Post-Recession consumerism in the U.S.: the influence of cheap and chic consumer products on perceptions of income inequality
Résumé
La disparidad tanto en los ingresos como en la ganancia neta en los EE.UU., ha ido en aumento desde la década de 1970. Durante este período, el nivel de los salarios bajos y medios de los estadounidenses han crecido a un ritmo más lento que el crecimiento del PBI del país en su conjunto, y a un ritmo mucho más lento que los ingresos del 1% de los asalariados; habiéndose profundizado esta brecha dramáticamente en los años posteriores a la recesión del 2008. En este trabajo se discuten los factores subjetivos y relativos
que determinan la percepción de bienestar financiero. A pesar de la creciente desigualdad en los ingresos, los consumidores estadounidenses, en todos los segmentos de ingresos, incrementan sus posesiones, mucho más que en épocas anteriores. En un entorno en el que la concentración del ingreso parecería seguir favoreciendo en el futuro al segmento de ingresos más altos, se discute el efecto psicológico del acceso al consumo de objetos de diseño y al mercado masivo de bienes de lujo. Examinamos cuatro dimensiones de la percepción de lujo y discutimos esto en el contexto de dos marcas de lujo diferentes. Proponemos que el aumento del poder de compra que el consumidor estadounidense posee en la actualidad es un factor que puede compensar o amortiguar los efectos sociales y políticos adversos del estancamiento de ingresos y el
estrés económico.
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