THE PARANORMALITY OF CONSUMPTION: THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN CONSPICUOUS CONSUMPTION AND PARANORMAL BELIEFS

Conspicuous consumption is a kind of consumption through which individuals approximate themselves to upper class, which they dream to belong, while separating from lower classes. In other words, individuals imitate the form of upper class’ consumption in conspicuous consumption. In this context, some mystical powers such as transforming a person into a wealthy, successful, powerful, elite or sophisticated individual are attributed to the objects of consumption. Likewise, the idea, referring that owning a sign means getting a grip of power represented by that sign directly or by coincidence, can be considered in the context of paranormal beliefs. Thus, this study makes an analogy between the belief in the power of conspicuous consumption objects and the paranormal beliefs, originally. From this point of view, this research analyzes quantitatively the relationship between conspicuous consumption tendency and paranormal belief tendency. The research conducted with 313 participants from the Communication Faculty of Marmara University, found that there is a positive correlation between conspicuous consumption tendency and paranormal belief tendenc