Consumer Culture
The Record Without the Record Player: Why Analogue Has Become a Luxury
Vinyl outsold CDs in 2022 for the first time since 1987; Kodak is struggling to keep up with demand for film, and a phone that deliberately does less costs nearly $800. Who is buying these things, and what are they really paying for?
Ugly Is Expensive: How Crocs and Dad Sneakers Became Status Symbols
It began in 2002 at a boat show in Florida, with 200 pairs of footwear that even their founders thought were ugly. Some fifteen years later, similar shoes were selling out in hours at hundreds of dollars a pair. Here is what science has to say about it.
