Conspicuous consumption for social parity.

This article examines status-signalling behavior among socially disadvantaged caste and religious groups in India through the lens of the stigma-identity-threat model, rather than relying solely on Thorstein Veblen’s traditional theory of conspicuous consumption tied to economic class. Using data from the India Human Development Survey (IHDS) for 2004–05 and 2011–12, the study finds that Scheduled Castes (SC), Scheduled Tribes (ST), Other Backward Classes (OBC), and Muslims tend to distance themselves from their stigmatized identities via consumption patterns, but differ in approach: OBC households increasingly invest in productive expenditures like education and health, while SC, ST, and Muslim households continue to engage more in unproductive conspicuous consumption. The research also reveals that the income threshold at which status-signalling diminishes varies by social group, with more stigmatized groups requiring higher income levels to reduce such behavior. Overall, the findings suggest that status-signalling among these groups is influenced by both social stigma and economic factors, challenging the applicability of Veblen’s class-based theory to complex social identities such as caste and religion.