[이슈논문] 지위 상징적 소비를 통한 지위 위협에 대한 대응과 정당성 신념의 역할

국문 초록 (Abstract)

최근 몇 년 간 한국 사회는 점점 악화되는 취업난, 빈부 차이의 심화 등으로 인해 개인의 사회경제적 지위(SES: socioeconomic status)가 위협받고 이로 인해 불안이 가중되어 왔다. 본 연구에서는 사회경제적 지위에 대한 위협이 지위 상징적 소비(status consumption)에 미치는 효과를 고찰하였다. 그 과정에서 본 연구는 특히 사회 시스템의 정당성에 대한 신념과 지각된 불안감의 역할에 주목했다. 사회경제적 지위가 낮다는 위협을 느낄 경우 불안이 유발되는데, ‘사회적 시스템이 정당하다’는 신념이 강조되면 이 불안감은 더욱 증폭될 수 있다. ‘뿌린대로 거둔다(또는 ‘그럴 만해서 그렇다(deservingness)’)라는 ‘인과응보(retribution)’의 관점이 접목되면, 사회경제적으로 낮은 지위를 갖고 있는 사람들이 느끼는 불안이 커지기 때문이다. 그리고 이는 심리적 대응기제로서의 지위 상징적 소비의 증가로 나타날 수 있다. 이 같은 예상은 실증연구에서 증명되었는데, 사회경제적 지위가 낮은(vs. 높은) 그룹은 럭셔리 브랜드에 대한 선택 빈도가 더 높았으며, 과시적으로 소비하려는 경향도 더 크게 나타났다. 그리고 사회경제적 지위에 대한 위협과 지위 상징적 소비에 대한 인과관계는 정당성 신념이 강할수록 더욱 뚜렷하게 나타났다. 한편 지각된 불안감은 사회경제적 지위에 대한 위협과 정당성 신념이 럭셔리 브랜드 선택 및 과시적 소비에 미치는 효과를 매개하는 것으로 나타났다. 본 연구는 이러한 결과를 근거로 이론적 및 사회적 시사점을 도출하였는데 특히, 한국사회에의 함의를 (1)정당성 강조에 따른 의도하지 않은 효과와 (2)지위 상징적 소비를 활용한 심리적 대응의 장기적 효과의 두 가지 관점에서 논하였다.

다국어 초록 (Multilingual Abstract)

The extant literature has proposed and found the compensatory role of high-status products and brands. People tend to cope with threats to SES (socioeconomic status) by consuming products or brands that are closely associated with the concepts of status. As such, they compensate for lowered status and restore self-worth through consumption. This property of status consumption as self-affirmation has important implications for the Korean society that has recently suffered from diverse societal problems such as skyrocketing unemployment and income polarization and inequality. In this research, we investigate the role of justice belief in coping with psychological threats to SES through status consumption. We contend that the causal relationship between threats to SES and anxiety is moderated by justice belief that status in society is based on merit, deservingness, and retribution. When their SES is threatened, we hypothesize that people with strong (versus weak) justice belief feel higher level of anxiety, and, accordingly, reply more on status consumption for its reparative effects on the self. To test this hypothesis, we conducted an experiment in which psychological threats to SES were manipulated and justice belief was measured on the BMI (belief in meritocracy ideology) scale. First, we confirmed the relationship between threats to SES and two measures of status consumption (i.e., anticipated frequency of luxury consumption and luxury brand logo size). More importantly, we found that this causality was more pronounced for people with stronger, rather than weaker, justice belief. We discussed theoretical and societal contributions of the present findings. We offered meaningful implications for the Korean society in two aspects: (1) unintended consequences of over-emphasizing the concept of social justice and (2) long-term effects of coping with threats to SES through status consumption.

목차 (Table of Contents)

• ABSTRACT
• Ⅰ. 서론
• Ⅱ. 문헌 고찰
• Ⅲ. 실증연구
• Ⅳ. 종합 토의
• 참고문헌

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