One of the founders of modern sociology, Karl Marx, was also a critic of modern capitalism. Marx understood capitalism as a system of commodity production, or production for the market, through wage labour. As you have already learned, Marx wrote that all economic systems are also social systems. Each mode of production consists of particular relations of production, which in turn give rise to a specific class structure.

How is Consumption related to social status?

What you consume becomes a symbol of your social status.

The first option best captures the core idea of how consumption is often intertwined with social status and acts as a powerful symbol of social distinction in modern societies.

An important feature of capitalist society is that consumption becomes more and more important, not just for economic reasons but because it has symbolic meaning. In modern societies, consumption is an important way in which social distinctions are created and communicated. The consumer conveys a message about his or her socioeconomic status or cultural preferences by buying and displaying certain goods, and companies try to sell their goods by appealing to symbols of status or culture.