We live in a world full of consumer goods, for those who can afford them, and with a seemingly limitless desire for more consumption. But are our desires in fact limitless? Our desires for goods stem from the way in which we play the social status game: our contradictory longing to be part fo the social group and yet to stand out as an individual. This means that most of our consumption is symbolic. And our desires are mimetic, in that they always involve the desire of someone else. But we can choose how to play the status game; as a culture, as a society, and also as an individual. In a world of abundance, we can focus limitless possibilities on what gives us joy.

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