Abstract
While there is a rich sociological tradition of analyzing the consumption of middle-class blacks, theory and research have overwhelmingly conceptualized middle-class blacks as conspicuous consumers. This paper develops an alternative theoretical approach to black middle-class consumption. Using the case of art ownership, I elaborate how middle-class blacks understand consumption as a practice that maintains and reinforces their class position by building wealth. Drawing on 103 in-depth interviews with black middle-class consumers of visual art, I illustrate how middle-class blacks view art as an economic asset and consider investment potential when they purchase art. I also document how middle-class blacks view art as a source of wealth that can be transferred across generations. Theory which accounts for black middle-class consumption from the perspective of wealth building is critical given long-standing arguments that middle-class blacks are a group whose frivolous and status-driven consumption jeopardizes their accumulation of wealth. The theoretical approach outlined in this paper illustrates how middle-class blacks approach consumption with an eye to solidifying their economic position.
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Notes
See Oliver and Shapiro (1995) for a discussion and critique of the theory that blacks have less wealth than whites because they are conspicuous consumers.
The idea that cultural consumption is linked to class is not unique to the study of the black middle-class. Scholars, such as Pierre Bourdieu (1984), Max Weber ([1922] 1968), Herbert Gans ([1974] 1999), and David Halle (1993) have investigated the relationship between class, status, and consumption. Thorstein Veblen ([1899] 1931) developed the concept conspicuous consumption to describe the lifestyles of affluent Americans at the turn of the 20th century.
Bart Landry (1987) also notes that homes and home decor symbolized the success of middle-class blacks during this time period.
In The Black Anglo-Saxons (1965) Nathan Hare also offers a scathing critique of the consumption habits of middle-class blacks. He argues that middle-class blacks spend excessively on luxuries, leaving them in debt with “multi-mortgaged homes” (p. 73).
Other contemporary research also discusses middle-class blacks’ use of high-status goods to signify their middle-class status (Anderson 1990; Feagin 1991; Landry 1987; Lee 2000; Pattillo 2007). For example, Bart Landry (1987) draws on consumption data to compare the lifestyles of middle-class blacks and whites. Finding that collectively middle-class blacks spend more on clothes than middle-class whites, that an equal proportion of middle-class blacks and whites shop at prestigious stores (despite the fact that the incomes of middle-class blacks are lower than middle-class whites), and that a higher proportion of upper-middle class blacks than upper-middle class whites own prestigious cars, Landry concludes that there is some evidence of “the continuation of the conspicuous consumption patterns of the old black middle class” (p. 174).
As income rises, ownership of original art, which includes paintings, drawings, sculpture, prints, and lithographs, also increases. For example, in 2002 only 7.4% of individuals making less than $10,000 owned original art, while 32.7% of individuals making $75,000 or more owned original art (Bradshaw and Nichols 2004).
Some households are single-headed and some households are headed by two people. In some of the households headed by two people I interviewed one person.
Black art includes art that is by black artists or about black people.
The rich contexts of black artistic production and consumption in Atlanta and New York may mean that the practice of art collecting as a form of wealth accumulation among middle-class blacks may be more common in these areas.
The sample includes a range of diversity such as variance in city, age, gender, and occupation. There is also variation in participants’ ownership of visual art. Participants across these categories appropriate art as an investment.
Initial contacts in the snowball sample were made through avenues such as attending arts events associated with black arts organizations and ties to black middle-class organizations. An advantage of the snowball sampling strategy is that it helped to facilitate access to participants. Being recommended to participate in the study by people in their network helped me to gain trust with participants.
I talked with participants about their visual arts participation such as the art that they display in their homes, their membership on arts boards, and their visits to museums and galleries. The art that middle-class blacks consume has a range of meanings for them. For example, the consumption of black culture allows middle-class blacks to symbolize their racial identity (DiMaggio and Ostrower 1990). By focusing on the ways that participants understand cultural consumption through an investment frame, I am highlighting one meaning of cultural consumption for middle-class blacks.
A coding scheme for the appropriation of art as an economic asset was developed inductively by analyzing a subset of interviews. The coding scheme was then applied to the entire set of transcripts.
Art historians note that racial marginalization has restricted market opportunities for black artists (Bearden and Henderson 1993; Patton 1998; Powell 2002). Data comparing auction prices for art by African American and white artists from the 1970s to the early 21st century also shows that the prices for art by black artists are lower than prices for comparable white artists (Agnello 2009). However, there is also evidence that the economic devaluation of black art is changing and that it is moving into mainstream marketplaces. For example, in 2007 Swann Auction Galleries in New York City opened an African-American Fine Art department. In addition, while data on auction prices show that prices are lower for African American artists, there is also evidence that the prices for black art have had higher appreciation in the last thirty years. These data suggest that black art is a genre of art that can yield particularly high investment returns (Agnello 2009).
In addition to appropriating the black art that they own as economic assets, participants also viewed other genres of art that they own as objects of economic value. As such, the findings discuss any genres of art that they view as assets.
I use pseudonyms to refer to participants. In some cases, the occupations of participants are replaced with occupations that require similar levels of education, and the names of artists in their collections are replaced with comparable artists.
While some participants view the art that they own as an economic asset, they describe themselves as not considering the economic value of art when they purchase it. Instead, they argue that their decisions to buy art rest solely on factors such as the emotional impact of an art work.
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Banks, P.A. Conceptions of Art Ownership as a Form of Wealth Accumulation Among the Black Middle-Class. Qual Sociol 33, 333–348 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11133-010-9160-2
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11133-010-9160-2