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The Conspicuous Consumption of Food and Babies | | | The second phenomenon I want to present through the eyes of Veblen is the current international adoption movement. Historian Kirstin Lovelock writes that, initially, international adoption emerged as a humanitarian response to the world's war-bedraggled children. The first transnational adoptees were the displaced children of Europe during and after World War II. In recent years, there has been a dramatic increase in the number of international adoptions in the U.S., from approximately 6,000 children in 1994 to over 20,000 in 2005. These children are coming predominantly from China, Ethiopia, Russia, and South Korea. | |
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< | Veblen would say international adoption has become a new form of conspicuous consumption. Adopting a child from abroad attracts the same hierarchists as the organic food movement—that is, members of the American higher classes eager to display their "good sense." A woman on the UES juggling a Birkin in one hand and a Cambodian child on the other, for example, is sending the subtle signal that she cares enough (and has enough money) to save the world’s children. After all, adopting internationally is very expensive, usually starting at $15,000 in initial fees plus the costs of actually raising a child. | >
> | Veblen would say international adoption has become a new form of conspicuous consumption. Adopting a child from abroad attracts the same hierarchists as the organic food movement—that is, members of the American higher classes eager to display their "good sense." A woman on the UES juggling a Birkin in one hand and a Cambodian child on the other, for example, is sending the subtle signal that she cares enough (and has enough money) to save the world’s children. | | | | |
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< | If the goal of adoption is to find families for children, perhaps this conspicuous consumption aspect of international adoption would be permissible—emulation will lead to more adoptions which should translate into more children saved. The problem is that the goal of international adoption as practiced today has shifted to finding children for families. Specifically, the market for international adoption is primarily for healthy newborns.
Anthropologist Gail Landsman compares the current movement to the car industry, saying that potential adopters do not want “lemons,” that they refuse to “[invest] in what is publicly perceived as a defective commodity.” In fact, sociologist Sara Dorow writes how disappointed adopters sometimes bring “wrongful adoption” suits, choose “to ‘switch’ to a more desirable—healthier or cuter or younger—child” or to return the child altogether and “get their money back.” In short, it follows that the majority of children in need, both domestically and abroad, are been sidelined for the physical and psychological “defects” resulting from the neglect of their circumstance, as eager Angelinas wait in line to scoop up the few untarnished babies. And yet, Veblen would say this is predictable, at least insofar as it is certainly more wasteful to demand a new supply of healthy newborns than to simply adopt the supply already available. | >
> | If the goal of adoption is to find families for children (ie. orphans), perhaps this conspicuous consumption aspect of international adoption would be permissible—emulation would seem to lead to more adoptions which should translate into more children saved. The problem is that the goal of international adoption as practiced today has shifted primarily to finding children (ie. healthy newborns) for families. Specifically, the majority of orphans actually in need are being sidelined for the physical and psychological "defects" resulting from the neglect of their circumstance, as eager Angelinas wait in line to scoop up the few untarnished babies. Of course, Veblen would say such an outcome is predictable, at least insofar as it is certainly more wasteful to demand a new supply of healthy newborns than it is to simply adopt the supply of lemons already available. The ethical issue, then, is that the conspicuous consumption identifiable in international adoption today can be conceived as running counter to the traditional purpose of international adoption. | | | De-Objectification | | | -- JessicaGuzik - 19 Jun 2010 | |
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< | Thank you for your re-write. I will make my final changes within the next couple of days on the other document page you made, "KalliopeKefallinosRevisedPaper." My only immediate response is that I'm a bit confused--in your earlier comments you stated that I was making sweeping conclusions and needed more statistics/ facts, but in your revision, you went on to eliminate all but one of my sources. Did you read the different articles and find the facts laid out therein useless or superfluous? | >
> | Thank you for your re-write. I will make my final changes within the next couple of days on the other document page you made, KalliopeKefallinosRevisedPaper. My only immediate response is that I'm a bit confused--in your earlier comments you stated that I was making sweeping conclusions and needed more statistics/ facts, but in your revision, you went on to eliminate all but one of my sources. Did you read the different articles and find the facts laid out therein useless or superfluous? | | | -- KalliopeKefallinos - 20 Jun 2010 | |
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Ok, I ultimately decided to use the edits you made on KalliopeKefallinosRevisedPaper to make edits on this page. The multiple pages made it more confusing for me to track changes. If you have additional suggestions, please make them on this page.
-- KalliopeKefallinos - 04 Jul 2010 | | |
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