Consumption and Luxury

The main topic of this chapter is the fame enjoyed by “luxury” in the eighteenth-century works discussing the morals of the people or the lack thereof. The vilification and the vindications of “luxury,” made on moral, religious, economic, and political grounds, broached questions ranging from spiritual welfare of the individuals to the nation’s capacity to remain prosperous. Discussions of luxury often overlapped with those covered in the two previous chapters. To some authors, it was a moral “vice” that did not produce any “benefit” for the economy, while to others it did yield some benefit. Some believed “luxury” eroded the potentials for “industry” as it fostered “idleness,” but to others, it was merely a sign of their society’s robust economy. This chapter first delineates the conceptions of “consumption,” which was a term that encompassed physiology, morality, and commerce. The chapter’s latter sections recount the attempts to neutralize the shady moral pretentions of “luxury” by polite comportment prescribed by “refinement” and sensible gratification guided by “prudence.”