Justification of Conspicuous Consumption: A Study of Consumption of Commodities and Services of Body Management among Women in Mashhad

Consumption of commodity in its different kinds and forms, has several cultural-social implications which are the basis for justification of the consumption stance of consumers. The objective of this paper is to explain how the consumers justify their conspicuous and posing consumption which is usually accompanied by using brands which are continually being updated. To find out answer to the latent meanings of conspicuous consumption, 38 women in Mashhad, who more or less, had this kind of consumption, were selected through targeted sampling method and in-depth interviews were conducted with them about consumption of body management commodities and services. The findings of coding and analysis of the interview texts show that there are five main justifications for the conspicuous consumption of body management commodities and services:Identity justification of consumption that shows prestige and is a representation of the consumer’s social position; psychological justification in which the individual refers to psychological needs of himself, mankind or women; economic (rational) justification, through which the consumer assesses the consumption choices as rational after comparing consumption–exchange value or economic and social cost-benefit ; Supervisory justification (compulsory) in which the individual finds himself under the supervision of the demands and proposals of significant others or generalized others or ethical and religious doctrines; and habitus justification which refers to “the precedence of the conspicuous consumption pattern or tendency towards it in the individual’s life history”.