Structures of Inequality under Conditions of Glam-Capitalism

Abstract

New structures of inequality are considered in the context of the newest modality of postindustrial capitalism. Spatial configuration of inequality is changed as globalization has resulted not in the ‘world society’ but rather in transnational network of the globality enclaves: the largest cities. Compared to their countries, metropolitan areas are borderless, they outperform in economic growth and they are the most unequal in terms of Gini coefficient. The ‘onion-like’ stratification with dominant middle strata is replaced by the ‘pear-like’ bimodal stratification. New shape of stratification is resulted from the rise of the glam-capitalism flow-structures. Glamcapitalism rises when producers at the hyper-competitive marketplace have to attract consumers by aggressively beautiful goods / services. The glamour is transformed from an extravagant aesthetics into the new rationality of postindustrial capitalism. Value creation now is related more to trends, than to brands or products. Owners of trends and creators of trendy goods / services compose new status groups: glam-capitalists and glam-professionals, which dominate over shrinking middle class. Flows of people, money, goods, information are structuring social life under the glam-capitalism and involvement in flows is becoming a factor of social differentiation. Flow-structures make inequality temporal. Rising social significance of access to trendy goods creates new configuration of inequality as traditional quantitative gap between ‘having more’ and ‘having less’ is combined with the temporal lag between ‘having now’ and ‘having later’.