奢侈品的价值——结构与起源的论争

Genesis and structure of the conflict over the value of luxury

对奢侈品价值的讨论从古至今一直存在,而社会学和经济学对奢侈品的研究存在着根本分歧。本文指出经济学的研究往往无法完全解释奢侈品价值,奢侈品的价值无法被划约为实用以及效用,奢侈品的价值恰恰在于它的无价值。奢侈品所代表的是在个人和社会中与艺术、理想一致的不可或缺的更高层次价值。

The conception of luxury that exceeds utilitarian and market values,of luxury that mobilises the values of prestige,gift giving and prodigality(values that cannot be assigned to economic categories),has several further consequences.Luxury can exist only on the fringes of the market and of social conceptions.Luxury,necessarily accompanied by excessive spending,should defy traditional economic categories and the norms of utility.It is this conflict between a conception of sociology and a conception of economics that our conference seeks to highlight.