Catch Up and Keep Up: Relative Deprivation and Conspicuous Consumption in an Emerging Market

ABSTRACT

Exploratory research investigated whether the conspicuous consumption of affluent black South Africans is associated with prior experiences of relative deprivation. In-depth face-to-face interviews revealed that egoistic relative deprivation played a role initially in “catch up” consumption to the more privileged (white) consumers to whom black South Africans had been exposed during childhood to early adulthood. This resulted in a spike of conspicuous consumption that normalized somewhat as they continued to “keep up” with their (black) peers. The study extends our understanding of the impact of relative deprivation on conspicuous consumption and identifying the “catch up” and “keep up” consumption patterns that may follow experiences of relative deprivation.

KEYWORDS:

• Relative deprivation
• restricted consumption
• conspicuous consumption
• emerging markets
• catch up