The Paradox of Privatization in Consumption

Abstract

Most everyday goods can be more or less private in consumption. For example, a family may share one bathroom or may enjoy the luxury of one bathroom per person in which case the good has been completely privatized. Even such “personal” goods as haircuts may be shared in the sense that family members take turns getting a haircut rather than having their hair cut whenever they individually decide to do so. Thus, even haircuts may be privatized in consumption. There is a definite trend towards increasing privatization in consumption with increasing income. The paradox I would like to discuss in this paper can be summarized as follows: by increasing privacy in consumption, people seemingly also destroy something they cannot replace by their own efforts: certain forms of social approval. They seemingly act in such a way that they increase their own deprivation with regard to these forms of social approval.