The Power of Luxury Brands
Luxury brands pique the interest of customers all over the world. Luxury brands wield power by expertly tapping into our subconscious and triggering emotions that generate a sense of identity and uniqueness within us. Users’ inclinations for luxury brands are heavily influenced by their habits and the emotional requirements of individuals. Bourdieu's theory, applied to luxury goods, emphasizes how these companies shape and sustain their dominance by forcing their cultural norms, beliefs, and symbols on consumers. They establish a system of difference and status that may sustain social hierarchies and inequities while also affecting consumer behavior, tastes, and ambition. When luxury businesses covertly impose their cultural norms and ideals on customers, they might engage in symbolic violence(Holt, 1997). The notion of symbolic violence proposed by Pierre Bourdieu in distinction is a sociological concept that explains how dominant groups retain and reinforce their power and privilege in society via the employment of symbols, culture, and social institutions(Bourdieu, 1984). This concept is an essential aspect, which is concerned with the relationship between social institutions and individual behavior. Individuals commonly battle, according to Bourdieu's theory, between conforming to the norms and expectations of their social class or cultural environment and expressing their true selves. People could feel under pressure to live up to the brand's standards for success and elegance. Consumers who defy this pressure and stand up for their own choices, on the other hand, might be perceived as fighting for authenticity (Bourdieu, 1984).
This leads the way to the classification of society into bourgeoisie and proletariat. Marx proposed that clear disparities existed within capitalist society, sorting the bourgeoisie as capital proprietors from the proletariat as laboring masses. Similarly, a divide forms in the sphere of luxury business, separating those with the wherewithal to acquire extravagant things from others who do not. The bourgeoisie, according to Karl Marx's theory, is the capitalist class that owns and controls the luxury market by forecasting manufacturing and marketing maneuvers. Thus luxury brands only target the capitalist class marking the symbolic power(Marx, 1867). Bourdieu's theory gives way to Karl Marx by providing a framework for studying how people and society evaluate luxury brands. It recognizes the impact of cultural capital and social status on people's ability to participate in ethical critiques of luxury purchases(Bourdieu et al., 1977). Holt popularized Bourdieu's theory of taste among consumer researchers and claimed that consumers' class position is revealed not so much by what they purchase, but by how they consume; that is, the manner in which they experience and interpret their consumer experiences, as well as the goals they seek via these acts. (Holt, 1998)
Luxury companies frequently instill a certain set of cultural values, spirituality, aesthetic sensitivities, and lifestyle goals in their target demographic (Belk, 1989). Max Weber's ideas, notably his concept of social status and power, may be applied to the setting of luxury brands to better understand how they exercise influence and keep their market positions. This established habit denoted by spirituality and authority ties customers to the brand's identity and generates a sense of belonging, boosting the premium brand's power and attraction (Weber, 1922). By way of example, product packaging that is customized is an expansion of a brand’s identity, representing its values, heritage, and style. When opposed to standard packaging, customized packaging creates a deeper connection with clients. The relentless dedication to branding coherence acts as a powerful catalyst for strengthening brand recognition. In short, the influence of luxury brands continues to be an enthralling and ever-changing subject of study, providing a prism through which we may comprehend not just consumer behavior but also the larger dynamics of contemporary society (Belk, 1989).
Belk, R. (1989). The benefits and problems of market socialism for Chinese consumers. Proceedings of the 1989 Winter Educators Conference, T. Childers, ed., Chicago: American Marketing Association,
Bourdieu, P. (1984). A social critique of the judgement of taste. Traducido del francés por R. Nice. Londres, Routledge.
Bourdieu, P., Passeron, J.-C., & Nice, R. (1977). Education, society and culture. Trans. Richard Nice. London: SAGE Publications, 15-29.
Holt, D. B. (1997). Distinction in America? Recovering Bourdieu's theory of tastes from its critics. Poetics, 25(2-3), 93-120.
Holt, D. B. (1998). Does cultural capital structure American consumption? Journal of Consumer Research, 25(1), 1-25.
Marx, K. (1867). Das Kapital: Volume One. In: Moscow: Progress Publishers.
Weber, M. (1922). Economy and Society: An Outline of Interpretive Sociology, 1978, ed. Guenther Roth and Claus Wittich (Berkeley: University of California Press,[1922] a), 21-26.
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