the structure of income sources in this group — with labor income predominating over capital income — the observed consumption patterns can be interpreted as a rational strategy for maintaining and reproducing the achieved standard of living under conditions of limited autonomy from the labor market and associated uncertainty about future socio-economic status. The observed differences in the perception of status markers and actual consumption patterns also reflect variations in lifestyle. Similar traits have been documented in studies of comparable high-income groups in Western countries.