Concept index
Glossary
The vocabulary of the essays — where each idea comes from, and what it connects to.
Consumption Machine
UnverifiedA cultural system that converts attention and aspiration into continuous purchasing, regardless of what is being sold.
From The War on Thought: What We Get Wrong About Anti-intellectualism · chapter "The Usual Suspects"
Related: Sachetisation
Credibility Gatekeeping
UnverifiedThe social filtering of who is permitted to be treated as a serious thinker, independent of the quality of their thought.
From The War on Thought: What We Get Wrong About Anti-intellectualism · chapter "Who Counts as a Thinker"
Related: Soft Power
Low Value Luxury
UnverifiedStatus goods whose signalling power exceeds their material worth — luxury as a performance affordable in fragments.
From When Money Becomes God: Class, Power & Nepo Babies · chapter "Low Budget Elites & Low Value Luxury"
Related: Sachetisation, Money as Mysterious
Mimetic Desire
UnverifiedWanting something because someone else wants it; desire copied from others rather than formed independently.
From Wedding to Celebrity Pipeline · chapter "Wanting What They Want"
Related: Low Value Luxury, Romantic Capitalism
Money as Mysterious
UnverifiedTreating wealth as an unknowable, quasi-spiritual force rather than the outcome of social and economic arrangements — which makes it easy to worship and hard to question.
From When Money Becomes God: Class, Power & Nepo Babies · chapter "Money as Mysterious"
Related: Low Value Luxury, Nepo Baby
Nepo Baby
UnverifiedSomeone whose access to opportunity is inherited through family position, while the story told about their success is one of individual effort.
From When Money Becomes God: Class, Power & Nepo Babies · chapter "Who is a Nepo Baby?"
Related: Soft Power
Romantic Capitalism
UnverifiedThe conversion of intimacy and ceremony into marketable content and career infrastructure.
From Wedding to Celebrity Pipeline · chapter "The Wedding to Celebrity Pipeline"
Related: Consumption Machine
Sachetisation
UnverifiedThe breaking of goods and aspirations into the smallest purchasable unit, so that participation in a lifestyle is always just affordable and never complete.
From When Money Becomes God: Class, Power & Nepo Babies · chapter "Low Budget Elites & Low Value Luxury"
Related: Consumption Machine
Soft Power
UnverifiedInfluence exercised through attraction, taste and aesthetics rather than force or money directly.
From Wedding to Celebrity Pipeline · chapter "Soft Power in a White Dress"
Related: Romantic Capitalism